Mago caught a cold on the last day of EVO, first time in 4 years. He got 38.5 ℃ when he got back.
Bonchan showing Momochi's EVO stick.
(There are only 3 golden EVO sticks with a USF4 logo) Mago: Can I scratch the logo? I can write my autograph. Bon: LOL Momo: It's mine.
Mago: We should make a special tag for Bonchan "Weak Guy" like I got a special tag "2D God" for winning a tournament in the past.
In the Japanese stream, they said "Mago got out of his pool!" before he did.
Mago: I was like I really have to win now lol
In his pool, Momochi played a Ryu from Dobai. "He was strong."
Bonchan: I played him a lot in Singapore. He plays very very solid.
Momo: In my pool there was a M.Bison named Mono from PR. He's a friend of PR_Rog. Fuudo played him at CEO. Tokido: He beat Velociraptor.
Momo: PR_Rog was telling me he's good so I practiced M.Bison matchup using Elena. It turned out he lost to an Elena. I had to play the Elena. I didn't have to play the M.Bison who seemed the strongest in the pool. I'm used to and confident with the Elena matchup.
Bonchan: What about your pool, Mago?
Mago: There is nothing in particular.
Momo: Are you awake? lol
Mago: My first 2 matches were easy. I then played Alex Jebailey. Against his Balrog, I tried my Rolent for the first time in a tournament. I won the game but my Rolent play was very rusty since it's the frist time.
Momo: It's very brave of you doing that at EVO.
Mago: You used Elena at a tourney before. Momo: But it's EVO.
Mago: Alex is good but his Balrog is not like anybody very hard to win. So I decied to use Rolent against him before EVO.
Bon: You had NEMO as a coach?
Mago: I told him that I would use Rolento. Then he offered himself as a coach. But they told us no coach allowed.
Bon: So we had to go.
Mago: We were coaching in previous matches tho. It was the TO who told us no coach. I don't know but Alex might have told them about coaching. I won the match but I couldn't do the anti-air s.m.p at all. When I tried it came out as a back roll.
Mago: Then the next match was against with Mr. SNK. He used Honda. He's pretty strong. I lost the first game using Yang. I thought I could use Sagat but I wasn't prepared for a Honda so I sticked to Yang. The second game went to the final round. I barely managed to win. The third game was close as well.
Momo: All pools have some killers.
Tokido: There was none in mine. There might've been but I didn't see it. My pool was easy. That's all.
Bonchan: In my pool, there was this Bison called SD Pnoy. When Alex Valle asked who is in my pool, I mentioned his name. Then Alex was like "You rearch well. Anyway, I will get out of the pool." I was like "I will get out as well. I'll be ready." So I watched Pnoy's footage to study. Tokido: But there was no Sagat match? Bonchan: Right. So I studied his match against Momochi
Momo: I played him at NCR top 32
Tokido: Wasn't it FR?
Momo: In FR I played Hiro's Bison. There are many Bison in US.
Bonchan: I watched Pnoy's videos like 3 games. His Bison play is orthodox. You know, Bison is a type of character it's hard to be unique. A way to be unique as a Bison is like just run up and s.h.k. or something. So I was like I wouldn't lose if I just play my normal game.
Bonchan: I lost one game to Pnoy. I didn't know what's wrong but I was thinking I could win anyway. I was in deficit but I didn't freak out. .All I needed was to calm. I took the second game. In the last game, he got life lead and played very safe. He's like walk up, block, walk up, block, s.m.k. It was hard to open up. He did not AA'd my jump in but I still couldn't give much damage. Last game, when i was in life deficit, i was praying for him careless EX head-stomp. At the moment i saw it I forward dashed and did U1. But It came out as EX knee, which was actually better because it's more damaging when it combos into U1. I did it totally ad lib. I was like "Yes! U1! OMG it's EX knee! Oh I can combo it to U1!"
Mago: Is it really more damaging?
