WCG 2008 Germany World Finals : danny13's report

Here goes...

<u>Day 1 3rd Nov 08</u>

We arrived at Cologne airport terminal 1 on the 3rd Nov at around 7pm followed by an hour plus of bus to Riehl City Hostel. A note to all, Luthansa airline service was really bad. Tetra press for service using the remote for nearly an hour but no one came. Finding it strange and the need to empty our bladders, we went to the toilet and found to our dismay that the air stewards and stewardesses were sitting down chatting, reading magazine while some just simply loafing. They left trays of beverages on a counter near the toilet and assumed that passengers will help themselves to them.

At the hostel, though terribly tired from the 14 hr long flight, somehow Tetra and I manage to find the strength to fish out our xbox 360 to test some of the strategies that we discussed on the flight. Later in the night, we were told to go to the registration counters to get ourselves registered and were given a rather ugly red long sleeved T-shirt which we were suppose to wear thoughout the event. The organizers told us that there was an interview for the SG VF champ and the SG Guitar hero champ the next day at around noon at the other hostel.

<u>Day 2 4th Nov 08</u>

Everyone slept badly due to the jet lag so we woke up early at 7am to have breakfast provided by the hostel. Breakfast was decent. They served assorted bread rolls with different kinds of jam and honey. Cereal, oatmeal, muesli served with milk and fruits. There were also a large bowl of hard-boiled eggs, a selection of ham, turkey, salami and bacon. Coffee, tea and orange juice were available free flow.

After breakfast, Tetra and I trained some more on the xbox before he left for his interview while I went sight seeing with the rest of the SG team. We took a train to DOM station to check out this huge church followed by some shopping. We find it amusing that for a single day unlimited ride, it would cost us 7+ euros while a single day unlimited ride for a group of 5 would cost us 9+ euros. We came back at around 4pm and I took a short nap. Tetra came back from his interview shortly and we trained for a couple of hours again.

Later in the evening, we went for our welcome party aboard a cruise. That was where Tetra introduce me to the German players, Bora, Darius and Marco, Wonhee the Korean player and also Wugga the New Zealand player. We made arrangements to play at the Germans’ hostel the next day. Back at our hostel, we were about to go to bed when we had a persistent knock on our door at around midnight. I opened the door and there was this English chick looking for Tetra who was still in the shower. It turned out to be Samantha, a CGS player and wanted us to go to the other hostel to look for Itazan. We woke the champ up from his deep slumber and headed to the Germans’ room for some VF till 2am in the morning.

<u>Day 3 5th Nov 08</u>

That morning we got invaded by hundred of ladybirds. We had to get the cleaning lady to get rid of them using a vacuum cleaner. Tetra and I trained for abit after breakfast and slept abit more before Samantha came over at 1030am. Wugga actually came over at 10am and was waiting for both of us to get up. Sorry Wugga! We were so tired from the previous night.

We headed out to the other hostel, stopping to have lunch at Mac’s. When we arrived at the Team Germany’s room, it turned out that they have to attend a conference with the rest of the team and was very happy to let us hang out at their room. Itazan was also not around so we went upstairs to drag Wonhee for some VF. At around 4pm, Adam the king of porn came and he play a couple of rounds, literally owning Korea. We left at 445pm to make our way to Koelmesse for the WCG opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony was quite interesting. They have got stunt bikers on a U-shape slide, break dancers, soccer ball tricks man and basket ball tricks man on the back ground, complimenting the singers which were the main entertainment. I didn’t really watch the whole thing as I was really tired. Tetra and I went to the back area of the hall where they provide this orange bean bag cushions for people to rest on. We also passed by the booth selling WCG Adidas pull-overs for 65 euros which we though were really expensive considering that most of the decorations were ironed on type.

After the ceremony, we took a bus back to our hostel where we had some more vf with Wugga.

 

<u>Day 4 6th Nov 08</u>

WCG Group A and B were on today! We got to the venue at 1030am to meet Adam and Itazan. Famitsu reporter was with Itazan to do some coverage of the whole event. After some security checks at the entrance, we went to our designated VF area where we were allocated half an hour of practice for each group. Our referee Verena was really nice and accommodating. We had to ask her to change the composite cables to vga ones as there were screen lag. I first got my warm up with Bob(Sweden) who played Jacky. I also met Manjimara(Finland), my rival for Akira at VFDC .

Tetra group started first. When he was going to play Itazan, all the crowd and media gathered to watch and cover this big match. He was doing well the first 2 rounds and almost had him for the third made a misjudgment for a wall pounce and that cost him that match. Subsequently, Itazan focused on using 6k to MC rising kicks plus with more drink points, it was big damage for every combo.

After lunch, we carried on with our group A and B qualifiers. Tetra took his game too relax and lost to Marco from Germany who was a pad player. The Germans were so happy and cheer loudly for Marco. Tetra was so stressed as he, Bob and Marco were on a tie breaker. He wouldn't even let me have some casual games with Itazan and wanted to practice. In the end, he took out Marco 5-1 this time and Bob 5-3. Bob was really close on winning for a couple of rounds. I made it through my group with Darius coming in 2nd with Leifei.

