12/07 Northwest VF5 Tournament @ Preppy's

<u>The First Northwest VF5 Showdown - Final Results</u>
1) Yosuke (Seattle) - Jacky - 32 pts
2) RaybladeX (Portland) - Vanessa/Jeffry - 16 pts
3) Chanchai (Portland) - Lion - 8 pts
4) @js (Portland) - Brad - 6 pts

5) FrankDaDank (Seattle) - Eileen - 4 pts
5) Robert aka Zig21 (Seattle) - Wolf - 4 pts

7) Raishinken (Portland) - Pai - 3 pts
7) David (Seattle) - Sarah/Goh - 3 pts

9) RyanLoop (Seattle) - Jacky - 2 pts
9) FatBear (Portland) - Akira - 2 pts
9) Sorias (Seattle) - Aoi - 2 pts
9) cranktheBODOM (Seattle) - Brad - 2 pts

13) Mike (Seattle) - ??? - 1 pt
13) JF_ (Seattle) - Eileen/Lion - 1 pt
13) Josh (Seattle) - ??? - 1 pt
13) Paul Lee - Sarah?/Goh/Lei Fei - 1 pt

<u>Minor Details</u>
Players: 16
(a 17th player showed up too late to participate, would have been a nice El Blaze to round out the cast)

Format: Double Elimination (Based on Official GPA Tournament Sheet)

Moderator: Chanchai

Goofs: Winner's bracket semifinal was played 3 out of 5, but that did not alter the results. One of the 7th place matches was not recorded (Jetay wins the first game in his match against FrankdaDank)--Chanchai's bad.

*Characters listed for players are the ones those players mainly used. Others may have been used throughout the tournament.
**Reply or PM any corrections, nicknames, or concerns to Chanchai or this thread


<u>Chanchai's Take on the Tournament</u>
Seattle & Portland VF finally met at Preppy's on Friday December 7th, 2007.

The tournament and get-together was a wonderful opportunity for the Northwest VF players to get to know one another.

The Great Seattle Sage, Yosuke, dominates the tournament from another planet but provides a lot of great wisdom and humor for all Northwest players. When Yosuke leaves the Northwest in January, he'll have left a wonderful and greatly appreciated mark on Northwest VF. And we will always look forward to his return!

Portland brought most of its heavy-hitters and represented itself quite well, sharing its experiences of growing a native VF scene.

Rayblade's variety of characters represent, but his Vanessa steals the Portland Show and had good fights with Yosuke, even taking a win. Rayblade's Vanessa completely shutdown Chanchai's Lion from long-range, mid-range, and even up-close. It was a complete victory that was completely earned and Ray holds the Portland crown.

Chanchai's Lion enjoyed its fight to third. Though completely overwhelmed by Rayblade's Vanessa, Chanchai was relieved to make it out alive in his fight with @js's Brad. It was a very close match and Chanchai came out relieved to make it, but mainly admiring @js's growth as a VF player.

@js's Brad continues to grow as a great threat and solidly takes 4th with no questions asked (it was a centimeter away from taking 3rd). @js' match against Yosuke was quite entertaining. He displayed some of the most solid overall playing, skill, and thought of the entire night.

Seattle's VF scene is young, but growing very strong, truth be told. FrankDaDank's Eileen and Robert's Wolf lead the pack, but other players make up a strengthening foundation.

Frank's Eileen is becoming a force to be reckoned with in Northwest VF. The mindgames are there, the experience, full grasp of the Eileen repertoire, and execution are getting there.

Robert's Wolf can be very scary as he will punish you with interest for losing some guessing games. His execution of his current repertoire is there and it is scary. As his understanding of Wolf's full repertoire expands, Robert's Wolf will become more of a nightmare.

Raishinken's Pai (Portland) fought through a very hard line of opponents, taking down Robert's Wolf, losing to Top 3 favorite RayBladeX, winning a highly entertaining showdown with FatBear's Akira, and then fighting a good fight but falling to FrankDaDank's Eileen. Raishinken's matches were some of the most entertaining matches of the tournament.

The Northwest is bringing on the Brad Show. @js' Brad is among the top of the Pacific Northwest roster, but Seattle's cranktheBODOM brings even more heat from the Muay Thai Master. My personal note: cranktheBODOM is another rising star to watch and I look forward to seeing more of his Brad in the future. cranktheBODOM fought well in the tournament, but lost a good match to David.