Bon: It's 20 more. EX knee is 180.
Momochi: 180!?!?
Bon: When it's fully hit. When it's not full hit as it is normally abused, it's just 40-80.
*Bonchan says "I got U1 and managed to come back." But he lost the round as a matter of fact lol
https://t.co/nlLWIO35bS
Bon: So I barely won the match against Pnoy.
Tokido: It almost was your match to lose.
Bon: That's so true.
Mago: I really wish you lost there.
Bon: LOL
Momo: Well, Pnoy is coming up later in the story.
Bon: Yes. Pnoy Episode 2: Revenge.
Mago: My story is like in Episode 6 lol
Bon: He also used EX Psychocrasher carelessly at the end of a round. I got to punish it with U1 and came back. I got many comebacks in that match. He was overall outplaying me. After that match, it got easier to get out of the pool
Momo: Getting out of the pool is piece of cake for players like us :)
Bon: Well, so many strong JP players were sent home in their pool.
Tokido: Yeah i was surprised.
Bon: Players who are ranked highest online here, like ...
Mago: ... ErectLive, Kenzo, Gonzareth ...
Bon: Gonchan lost in his first round to a Sagat. So there were may upsets in Pools. Players on this show got out of it tho
Momo: It's like tournament experience really matters. In that atmospheree
Tokido: Oh NEMO also went to Losers in his pool.
Bon: NEMO didn't know Chrs T's name. But I thought he'd win anyway.
Mago: I saw them play in Losers again.
Mago: ChrisT's play agaisnt Rolento was pretty good. Tokido: Yes. He's really good. Their match in losers was very close too altho it's 2-0.
Tokido: He used s.h.k option select to snipe Rolento's roll
Mago: And when he blocked the roll, he punished it with kara h. uppercut.
Bon: So let's talk about the matches after pools. I'll go first.
Momo: Aren't you supposed to be the last?
Bon: No I'm absolutely not lol
Bonchan: I expected to play Valle and Kamoshio's Hugo after my pool. So I mainly practiced Hugo matchup. I really preapared for it. My biggest mistake was I forgot to move forward. I had notes for Hugo match but there was no memo like "Don't move back." Alex was moving all the time. While I watched out for his f. dash, he poked me. I walked back to keep the range I can use s.m.k to beat his poke. But he then walkup and block. That's how i ended up being cornered. Looking back I should have used EX knee more
Momo: that 180
Bon: no it's 40. Well, to be frank, I freaked out with his pressure.
Mago: Japanese Hugo usually do Clap>jab>jab>jab>Lariat. But his Hugo did jab>jab f.dash and block just to see.
Bon: I think he was buffering during his f.dash so he can catch my back jump anytime. His pressure was on point. Also, he used s.h.p. well. Sagat's s.h.k is 2 hit but he used s.h.p in a range it only hits one.
Mago: Hugo's s.h.p looks so good in a tournament. Its damage is just 100 or something but it really looks like you're reading the opponent. The crowd gets hyped so much for it. That powers up the Hugo player. The same thing happened at Topanga Charity with KSK's Hugo.
Bon: Yeah the crowd was totally Valle's side. I wanted to drink water during the match. I was like "where is my water? ah I lost one game." I lost my focus. Well, Valle outplayed me. I lost completely. That match showed his strength and I could not play as well as he did.
Bonchan: I got in losers and needed to win 11 games to be in Top 8. I won 2 matches. Then I was told to play the loser of the match between Daigo and Baby 9. I saw Daigo defeated Baby 9 pretty bad. I was like "Okay! He lost his momentum. Let's play!"
Mago: Daigo in fact broke him pretty bad.
Bon: He was actually thrown off by that. I played him for the first time. Mago told me Baby 9's Guile is really good. He actually played really good.
Tokido: He's from ST so his fundamental against Sagat is really good.
Bon: One round I came back by f.dash U2 to his normal sonic boom. I then got the momentum and won the match 2-0. I was happy to beat a very strong player.