After the event, we went out for dinner with Adam, Wugga, Tetra and Samantha at a nearby kebab shop that was rather packed. We had delicious servings of shawama platter, falafel and some salty pizzas. We head back to the Deutz hostel where we met up with the rest and wanted to try to arrange to play but there were too many people and only 1 set up. In the end, we went back to our hostel where Manjimara and Bob was also staying and played some more VF in our room. Bob and I played tilled 2am. It was a memorable night for me where I shared my VF stuff with him and explained to him some guaranteed bad situations for Jacky. Bob also taught me a lot about Tekken as I was an avid Tekken player before I came to know VF.

<u> Day 5 7th Nov 08</u>

Today was the qualifiers for Group C and D. The highlight was going to be Adam’s group where he faces Korea. We woke up later today as there was no pressure on us to perform. We brought our xbox 360, lcd monitor and speakers to the WCG venue so that we can have some games in the evening.

Yamamba from Canada faced Korean first. We were excited about this match as we heard Yamamba used to stay in Japan and was a 9-dan Vanessa for VF5. He did pretty well for the first few rounds but did too much OS 66k cancel into catch throw that Wonhee managed to predict and used it against him.

The next big match was Adam against Korea. We expected this match to be really exciting as Wonhee was so strong during our casual games. Unfortunately, he froze so much during his match and gave up on a lot of guaranteed throws situations, focusing more on delay attacks which Adam abared(Adam –1000 frames still attack OTL) to his victory. Adam emerges 1st in his group and had to face Tetra the next day while Wonhee against Itazan. We were allowed to play at the venue for a couple of hours and head back to Deutz hotel for some more vf.

Bora gave use the key to their room so that we can take their xbox and monitor. By 7pm we set up 2 consoles for VF at the hostel café’s dinning area while waiting for it to open so that we can have some pizzas for dinner. Adam and I went upstairs to Wonhee’s room to get him to join us. It turned out that he was still in the shower so we waited for him to finish. It was funny because when he came out, we both called to him and he literally spun on one foot while looking daze to greet us. Wonhee couldn’t speak English well but he said ‘Time’ which we both understood.

That night we had so many great games. Everyone was there. Wonhee tried really hard against Itazan with the rounds set to best of 5 and failed marginally (4-5) many times. Wonhee left earlier as he was tired and wanted to rest more for the big battle the next day. By midnight, Tetra was snoring loudly on the café’s cushion chairs. Everyone else had great stamina and would have played till dawn if not for the quarter and semi finals the next day.

 

Reserved..

 

Special thanks to all these great people who made the event memorable.

<u>From group A</u>

Itazan: Was a bit rusty in the beginning but quickly adapt in the end to kick our asses… We were hoping that R was gonna make you vulnerable. Adam and I find it alittle over-whelming when you told us that you can NEVER beat Koedo unless you deliberately play in a strange way.

EmssiOne: Marco, maybe you should consider switching to joystick so that you have a better chance to knock Tetra out next year. *wink

Bob: It was a great pleasure meeting you. I'll always remember the casuals we had till nearly 2am in the morning. Fantastic throw escapes and fuzzy skills.

<u>Group B</u>

Stprock: Nice leifei Darius! I hope it gets even deadlier with some of my tips. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Rayne: I loved your pizza matches with Gutti. Keep working on that Lion! Don’t give up even if there’s no one to play! You can always go to Japan like me. Lol

Manjimaru: I hope you get better from the gallstones. Don’t be disappointed with yourself! Train even harder for R.

<u>Group C </u>

RinpooChuan: I loved how you meditated before your qualifiers and I’m impressed with the number of martial arts that you've learnt. Now mastered that drunken fist of yours! Thanks for trusting us with your room key for your xbox setups!

<u>Group D</u>

AdanYUKI: It’s amazing to see you after so many years bro. I still love those tight sexy tops of yours. Really hope to meet you soon. I’ll always remember how WCG spelled your name wrongly and announce USA as Japan during the prize ceremony. lol

Woni0639: The first Akira player that I’ve met who could consistently evade the 2nd hit of Akira’s 2_6p~p! It a pity that you lost to Adam and had to face Itazan earlier.

Krye: A man with few words but plays a strong fast Lau. Hope to see you again next year!

Gamaoriginal: Your killer setups that took out Adam’s team during team tourney will always be remembered /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Yamamba: I didn’t get to play you at all but I will always remember that laughter of yours! Hope to see you next year!

Wugga: Austin! Work harder on that akira buddy! I love your determination and I’m sure you will get there once you put in your efforts. Akira has a really steep learning curve. Finally, NEVER shave away that sexy beard of yours!

