YUZU Winter Challenge 2k19 Results, Summary and Highlights

The top 8 (left to right – Raziel, Raizen, Skyll, Saitoh, Aelz, NOOBICYDE, Jason and Keev)

From the aforementioned, you may notice that the SOULCALIBUR VI Season 1 World Champion Skyll is on the loser’s side. Who brought him down to that side? Keev? NOOBICYDE? Nope. It was Raziel, the Voldo expert of France who had accomplished the challenge of beating the Champ. But considering that he is already a former top French player in his own right in SCV’s days, such accomplishment might be an indication that he is back to take his place among the top French players. Nonetheless, despite already putting one of the favorites to win the tournament down to the loser’s, another favorite to win is on his way who is none other than the great Keev.

A strong showing

Regardless, it must have been his night or momentum but despite facing another menacing player like Keev, Raziel was still in perfect swing of his performance in playing Voldo as he literally swept the former 3-0 in their first match whose spacing game could not find an answer to Voldo’s unpredictable moves and pokes. The next match did not turn out early for Keev as he was down 0-2 against Raziel. But showing the heart of a champion, Keev slowly but surely climbed his back up winning the next two close rounds against his worthy opponent. In the final round, finding a heavy disadvantage in the final seconds since his guard guage was in red and his opponent in Soul Charge form, Keev’s patience won him the round by correctly guessing that Raziel will attempt a 66B to break his guard which he countered with nightmare’s 22B to win a hard fought set. In the final round, Raziel made sure to not let Keev have a come-back as he dominated the latter in three consecutive rounds ending the final round with a crushing Critical Edge win to make some serious noise in the tournament.

Raziel retaking his spot among France’s top?

With his great win over two great French players Skyll and Keev, it is safe to say that Raziel earned his right to be a strong candidate to win. However, waiting for him in the winner’s finals is NOOBICYDE, another monster in his own right who is known to dominate the latest tournaments with his Azwel. For all of Raziel’s great performance for the night though, he also fell victim to some top S tier character that is Azwel and lose the winner’s finals 0-3 into the loser’s finals.

Keev’s new main?

Known mainly as a long time Nightmare loyalist, Keev made a surprising move after his disappointing loss to Raziel in the winner’s semis. Due to lacking confidence in his Nightmare, Keev met Aelz in the Loser’s quarterfinals and rather than using his usual main, used Amy instead to fight the latter’s Tira. Although it is kinda weird to see him use his spacing game to a short ranged rush-down character like Amy, it’s part of the game’s beauty that you could use any type of tactic in any character of the game.

Into the match, Aelz had an early dominant round and kinda disrespected Keev for his attempt of using Amy. However, Keev turned up strong in the next two rounds mixing well his gamestyle using Amy’s fast pokes. Although Aelz made a good counterattack in the 4^th round, he fell to Amy’s red roses in the final round. In the next match, Keev continued his strong showing taking advantage and pressuring Aelz with Amy’s fast and quick attacks. Using the character’s Critical Edge to win the final round, it was like the first time I saw Keev win a top 8 match set not using Nightmare.

First match set won by Keev in the top 8 using a different character outside of Nightmare

Advancing to the loser’s bracket, Keev then met a familiar player who have had his numbers lately – Skyll. Using his new main (?), he fought against Skyll’s champion-calibur Mitsurugi. Maybe due to Skyll’s unfamiliarity with the character, he struggled in reading Keev’s pokes which pushed him to lose two straight rounds. But showing that he is the reigning World Champion, Skyll immediately adjusted to Keev’s fast pokes and managed to steadily win the next two rounds. In the final round, a devastating double lethal hit and a wall combo earned him a great come-back win against Keev. In the final round, it turned out that Skyll had fully adjusted to Keev’s new character as he won three straight rounds against the latter to advance to the loser’s finals. Although it’s plain to see Keev lose his confidence to his Nightmare, I really hope this does not put him in a character crisis in the future.

Despite using a different character, Keev continued his losing streak against Skyll

NOOBICYDE, France’s best Azwel player, could be low-key regarded as Europe’s best SOULCALIBUR VI player as of now despite the fact that he is with Skyll and Keev within the region. Why? This guy had been dominating every French tournament lately with such a powerful character. He won the Kayane Session: Road to EVO with an undefeated record in the top 8, won the UFA sweeping both Keev and Skyll and won the Predator Invitational getting a whopping 10-0 against the best players in France. The only reason for him not known that much around the world is the fact that he never won a big tournament like Skyll’s SCWI win and Keev’s EVO Japan win. Despite that, he is the most threatening presence within the SOULCALIBUR VI community in Europe with his capable hands of using the only S tier character in the roster.