Momo: You play Guile a lot.
Bon: That's true. I sometimes lose to Guile overseas but I have so much experience in that matchup.
Bonchan: Next up it was Kelvin.
Momochi: Hugo again lol
Bon: I actually like playing Hugo. Sagat can have fun in the matchup.
Tokido: Hugo has fun too.
Bon: I took my memo out and added "Don't move backward." However, what Kelvin picked was Rolento. I was like "You're dead. I'm so confident." But it turned out his Rolento was really good. After the match I told him he should main Rolento. Forget Hugo. I heard there are quite a few Rolento in US who all claim to be the No.2 Rolento after NEMO. Kelvin was one of the best from US. Kelvin was really good. It went all the way down to the final round. His hit confirm was accurate. Rolent's combo is supposed to be hard to Sagat but he did it very well.
Mago: I though he was lucky when he did the first loop but he did it the second loop too. I was like "Oh he's real"
Bon: I talked to him at the after party too. I really tried to convince him to main Rolento. Only Rolento. He seemed excited for that.
Tokido: Do you know Kelvin's BJ Unchained's brother?
Bon: I know.
Tokido: You could've lost to both of them. They'd be like "Bonchan's free"
Bonchan: My next hard match was Misse, who lost to XiaoHai. I was outplaying him but his nickname is One Chance Boy (Wan Chan Taro)...
Mago: You were playing well but he made huge comebacks 2 or 3 times when he got a momentum. The last round was a comeback too.
Bon: Right after I lost to Valle, Mago told me he was out already.
Mago: Yeah my EVO was over that early. ...
Mago: I lost to an Adon. I don't even know his name. I used Yang. I was winning the first game but lost it for some reason. I used Fei then. I used Fei as I planned after I lost one game. I won the second game like easy, like the opponent had trouble deciding what to pick next. The third game, he used Adon and I lost like really fast. He took the first round and at the end of the second round, I threw him. His life was like one pixel. Mine was as much as i wouldn't have died by blocking a rising jaguar. I was gonna chip him by meaty Shienkyaku. He then used a super. I was like "What? Super? How invincible is it?" I could have dead by chip. I wasn't sure if i could jump. .So I mashed Shien but i lost because of the lengthy invincibility of his super.Tokido: What about EX chicken wing?
Mago: I thought it would have lost. Well, my mind was all on Shien at that moment. I think I had Ultra charged. If I had used Ultra, I might have won. But I couldn't react in time. If it's Adon's Ultra instead of Super, I could've reacted by my Ultra. The time stop of super was too short.
Mago: I was up against Pnoy next. I planned to use Rolento against Bison and Balrog. But I could not play as well as I practiced... I lost really fast before I could play as I practiaced in the Bison matchup. I stick to Rolento but I lost like that. I then ran to see Bonchan.
Mago: When I got my first lose, I didn't wanna give up but I felt like I could just play my best and see how it goes. You know i didn't wanna give up but to be frank part of me gave up already. I felt like I would be lucky if I could win some. .I had two premiers already so that made me feel less pressured. I thought that feeling helped me but it did not.
Tokido: Well I think that feeling and experience works better for you in a long run.
★Tokido's Post Pool Story
Tokido: My first match after pool was with HydeBuffy. He and I played a lot before EVO to "help each other." It was like 6-4. He's scary. I didn't know what he would do, like he does rising jaguar after throw tech. So I was thinking very carefully how to play him. Plus, Infiltration did FT50 with him, Akuma vs Adon. I saw its archive.
Bon: HydeBuffy is good at playing Akuma b/c he played Infiltration?
Tokido: Yes. That helped Infiltration in Adon match as well.
Tokido: However, it seems like Hyde lost a lot in casino before EVO. He was playing like he didn't even care. Mago: I heard he lost $20,000.
Momo: He lost $10,000 after EVO on top of that.
