Functionally, with the conclusion of what is most certainly the last local of the year, I feel like I can safely say that my 2019 UNI season has concluded. As I start writing this, I'm struck with the feeling that this has been a pretty long year. Often, when speaking about having a long year, I think that there's a negative connotation that follows, but when I stop and think about everything, quite a lot has happened!
I mentioned this in a tweet, before but all of the stuff there had all happened in the same year. I think that I should probably talk about my year as a player first though and contrast that with my goals from last year's review:
- Secure myself in Top-16s at majors. (2/6) [X] -
Frosty Faustings XI: 5th / 177
Michigan M@sters 2019: 13th / 124
KVOxKSB 2019: 25th / 95
Combo Breaker 2019: 25th / 427
Evolution 2019: 65th / 1024
Climax of Night [re:run]: 17th / 237
Well... I think that I fell short of this specific goal that I wanted to set. I think that the quality of play in North America and in myself has definitely risen drastically over the course of the year, but if I'm looking at this objectively, 33% is missing the mark. I'm not really too unhappy about missing this goal and I think that I want to attempt this goal again in 2020!
- Top 8 at a major. [O] -
Not much really to say about this one, I hit my first Top 8 at a major level with Frosty Faustings XI! I achieved this one pretty early in the year, so I was pretty excited about that. I also had a shot at doing it again at Climax of Night, so I'll change my goal for 2020 here to Top 8-ing two majors!
- Become the best player in the Midwest. [X] -
I'm proud to say that I'm not at the top because the Midwest is so strong, but it also tears me up inside that I didn't get this goal. With Magnets alone, I think I went 0-5 in sets this year, so that is something I wanna improve on next year. I won't list the order, but I would say that the players (to date) that I'll have to pass up in regards to placements if I do wanna become the best in the Midwest are: RoyalHeart, UNIST_Player, Magnets and Duesta.
This doesn't ignore my rivals from Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky. Ohio and other parts though. Once more, I'll be trying for this goal in 2020. I happened to notice that I didn't really win anything outside of Ohio as far as regional events, too. 2nd at Makai (in Ohio), two Boiler Rooms, and at Summer Games 2. Then, 13th at Michigan M@sters, and 5th at Frosty Faustings... I guess I should put in that I wanna win something outside of Ohio too then, huh?
I've generally done well on the East Coast, with 9th at Duel Moon and 5th at Red Bull Conquest Philly this year.
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As a community member, I took a bit of a step back from doing community-run events by myself. What I did do though this year was:
- Helped seed numerous tournaments this year.
- Organized and ran UNI @ Makai 2019.
- Organized and ran the 2v2 side tournament at MiM@s 2019.
- Volunteered as a senior bracket runner @ CB 2019, assisted in running and organizing the 4v4 Teams Exhibition with UGS | Havard and Queen of Moths.
- Organized and ran random 2v2 teams reverse selection and run part of UNI Singles @ Lunar Phase 20: Bodega Special along with the Lunar Phase Production group.
- Organized and ran NA/EU vs JP Exhibitions at EVO 2019 with DJ Cream and Hagure.
- Performed in an advisory role for CoN [re:run] and ran the 4v4 Regional Team Exhibition alongside Team DATA's Kara.
- Ran UNI brackets, commentate and setup stream matches for RAJ 2019.
- Provided commentary at Columbus locals, Frosty Faustings (Top 16), LP20 (Top 8), AnimEVO (exhibitions).
- Wrote a combo document for Akatsuki players.
- The stuff in this aforementioned tweet.
- Streamed some primers and did pools analysis for UNI majors.
- Recorded casual sets and MMs for the folks back at home at various events on my YT channel.
- Wrote a few blog posts here and there (lol).
So... maybe I didn't take as much of a step back as I thought that I might have. It's interesting when you actually itemize all of this stuff, huh? Uh... I'll be planning to do some of these duties in 2020 but probably not all of them again.
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As far as facing into 2020 with the end of UNIST and the incoming of UNICLR, I've been left with a few thoughts. I also wasn't able to hit the goal of becoming the best Akatsuki player in the US by the time this version ended, since Squish is honestly just too amazing. I think I was largely in my own head and too stubborn to admit how much I respect Squish and how he plays but those sort of feelings have dissipated. I don't think that I've hit his level yet, but in CLR I fully intend to pass him up. I think that I can relatively confidently say that I'm in the Top 3 of Akatsuki players worldwide as this version of the game comes to an end, but in CLR I wanna make that Top 1. Who knows if I'll be able to achieve that or not, but we'll give it our best for as long as I'm able.
Also, I want to continue to be a force for good in our community and help in creating or maintaining an environment that feels comfortable and safe for players to interact with both outside and inside of the Midwest.
Finally, I've gotten the go ahead from the head honcho to announce that I've been re-signed for the next year with Sugoi Factory with an additional caveat: I'm also available to seek out additional opportunities too. So, if there is a team that is seeking to breaking into the UNI space for next year and are looking for a consultant or a coach for their new potential prospect, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter DMs or through this email account: enginojuushichi@gmail.com. Let's talk!
With that, I'll end it here. See you again soon, for this year's scene review!