Another NOOBICYDE vs. Skyll classic

Nonetheless, facing him in the Grand Finals is Skyll, who successfully got his revenge to Raziel in the loser’s finals. With this two players having a 1-1 career set against each other in Grand Finals meet-ups (Skyll def. NOOBICYDE during The Mixup GF while NOOBICYDE got the best of him during UFA), this match up will decide on who will be the victor in their Season 1 rivalry.

Fast Start

Skyll, with his better knowledge and understanding of the Azwel MU (it was clear during SCWI where he dominated Bluegod twice in a set during the world tournament), will he perform better than before? The answer is yes as not only did he go toe to toe to the almost unbeatable french Azwel, he also beat him convincingly. Starting the first match in the 2B stage, Skyll showed he is a different player now that he is the World Champion when he defeated NOOBICYDE 3-0 with flawless gameplay. Staying in the same stage next match, this proved much different as it was close wherein the two competitors got into an even 2-2 set. Although Skyll again played outstanding when he dominated NOOBICYDE in the final round almost perfecting it to be one win away into a reset.

Reset accomplished!

His back to the wall, NOOBICYDE decided to change the scenery in which he got Nightmare’s stage. There, he showed his adjustments dominating the first two rounds which he both ended with weapon arts. Skyll made a comeback in the 3^rd round using his Soul Charge to win it. However, NOOBICYDE got the best of him in 4^th who punished his mistimed Critical Edge attempt to avoid the reset. The next match set turned out to be the same story in which NOOBICYDE won a commanding 3-1. Skyll then made a stage select where he returned to the 2B stage. Coincidently, this stage might have been giving Skyll a level-up as he again dominated NOOBICYDE throughout the match exhibiting perfect reads and counters against the latter’s Azwel to officially get the Grand Finals reset!

Download complete?

But unfortunately for him, NOOBICYDE might have caught up his bad luck in the 2B stage and got to stage select and got the frozen mountain stage. The result was then NOOBICYDE winning the first round 3-1 which featured his adjustments on the match-up by being more cautious and defensive while attempting more sidesteps and crouches to dodge Skyll’s attacks and punish the latter with powerful attacks. The next match then happened in the pirate stage where NOOBICYDE got his momentum controlling the whole set in his pace and dominated Skyll 3-0 using Azwel’s superior oki setups and longer range. Skyll then tried another stage select again and again returned to the frozen mountain stage. There he put up a better fight against his overwhelming opponent where he managed to reach a 2-2 which he is in advantage where he got 2 full gauges in the final round. Despite this however, he fell short of beating NOOBICYDE and lost the round. Thus, the World Champion lost the reset 0-3 and NOOBICYDE’s Azwel was announced champion of YUZU Winter Challenge 2k19.

The World Champion defeated

YWC2k19 champion – NOOBICYDE

As the YUZU Winter Challenge 2k19 comes to a close, it comes together with it the curtain fall of the Season 1 of SOULCALIBUR VI. A lot of great matches occurred in its e-sports which helped Project Soul get the green light it needed to get a Season 2 of the game. Now with the Season 2 coming, a lot of changes will be happening. One of this is the much needed balance adjustments to Azwel as he nearly dominated the tournament scene of the game almost half of the year before its final days. Will this affect some known top Azwel players like the eventual YWC champion NOOBICYDE in the future? Only time will tell. Still, he did a nice showing by beating the World Champion of Season 1 Skyll. Considering that this might be the final tournament featuring Season 1 of the game. Let’s all do our best to push the game further to make it more popular to possibly get a Season 3 in the future. Are you ready?

Brackets link :

https://smash.gg/tournament/yuzu-winter-challenge-2k19/events/ywc-soulcalibur-vi/brackets

Stream Link :

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/512641520

Credits to PULSAR and Lazielu for some of the pics!

Guilu & Deus

Dernier tournoi de la saison 1 de #SOULCALIBURVI je finis 1er au #YWC2019 face à @Skyll_13 qui m’a reset 3-2 mais que j’ai réussi finalement à vaincre ,ggs à lui et aussi à @lazielu qui à montré un très gros niveau à ce tournoi et qui confirme petit à petit .

— PULSAR | NOOBICYDE (@NOOBICYDE) November 25, 2019

C’est la fin de La Yuzu Winter Challenge !

🏆 @NOOBICYDE remporte le tournoi!
Impérial, il prouve encore une fois, qu’il mérite sa place d’Empereur!

@Jason termine en 5ème position avec un parcours endiablé!
Bravo à eux ! #PulsarUP #PSRWIN #YWC2019 pic.twitter.com/b9z7oXFvsO

— PULSAR (@PulsarEsport) November 24, 2019

Top 3 at SCVI #yuzugamingwinter. I am really happy about this result. Congratulation @NOOBICYDE & @Skyll_13. pic.twitter.com/8fm3Yr6qtl

— ABYSSES | lazielu (@lazielu) November 24, 2019