Mago: He said he got to the point he couldn't withdraw from ATM in the next 24 hours.
Tokido: So he did a lot of wake up rising jaguar. He usually makes you think he does it and throw and stuff instead. I just blocked his wake up rising j and punished. that's how i won. He realy was playing he didn't even care.
Mago: After EVO, I talked to him. I said "You lost a lot right? Are you not going to do gamble any more?" and he said "I'll go to japan in 2 weeks and do pachinko there." He seemed really happy.
Tokido: My next match was someone from Harumi's pool. I was wondering if she would come out but she lost to a Viper. Ten I saw the Viper lost to a Ryu. There was a Bison but the Ryu won. I checked my memo for Ryu matchup and prepared. So I won like that. It was easier than Hyde. Then I thought it was Wolfkrone next. I was thinking I'd play the winner of the match between FlashMetroid vs Wolf But I saw Flash was playing a Fei. So I was relieved like "Oh yes. Wolf lost." I was confident against Flash.
Momo: But you didn't know what he'd use.
Tokido: He used Chunli. That's his main now. I was like "Okay. Chunli is easy." But he was really good. He did air to air really fast. And if when did early jump jab to counter his air move, he did Kikosho to counter it.
Momo: That's amazing.
Tokido: At the end, I was lucky his U2 did only 3 hit on to my pseudo-crossup and I landed before his U2 ended. I got to punish it really hard. It was the frist game. He seemed to feel really down like "aww you're lucky." I won the second game easy cause he's so down.
Tokido: Next up, I thought it's one of Sabohani, Taigah, or Kindev. But there was Profluke in Sabonani's pool, the Fuerte from UK.
Bon: I lost to him in Germany.
Momo: I almost lost to him too
Tokido: He beat Sabohani and Taiga but Kindev used Elena to beat him. I was guessing he'd use Elena. He actually used Elena. I am really confident in fighting Elena. I still am. I beat him pretty good.
Mago: Why are you smiling, Bonchan?
Bon: Well, I know there is a good punchline in that story so... Anyway, did Kindev changed the character?
Tokido: Yes. I beat his Elena pretty bad. So he used Viper. I think it's smart cause he could get the momentum and win. However, I was prepared for Viper.
Mago: Yeah, cause there was Wolfkrone.
Tokido: So I was very confident and took the game. There was something Kindev taught me in that matchup. I thanked him by winning.
Tokido: Two more games to get in Top 8. Next match was Sako. It's exactly what I expected. I was prepared for his Elena but he used Ibuki,
Bon: It was a surprise.
Tokido: I actually lost a lot to his Ibuki in the past. That's maybe why he used her. I was surprised but part of me knew he is an Ibuki player so I was like "I see." One week before EVO, I played MOV's Ibuki offline. That really helped me. In the Ibuki match, it's hard to block things without mental preparation. Sako made a lot of mistakes too. He didn't do much okizeme. But there was a mix up that looked back but it's in fact front. He was doing something special.
Momochi: He does some unknown things.
Mago: What I saw was all this *teleport*
Tokido: No I blocked a lot.
Tokido: That was my match to lose. I took the first round but we both played like whatever and I lost the first game. I didn't like how the second game was going but I made a huge comeback by combo into U2 from walkup low forward. That totally changed the momentum. I have so much experience in that matchup that I am very confident to win. I played well as I planned. But I won because he made a mistake. So I think I should study the matchup more.
Mago: Sako said to me that Elena is hard to win that matchup. Looks like he didn't practice Akuma matchup very well.
Tokido: But I lost to him so bad when we played a long set. It was like 7-3.
Mago: Maybe he thought, since there are so many Elena now, Tokido would prepare Elena very well. At CEO, you beat Gamerbee's Elena well. He must have seen that and picked Ibuki instead.
Tokido vs Sako:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H08IUhw11E
Tokido: I had two themes this time: good health and empty mind. I think I was smiling all the time. I change myself like that.