<u>Not in the tourney:</u>

Gutti: Take care of that cool sega bag bro. I'm glad that Sarah is much stronger in R.

Samantha: The girl who wants ALL the freebies(food, T-shirts, jackets, glowing pendant etc..etc..) during WCG. Stay Hot!

Day 6 and 7 coming next..

 

Great report! Thanks for posting!

ps. Reserving doesnt work anymore since there is normally a time limit on post modification

 

Haha, I felt so bad for you guys! And I couldn't understand a single word Tetra was trying to say!

 

<u>Day 6 8th Nov 08</u>

Tetra was really nervous about today’s fight against Adam. He decided to skip using Akira and pick Kage instead. Hence, we woke up at 730am for an early breakfast before heading back to our room for some kage vs my Jeffrey training. He was having a hard time doing shippu 3p combos (you need to OM to Jeff’s back after the shippu 3p followed by 2p > 6_p > 4pk) but got used to it after awhile.

We left the hostel at 11am to take a cab to the venue. All the matches were to be fought on Stage today. I think it was Korean vs Japan first and we were all really excited about how Korean would fair against the mighty 'best of 5' Itazan’s shun. It turned out that he hesitated too much and focus a lot on delay attacks when he has big advantage. After he lost, Itazan told us that he saw him hesitating so much, he didn’t bother to do throw escapes at all.

The Germany VS Germany match was also interesting. Bora’s 66p+k headbutt was so unexpected that it hit all the time. We were cheering loudly, hoping that Leifei would be killed by the unlikely 66p+k.

One of the main highlights was also Adam and Tetra’s match. The first set was so close! On the 9th round, Tetra who is unfamiliar with Kage and Jeffrey moves' frames, did 2k+g(16 exe) after guarding Jeff’s 3k+g(-3 on guard) and was killed by Adam’s 2p. With more failed shippu 3p combos, Adam cleaned off Tetra on the next round.

I was still thinking that the semi finals would be played the following day until I was told by the referee that it was gonna be 2pm. Damn! I didn’t even trained and I was going to play against Adam already.

Tetra brought the next day coupon instead of today’s. We beg and beg the German security chicks to let us in until they gave in and accept Tetra’s wrong coupon. It meant that he would not be able enter that ‘Player’s Restaurant’ the next day. We quickly ate some pasta and talked about strategies against Adam. I decided to pick Kage since we had already talked and trained using him against Jeffrey. I met Adam in the toilet. We both were so nervous about the match that we needed to pee! I told him I was going to pick Kage anyway.

Semi-finals weren’t on the stage though. We played at the xbox set up at the Group qualifying area. Adam and I were both interview before and after the match. Verena (referee) reminded us to save the replay after each match before we went ahead.

I wanted to play a traditional Kage initially by saving the OM p and 3p+k for the following match. However, I kept freezing when Adam does k cancel and ate so many of his splash mountain throws. Adam taps k~g so hard that it made me think that a knee was coming every time. For the record, Adam’s stick K broke after our match. LOL. Our first match ended 5~4 and Adam requested for a stage changed for the next one which I was fine. The 2nd round I focus on doing shippu 2kk a lot as I noticed that Adam stood guarded almost all the time when he saw Tetra in shippu stance. It worked pretty well and I manage to win the 2nd match. Adam was kinda excited as he even forgot about saving the 2nd match and went immediately to the next match. The final match I was a OM p and 3p+k whore. Jeffrey’s p and 2p is 12 frames so after OM p hits, 3p+k beats everything. I think Adam was a little confused by it and I clinched the silver medal with a 3p+k rung out.

Finals were on the next day. We stay at the venue to play a lot of casual games. I had a marathon against Gutti’s Sarah. His Sarah made me feel I was in Japan again.

We all decided to play at Deutz hotel again so Tetra and I went back to pack our xbox set up. When we came back, Gutti had already set up his projector and was playing. Later on, Bora brought his xbox too and with mine, we had 3 wonderful setups and played till 2am in the morning. Tetra again gave up at around 1am and was sleeping on the stools. I tried playing against Itazan but still didn’t do well. Yamamba and Wonhee didn’t join us that night. We met Wonhee downstairs though but he said he is too sad to join us for VF. He must be feeling terrible as he didn’t do as well as Aoyuka.

 

Nice report! Thumbs up! Now when i read this i realize that i havent played one match with wonhee ....damn! 6 days in cologne...but acutally it wasnt that much....

 

Nice report Danny, "We were cheering loudly, hoping that Leifei would be killed by the unlikely 66p+k." made me lol.

 

So who won?!!!

 

Itazan from Japan.

 

Great report, thanks /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

This writeup looks great! Gona be good reading material for me for later. Thanks a ton for posting all of this.

 

Cool to hear he made the effort to go to Germany. I wish more top japanese players went abroad, maybe even just for meet ups or summat...

 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Itazan after WCG finals match with me: You are enough strong.</div></div>
/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Good work Danny! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbs_up.gif