Sorias's Aoi (Seattle) and FatBear's Akira (Portland) provided an entertainingly close first round as the two rising stars were figuring each others' game. Sorias reversal'd Akira's onslaught of Mid Attacks and kept the aggressive pressure on the patient FatBear. FatBear's Akira displayed some scary as hell damage with its complicated combos executed at around 70% (which is very good considering its a new player and these are Akira's combos). Growth in both players' games is apparent and the scene looks forward to where these two will go in their VF careers. I have high hopes.

Portland players hear me go far too much on it... but I'll go out on a limb and just say that assuming VF and soon-to-be-professional-life can go hand in hand... FatBear is THE player to watch in the future. He might not be there yet, but I think he's capable of changing the Northwest VF scene. (Sorry for laying the pressure on you Sam, it's fun).

The very loud combination of Raishinken and Robert culminated in a quietly focused and patient first round match that was fairly close, but contrasted their usual hubris. Raishinken took the win, but both fought hard and went deep in their brackets.

RyanLoop had the misfortune of arriving right when the tournament was beginning... Filling in... the spot against Yosuke. Ryan would have otherwise been seeded elsewhere in the tournament, but it's all good, he fought very well and got to learn more about Jacky first-hand, from the Jacky (and VF) authority in the US.

JF_ found himself in one of the most competitive sections of the draw, fighting @js in the first round (who was favored from the start to take 4th with authority if you ask me) and then facing FatBear right after. I was watching JF_ and FatBear because both are new VF enthusiasts who are soaking up VF knowledge and material like a sponge. It was not JF_'s day, but I believe he's going to have a good contribution to Seattle VF.

Josh fought Ray and then had to leave. It's too bad he could not stay longer, because the guy is a fun presence and his personality reminds me a lot of GoatCheeseBlues, who is one of the strongest players in the US VF scene (they even look similar, somewhat).

I was happy to buy Paul Lee a spot in the tournament because the guy was fun to have around. I just feel awful for asking people to go find him when he was standing right next to me... Paul, you're awesome, you bring even more humor to the party and I hope to see more of you at gatherings and in VF!

HUGE THANKS AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PREPPY! Thank you for everything, for the Poker Nights (this was my first), for putting VF in the media room and always letting that be an option there, and for being an overall great guy. This was my first time at Preppy's Poker Night and it was worth well-more than the drive and everything!

<u>Tournament Match Videos</u>

7th Place Matches
Raishinken (Pai) vs. Frankdadank (Eileen) 1 2 3 Preppy's Video (missing first match)
Robert (Wolf) vs. David (Goh) Preppy's Video

Winner's Bracket Semifinals
Yosuke (Pai) vs. @js (Brad) Preppy's Video (3 of 5 matches--Chanchai's mistake while running the tournament)
RaybladeX (Vanessa) vs. Chanchai (Lion) Preppy's Video (3 of 5 matches--Chanchai's mistake while running the tournament)

5th Place Matches
Robert (Wolf) vs. Chanchai (Lion) Preppy's Video
Frankdadank (Eileen) vs. @js (Brad) Preppy's Video

4th Place Match
@js (Brad) vs. Chanchai (Lion) Preppy's Video

Winner's Bracket Final
Yosuke (Akira) vs. RaybladeX (Vanessa) Preppy's Video

3rd Place Match
RaybladeX (Vanessa) vs. Chanchai (Lion) Preppy's Video

GRAND FINALS
Yosuke (Jacky) vs. RaybladeX (Jeffry/Vanessa) Preppy's Video

<u>Gathering Videos (RaybladeX Collection)</u>

Yosuke (Eileen) vs. Chanchai (Lion) 1 2 3

Frankdadank (Eileen) vs. Chanchai (Lion) 1 2 3 4

Frankdadank (Eileen) vs. @js (Brad) 1 2

Frankdadank (Eileen) vs. FatBear (Akira) 1 2

Frankdadank (Eileen) vs. Yosuke (Lau) 1

Yosuke (Pai) vs. @js (Brad) 1 2

Yosuke (Lau) vs. FatBear (Akira) 1 2

-Chanchai

 

The tournament results are finally complete, now that video recorded from Preppy's equipment have been added!

New to the original post are match videos from the tournament.

-Chanchai

 

Enjoyed watching the vids, nice matches Northwest!

 

good stuff, thanks

 

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