Bonchan: I got kinda annoyed by that. I was like "why is he smiling?" -"-
Tokido: I don't think it's a good idea to show you freak out. So there for empty mind.
Bonchan: I see. So you wanna hide yourself?
Tokido: Not about hiding. You make yourself like that and that changes yourself.
Tokido: I knew how Kazunoko would change his tactics for this tournament. There were two points I had in mind. Well, I didn't think he would do three command throws at the beginning like that. I got thrown first. I escaped the second one by teleport. I was like "hmm maybe he is in command throw mode." I didn't read it very well. That's not one of the points I was expecting.
Tokido: The first thing I knew he would do was m.k crouch tech. Akuma can punish Yun's normal crouch tech by walk back and whiff punish. I knew he would instead use m.k tech cancel into shoulder and maybe into red focus. So I was watching out his low m.k into shoulder. I tried to focus f. dash the shoulder and hit a jab.
Mago: In reality?
Tokido: My jab was blocked.
Momochi: I've never seen you succeed focus f.dash punish.
Tokido: So. From Akuma's back throw, he can f.dash and tatsu to cross up. I did that and one time I did m.p instead of tatsu. He got hit by that crouching. I was like "you moron." I did the full combo in the corner. Big stun damage too. Them I was like "hmm at this point, he must want to make a huge comeback, so he will do low forward into shoulder, red focus combo." Then I did walk back, block low forward and focus his shoulder. I could have just mashed uppercut, but I wanted to do what I was practicing.
Tokido: There is one more thing I knew about his play. I learned when he used focus.
Mago: After shoulder?
Tokido: It's when he want to focus Akuma's sweep, which is when he used s. short. Akuma's sweep can one of few moves that can beat Yun's s. short. I knew he would try to focus my sweep so I used low forward into tatsu to punish it.
Tokido: I managed to beat Kazunoko because of these two points.
Momo: Your first thing didn't succeed.
Tokido: But it's much better than blocking the shoulder.
Bon: You could have lost if he did Ex upkick to your jab.
Mago&Tokido: I've never gotten EX upkick like that.
Momochi: Kazunoko would do.
Mago: In that situation, you have white damage, so he might mash ex upkick after blocking a jab.
Tokido: I could have hit a jab too early and come out nothing. So mashing upkick is risky.
Mago: Yun wants to do combo from the shoulder so it might be really hard to switch into ex upkick in reaction. What he could do is to release red focus straight.
Tokido vs Kazunoko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKyobLNhaZ4
Tokido has been on EVO Top 8 every year since 2011. When he did not get on SF4 Top 8, he did on KOF. Justin was holding the record with Marvel but not this year.
★Momochi's Post Pool Story
Tokido: My next match was with Valmaster. In his pool there was your guy (talking to Bonchan)... BJ Unchained. I wanted him to win cause Cordy is easier. But Valmaster won as I expected.
Tokido: You played pretty good and safe.
Mago: The first game was very close.
Momochi: I did FADC to his Hazanshu. Normally, I do low shoet, jab, low fierce into DP after FADC, but I did FADC DP directly to be safe. He did Hazanshu FADC back that made my FADC DP whiff. He then punished it with combo into Ultra
Bonchan: It's Amazing he could do that. You see FADC back dash to Lv2 Focus but you don't see FADC back to your FADC dash forward.
Mago: Maybe it was just a good read to your FADC.
Momochi: Maybe. Later he did Hazanshu FADC back when I was just blocking. I was concentrating very well, like I did FADC back dash to his EX Hazanshu in reaction.
Momochi: I never played Valmaster except at Capcom Cup last year. So I studied the footage. It went as I was imagining.
Bonchan: I think Valmaster studied the match between you and Infiltration ChuLi from SEAM. I thougth he could win by studying that.
Momochi: Next opponent was the winner of the match between Sherry and CastBlanka. I knew by reasearch that his Blanka is really good.
