It's been over a year since my last blog post...
But, I hope that you all forgive me for not writing as much here this year. With COVID affecting everyone in various ways and the uptick that came towards the end of my time at Ohio State University, I ended up being way too busy...
That being said. Now that I've graduated from OSU successfully and have taken a break from work, I have some space to write. I'll go straight into the next part without much delay.
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~ Competing in 2020 ~
Offline Major
It probably works out quite well that this post comes out after the previous year's reflection, because I can talk about my mindset at the start of the year. At the end of last year, I was feeling very content with where I was skill wise compared to the rest of the country and among my Akatsuki peer group. I didn't feel like I needed to prove anything and honestly speaking, I was pretty hesitant on leaving my side of the region to continue to compete in the last few months of UNIST.
With that being said, I found out that the latest demo for UNICLR was due to be shown off at Frosty Faustings and I thought to myself that I should go. I had some money in excess, I told myself that I wouldn't take things super seriously and I scrambled last minute to make arrangements for where I would end up staying at the event. For those who may or may not know me, especially the last bit is extremely out of character for me, lol.
I also decided to do my best jasepi impression and entered the event with a joke name: SUGOI | perc nowitski. It's a name I still think is funny and I did go out of my way to tweet out that this is what I was going to enter as, but it ended up backfiring for me because I still went unseeded. This was going to end up backfiring on me pretty badly LOL.
So this is the backdrop to me going to Frosty Faustings. I got there on Friday with all my stuff, trying to find the people that I ended up rooming with. Unluckily for me, the hotel that the event was actually being hosted at was not the hotel that I would be staying at, so I ended up carrying around all of my shit for basically the entire day. If I recall correctly, I did end up taking my stuff over late in the afternoon before pools were supposed to begin.
With all this involved, my trip through pools was a very short one. I played and defeated a Byakuya player named Reyban, who told me that a discussion we had at CEOtaku (2017?) was one that helped him continue his interest in UNI. Even though the set was 2-0, it was a very close set. I lead Orie because I felt more comfortable with playing the neutral in that MU at the time.
The next round, I played dmcAxle, an Eltnum player from Canada that I would come to know a little better over the course of the year. I don't actually remember too many details about this set, except that I feel like I went up 1-0 and gradually felt the set slipping away from me until I lost, lol. Axle is really strong and Eltnum is a character I struggle with, so even though I was disappointed that I lost, I tried to focus on losers.
Ryan Hunter had also been upset by Frankentank's Wald in the Winner's Side of the bracket, setting me up for a matchup I had been dreading a lot. Ryan is an extremely strong Yuzuriha in my mind and I remember that our games had split when we played at Climax of Night [re:run]. Given the circumstances, I did not want to play him at all, but alas...
I didn't really get to play him, because I was kept out and dispatched in 4 straight rounds to be eliminated by his Yuzuriha. Out at 65th place... I'm actually still a bit sour about it now, but what is done is done. I know not to play around with entry next time.
Aside from that, I had a lot of fun messing around with the demo there, talking to my peers and such. I had a really fun time playing casuals when I decided to and in watching everyone play in their various games.
That basically wraps up the majors section of the year.
As far as local events, I continued to compete in the Burst and Brews locals as well as choosing to travel up to the Equalizer events in Toledo. From UNIST through to UNICLR, I continued a small streak of 1st places through tough competition. That ended up feeling pretty good, I suppose.
More importantly, I have to admit that I'm hoping that there is still some interest from the local scene in UNICLR when it's safer to host and run events again. Nearing of the start of the pandemic, the event that I ran: "Trying to Learn? The Answer is [cl-r]" ended up relatively small, though it was enjoyable. Makai World Cup 2020, which I was working on UNIclr for was also cancelled.
The main TO for our Burst and Brews local stepped down prior to the swing of the pandemic and we lost the venue that I ran Trying to Learn at. I'm not sure if we still have our Donatos local venue, so the state of Columbus UNI is one that I'm actually pretty worried about. I'm sincerely hoping that we'll have accessible venues in the future and that we'll get a strong, feature rich update to UNICLR that will encourage players to want to pick up the game again. I think that this current version of UNI is very good and that we have the potential to come out as a community strongly again.
As far as competing online goes, I'll be speaking the least about this section, I guess...
I entered a fair amount of the Lunar Phase Online events as they ran in the summer, generally finishing in the top 8 or better. I also competed in one of the Low Kick Esports Midwest UNI events and placed 2nd to Duesta. I entered Quarterly Rapport and I got 2nd to Garmfield there as well. I also entered two teams tournaments (Stand Tech Accidental Desperate Struggle 1 and 2) which were both won by my respective partners and I; BloomingLotus (formerly Royal Heart) and StarxUnderscore. I played in an exhibition with Darkhero and Big Black that I won few games in...
Finally, I placed 3rd in ESL's November UNI Monthly final on PSN, losing to Big Black and nyczbrandon.
- In May, I began commentating online events alongside Gosuda, my usual commentating partner. We've commentated Southeast events, Low Kick Esports events in the Midwest and Lunar Phase Online events in the East Coast.
- In June, I worked with Frosty, Redblade and Chickzama to produce an online UNICLR Exhibition for the Color of Change.
