08/02/03

Marvel Vs. Capcom

Tournament Wrap Up

Capcom Pentathlon Game 1

Wow.  Its been a while since I have done a write up about a tournament.  Well I suppose if any event is worth writing about it would be the Third annual Capcom Pentathlon.  The first year we had this we had quite a few people make long trips from Saginaw and Flint.  Saginaw dominated every event that they entered.  Trigon was the first ever Capcom Pentathlon winner.  Last year they didn't come out to any of pentathlon events.  Bryce, who finished 5th the previous year, walked away with the second Capcom Pentathlon championship. 

This year to start out the pentathlon Bryce was nowhere to be seen.  If Bryce is to successfully defend his title he has his work cut out for him.  The lowest place he scored last year was 4th.  The year before that Trigon didn't show up to the Project Justice but the lowest he placed was a three way tie for second.  Everything else was a tie for first place or a first place finish out right.  Both champions have won their pentathlon by ten points.  Trigon finished with 64% of the total points possible and Bryce finished with 74% of the perfect 50 point score.

This year I have doubled the points.  This wont really make any difference in the placings, but I like it better if the perfect score would be 100 points.  

The format has stayed the same but for those who are unfamiliar with my unique style or tournaments here is a run down.  Tournament rules were as follows;  5 pools of players play everyone else in there pool.  The best winning record of each pool automatically advances to the finals.  The second best record goes to a wild card pool.  The third best would advance to the Last chance pool.  In the last chance pool only one would advance to the wild card pool.  In the wild card pool the top three would advance to the finals.   The winner would be determined by another round robin in the final pool.  Here are the results;

Pool 1

Pool 2

Jeff Vs. Gabe was a really good match.  Allot of damage was being dealt out in this slug fest.  Gabe, the youngest of five brothers who participated in the tournament was the only one of his brothers to advance strait to the finals.  Two of his brothers would join him in the finals but would have a harder road ahead of them to get there.

This was a grudge match from two years ago.  When Tojo beat Adrian in the first round of the first pentathlon.  Adrian said he was here to collect.  All in good fun and with out the anger that loomed in the air of the first pentathlon Tojo went right through Adrian.   It got so bad for Adrian that he was going to even walk away, but he finished it out.  Adrian is the oldest of the 5 brothers who played, but unfortunately for him age did not mean an advantage in skill as Andre bested him as was in one of the many Brother Vs. Brother match ups.  Better luck next time man. 

This pool is the very reason why I go though the pain and hassle of a Last Chance and Wild Card pools.  Isaiah would end up finishing 5th overall in the tournament beating three of the players who advanced directly to the finals.  I don't think it would be all that fair that the 5th beast player is eliminated because luck would put him in the same pool as the 2nd and 3rd place finishers.   

Isaiah would quickly cut through the competition showing his dominance over the other 3rd place finishers.

With momentum on his side Isaiah battled his way though the competition, beating his brother Tim, and getting revenge against The Mop who beat him in the prelims.   The Mop would loose only to Isaiah and Isaiah's brother Andre.   Matt, who finished 2nd in the overall pentathlon last year was really hoping to make it to the finals and get some points under his belt.  Especially since the reining champion, Bryce, was not here.  Unfortunately for Matt both him and Bryce are now trailing the race with 0 points.  But there is plenty of time left. 

They fought in the prelims and The Mop won sending Isaiah to the Last Chance Pool.  Then in the Wild Card Isaiah would get his revenge, however The Mop would just make the cut and join the others in the finals including Isaiah where they would fight one final time.  This time The Mop would get the victory.  In the end The Mop would finish 3rd and Isaiah 5th.  

Andre's combacks

Andre didn't start off to well in the finals loosing to Ali and The Mop right off the go.  After that however he would only loose one more match and that would be to Tojo.  When Andre went against the youngest brother Gabe, it was a very close match that Gabe held a slight edge in.  However Andre wasn't about to cave under the pressure as he managed to come back and take the cliff hanger of a match.  Later when he took on Greg, it looked as though Greg was going to take it.  Then with a sudden shift in momentum, Andre would take that one as well.  Over all Andre would finish with a respectable 4th.  

Greg

Have you ever heard the old expression "Always a brides maid but never a bride?"   Well that would describe Greg.  He makes the long drive down from Flint and often participates along with Jeff at our tournaments.  Greg quite often advances to the finals.  An all around solid player, Greg has never won a Game Hits tournament.   I am not bringing this up to rub it in or anything, but more to say thanks Greg for continuing to make the trips down here.  You are always a pleasure to have around.  I look forward putting your name on the winners board someday.

Can you think of a better way to spend your birthday then to win the first tournament of the pentathlon?  That's right it Tojo's 22nd birthday was also on this day.  Happy Birthday Tojo.

For all the hype about these to squaring it off I must say it was quite disappointing.  Even though Ali didn't loose to anyone else, Tojo didn't have much more of a problem with him than anyone else.  This is not to put Ali down, but rather to credit Tojo's skill in the game.  They decided to play two out of three matches.  After the first match Ali complained about his control stick, so they switched for the second match.  The controller must have been fine or at least good enough for Tojo, as he easily took this tournament .

Thanks to all those who came out for this tournament.  Even though Tojo won't be back for the rest of the pentathlon, he really kicked it off with a bang.   Congratulations Tojo.  I can hardly wait for the game 2 of the.......

Capcom Pentathlon 3

-Shawn