Tokido: Is he from US?
Momochi: I don't think he's from US. I don't remember where... Mexico...? I don't know.
I was watching their match. It looked like Sherry was winning so I was like "Yes! Go Sherry!" But CastBlanka won at the end. As I was watching their match, I was thinking "His play is okay. Maybe he doesn't know Viper matchup very well." But when I played him, I realized he's really good. The score was 2-0 but he played really good. He's as good as Japanese top Blanka players. I know the Blanka matchup very well. Plus, I was playing Choco since we got to Las Vegas as warming up.
Momochi: Netxt up, it was Gackt or the Akuma with a little girl, who beat Reiketsu.
Mago: That guy was playing on the main stage with the girl. She was just playing her DS didn't care about her Dad's game. She was like "Dad, are you done here?" Her dad was like *popping up*
Momochi: He was really good. I wanted to play him, but Gackt played like Gackt, so I had to play him. It was a really close game.
Bonchan: He played really patient.
Momochi: When we played the last time it was AE2012, round-robin at Singapore. I got bodied by him. It was 7-1 or 7-2. I didn't like playing him. Well, I didn't practice enough for Fei matchup since Mago changed his main. It was only Fuudo.
Mago: Many Fei player changed their characters since USF4.
Momochi: I almost never run into Fei in a tournament. I didn't like the matchup.
Bonchan: You were playing in the corner all the time. It was like my play with Fei. I couldn't get ouf the corner against Fei.
Mago: You didn't wanna get out of the corner right?
Bonchan: It's not that. Gackt used normal a lot so that Momochi couldn't use f.m.k at all.
Mago: He played really good. He changed his play to USF4 Ken, not the same as AE2012.
Momochi: I barely made it in that match.
Momochi: I was up against Xian next. It was my game to lose. He was playing KojiKOG. We have seen Xian lost to Hawk players in Japan recently, at TOPANGA Charity, TOPANGA ranking. So I was hoping KOG beat Xian. I didn't want to play KOG either but...
Mago: KOG was saying "I have a chance against Xian."
Momochi: I didn't like playing KOG but Xian was scarier cause he had more tournament experience. Xian beat KOG. Vs Xian, it was totally my game to lose.
Bonchan: You have played Xian a lot. You two take turns to outplay each other every time.
Momochi: That happens even during the match. He adapts so fast. We counter each other's counter. How I lost the first game was the worst. I was in the corner and he jumped in, which was cross up in the range my DP would have whiffed. So I used low fierce instead to antiair. His life was 10% and mine was 60%. I was so confident to take the round like "I'm genius" but my low fierce whiffed.
Tokido: That happens sometimes when Gen is in Kiryu stance.
Momochi: I was totally on the corner on my back but it whiffed for some reason. I then got Super into Ultra, lost the round.
Bonchan: That's the worst.
Momochi: I got bodied the first round in the second game. I got hit by super in the second round of it.
Bonchan: That's how you lose to Gen.
Momochi: But Xian was thrown off by how easy it went. It seemed like he wanted to finish it fast and lost his patience. I saw that so I used fireballs and f.m.k to lame out. I tried not to rush. I landed Ex air tatsu every now and then, barely won the second game. In the beginning of the third game, SnakeEyez beat Reiketsu on the main stage. Crowd got so hype. I saw Xian get distracted by that. So rushed down with f.m.k at that moment.
Mago: Didn't he freak out by how you came back in the second game?
Momochi: I saw his body flinched by the crowd's hype.
Bonchan: It might've been both.
Momochi: I was just rushing down to the end. The second round, I blocked EX waterfall kick. I usually think to myself I could get hit by that as long as I don't get hit by his super. I sometimes get hit by it on purpose so he loses his super. But this time I read it and blocked. If he didn't use it, it would have been fine, too. I blocked it twice at the end.
Bonchan: I didn't see the match but when he wanted to finish it you were playing patient?
Momochi: I think I played very well like that. I was losing but I played very calm and lamed out by fireballs and f.m.k. That went very well.
Bonchan: Just by hearing the story, I wanna say that's awesome. I wanna see the footage now.
Momochi vs Xian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSnmzxjvBks
Momochi: My last match before Top 8 was with Santarou. He was playing 801 Strider. I was thinking I could win Santarou like 6-4 but Stride might be harder. 5-5 or worse. I lost to him at NCR. So I didn't wanna play him. So I was rooting for Santarou. It turned out he's so good at Abel matcuup. He beat Strider very well. I was like "Thank you!" It's like, which one do you wanna play, Sagat or Abel? Nobody wanna play Abel. You can play vs Sagat by just being patient, like you can take your time. So I played calm and patient.
Bonchan: I saw the match. Momochi played it very well. It was perfect.
Tokido: I said to Satantrou "Good luck" and I went to the bathroom. It was over before I came back. I was hoping Sagat is going up instead of Ken.
Bonchan: Santarou was taking it so hard. He was like "it was impossible..." He has so much experience in Ken matchup. He was confident before he played Momochi but after the match he changed his mind like "I can't beat Momochi right now."
Momochi vs. Santarou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTI7BjPpUmw
Tokido has been on EVO Top 8 every year since 2011. When he did not get on SF4 Top 8, he did on KOF. Justin was holding the record with Marvel but not this year.
★Momochi's Post Pool Story
Tokido: My next match was with Valmaster. In his pool there was your guy (talking to Bonchan)... BJ Unchained. I wanted him to win cause Cordy is easier. But Valmaster won as I expected.
Tokido: You played pretty good and safe.
Mago: The first game was very close.
Momochi: I did FADC to his Hazanshu. Normally, I do low shoet, jab, low fierce into DP after FADC, but I did FADC DP directly to be safe. He did Hazanshu FADC back that made my FADC DP whiff. He then punished it with combo into Ultra
Bonchan: It's Amazing he could do that. You see FADC back dash to Lv2 Focus but you don't see FADC back to your FADC dash forward.
Mago: Maybe it was just a good read to your FADC.
Momochi: Maybe. Later he did Hazanshu FADC back when I was just blocking. I was concentrating very well, like I did FADC back dash to his EX Hazanshu in reaction.
Momochi: I never played Valmaster except at Capcom Cup last year. So I studied the footage. It went as I was imagining.
Bonchan: I think Valmaster studied the match between you and Infiltration ChuLi from SEAM. I thougth he could win by studying that.
Momochi: Next opponent was the winner of the match between Sherry and CastBlanka. I knew by reasearch that his Blanka is really good.
Tokido: Is he from US?
Momochi: I don't think he's from US. I don't remember where... Mexico...? I don't know.
I was watching their match. It looked like Sherry was winning so I was like "Yes! Go Sherry!" But CastBlanka won at the end. As I was watching their match, I was thinking "His play is okay. Maybe he doesn't know Viper matchup very well." But when I played him, I realized he's really good. The score was 2-0 but he played really good. He's as good as Japanese top Blanka players. I know the Blanka matchup very well. Plus, I was playing Choco since we got to Las Vegas as warming up.
Momochi: Netxt up, it was Gackt or the Akuma with a little girl, who beat Reiketsu.
Mago: That guy was playing on the main stage with the girl. She was just playing her DS didn't care about her Dad's game. She was like "Dad, are you done here?" Her dad was like *popping up*
Momochi: He was really good. I wanted to play him, but Gackt played like Gackt, so I had to play him. It was a really close game.
Bonchan: He played really patient.
Momochi: When we played the last time it was AE2012, round-robin at Singapore. I got bodied by him. It was 7-1 or 7-2. I didn't like playing him. Well, I didn't practice enough for Fei matchup since Mago changed his main. It was only Fuudo.
Mago: Many Fei player changed their characters since USF4.
Momochi: I almost never run into Fei in a tournament. I didn't like the matchup.
Bonchan: You were playing in the corner all the time. It was like my play with Fei. I couldn't get ouf the corner against Fei.
Mago: You didn't wanna get out of the corner right?
Bonchan: It's not that. Gackt used normal a lot so that Momochi couldn't use f.m.k at all.
Mago: He played really good. He changed his play to USF4 Ken, not the same as AE2012.
Momochi: I barely made it in that match.
Momochi: I was up against Xian next. It was my game to lose. He was playing KojiKOG. We have seen Xian lost to Hawk players in Japan recently, at TOPANGA Charity, TOPANGA ranking. So I was hoping KOG beat Xian. I didn't want to play KOG either but...
Mago: KOG was saying "I have a chance against Xian."
Momochi: I didn't like playing KOG but Xian was scarier cause he had more tournament experience. Xian beat KOG. Vs Xian, it was totally my game to lose.
Bonchan: You have played Xian a lot. You two take turns to outplay each other every time.
Momochi: That happens even during the match. He adapts so fast. We counter each other's counter. How I lost the first game was the worst. I was in the corner and he jumped in, which was cross up in the range my DP would have whiffed. So I used low fierce instead to antiair. His life was 10% and mine was 60%. I was so confident to take the round like "I'm genius" but my low fierce whiffed.
Tokido: That happens sometimes when Gen is in Kiryu stance.
Momochi: I was totally on the corner on my back but it whiffed for some reason. I then got Super into Ultra, lost the round.
Bonchan: That's the worst.
Momochi: I got bodied the first round in the second game. I got hit by super in the second round of it.
Bonchan: That's how you lose to Gen.
Momochi: But Xian was thrown off by how easy it went. It seemed like he wanted to finish it fast and lost his patience. I saw that so I used fireballs and f.m.k to lame out. I tried not to rush. I landed Ex air tatsu every now and then, barely won the second game. In the beginning of the third game, SnakeEyez beat Reiketsu on the main stage. Crowd got so hype. I saw Xian get distracted by that. So rushed down with f.m.k at that moment.
Mago: Didn't he freak out by how you came back in the second game?
Momochi: I saw his body flinched by the crowd's hype.
Bonchan: It might've been both.
Momochi: I was just rushing down to the end. The second round, I blocked EX waterfall kick. I usually think to myself I could get hit by that as long as I don't get hit by his super. I sometimes get hit by it on purpose so he loses his super. But this time I read it and blocked. If he didn't use it, it would have been fine, too. I blocked it twice at the end.
Bonchan: I didn't see the match but when he wanted to finish it you were playing patient?
Momochi: I think I played very well like that. I was losing but I played very calm and lamed out by fireballs and f.m.k. That went very well.
Bonchan: Just by hearing the story, I wanna say that's awesome. I wanna see the footage now.
Momochi vs Xian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSnmzxjvBks
Momochi: My last match before Top 8 was with Santarou. He was playing 801 Strider. I was thinking I could win Santarou like 6-4 but Stride might be harder. 5-5 or worse. I lost to him at NCR. So I didn't wanna play him. So I was rooting for Santarou. It turned out he's so good at Abel matcuup. He beat Strider very well. I was like "Thank you!" It's like, which one do you wanna play, Sagat or Abel? Nobody wanna play Abel. You can play vs Sagat by just being patient, like you can take your time. So I played calm and patient.
Bonchan: I saw the match. Momochi played it very well. It was perfect.
Tokido: I said to Satantrou "Good luck" and I went to the bathroom. It was over before I came back. I was hoping Sagat is going up instead of Ken.
Bonchan: Santarou was taking it so hard. He was like "it was impossible..." He has so much experience in Ken matchup. He was confident before he played Momochi but after the match he changed his mind like "I can't beat Momochi right now."
Momochi vs. Santarou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTI7BjPpUmw