- In August, I worked closely with Redblade on gathering talent, organizational duties and collaboration with the Japanese scene for his Rebirth of Division exhibition series. I also commentated the Southeast and Southwest portions alongside DrunkSuikaIbuki!
- In September, I created my own advanced trials for Akatsuki for interested players to attempt and then followed up with the last 7 in October.
And last but not least, I have a certain project that I'm hoping to push out by the end of the year, so please look forward to it!
All-in-all, even with the pandemic changing the dynamic of how I interact with the community, it feels like I was able to accomplish quite a bit. I'm looking forward to conditions improving in the next year, so I can go back at it harder than ever. Thank you for reading!
Offline Major
With that being said, I found out that the latest demo for UNICLR was due to be shown off at Frosty Faustings and I thought to myself that I should go. I had some money in excess, I told myself that I wouldn't take things super seriously and I scrambled last minute to make arrangements for where I would end up staying at the event. For those who may or may not know me, especially the last bit is extremely out of character for me, lol.
I also decided to do my best jasepi impression and entered the event with a joke name: SUGOI | perc nowitski. It's a name I still think is funny and I did go out of my way to tweet out that this is what I was going to enter as, but it ended up backfiring for me because I still went unseeded. This was going to end up backfiring on me pretty badly LOL.
So this is the backdrop to me going to Frosty Faustings. I got there on Friday with all my stuff, trying to find the people that I ended up rooming with. Unluckily for me, the hotel that the event was actually being hosted at was not the hotel that I would be staying at, so I ended up carrying around all of my shit for basically the entire day. If I recall correctly, I did end up taking my stuff over late in the afternoon before pools were supposed to begin.
With all this involved, my trip through pools was a very short one. I played and defeated a Byakuya player named Reyban, who told me that a discussion we had at CEOtaku (2017?) was one that helped him continue his interest in UNI. Even though the set was 2-0, it was a very close set. I lead Orie because I felt more comfortable with playing the neutral in that MU at the time.
The next round, I played dmcAxle, an Eltnum player from Canada that I would come to know a little better over the course of the year. I don't actually remember too many details about this set, except that I feel like I went up 1-0 and gradually felt the set slipping away from me until I lost, lol. Axle is really strong and Eltnum is a character I struggle with, so even though I was disappointed that I lost, I tried to focus on losers.
Ryan Hunter had also been upset by Frankentank's Wald in the Winner's Side of the bracket, setting me up for a matchup I had been dreading a lot. Ryan is an extremely strong Yuzuriha in my mind and I remember that our games had split when we played at Climax of Night [re:run]. Given the circumstances, I did not want to play him at all, but alas...
I didn't really get to play him, because I was kept out and dispatched in 4 straight rounds to be eliminated by his Yuzuriha. Out at 65th place... I'm actually still a bit sour about it now, but what is done is done. I know not to play around with entry next time.
Aside from that, I had a lot of fun messing around with the demo there, talking to my peers and such. I had a really fun time playing casuals when I decided to and in watching everyone play in their various games.
That basically wraps up the majors section of the year.
~ Competing in 2020 ~
Offline Local
Offline Local
As far as local events, I continued to compete in the Burst and Brews locals as well as choosing to travel up to the Equalizer events in Toledo. From UNIST through to UNICLR, I continued a small streak of 1st places through tough competition. That ended up feeling pretty good, I suppose.
More importantly, I have to admit that I'm hoping that there is still some interest from the local scene in UNICLR when it's safer to host and run events again. Nearing of the start of the pandemic, the event that I ran: "Trying to Learn? The Answer is [cl-r]" ended up relatively small, though it was enjoyable. Makai World Cup 2020, which I was working on UNIclr for was also cancelled.
The main TO for our Burst and Brews local stepped down prior to the swing of the pandemic and we lost the venue that I ran Trying to Learn at. I'm not sure if we still have our Donatos local venue, so the state of Columbus UNI is one that I'm actually pretty worried about. I'm sincerely hoping that we'll have accessible venues in the future and that we'll get a strong, feature rich update to UNICLR that will encourage players to want to pick up the game again. I think that this current version of UNI is very good and that we have the potential to come out as a community strongly again.
~ Competing in 2020 ~
Online
Online
As far as competing online goes, I'll be speaking the least about this section, I guess...
I entered a fair amount of the Lunar Phase Online events as they ran in the summer, generally finishing in the top 8 or better. I also competed in one of the Low Kick Esports Midwest UNI events and placed 2nd to Duesta. I entered Quarterly Rapport and I got 2nd to Garmfield there as well. I also entered two teams tournaments (Stand Tech Accidental Desperate Struggle 1 and 2) which were both won by my respective partners and I; BloomingLotus (formerly Royal Heart) and StarxUnderscore. I played in an exhibition with Darkhero and Big Black that I won few games in...
Finally, I placed 3rd in ESL's November UNI Monthly final on PSN, losing to Big Black and nyczbrandon.
----
To end off this reflection, I'll mention some of the things I ended up doing without directly competing in events.
- Early in February, I showed up in Hold Back to Block's Documentary on UNI:
- In April, I updated my combo document and uploaded a video component for it:
To end off this reflection, I'll mention some of the things I ended up doing without directly competing in events.
- Early in February, I showed up in Hold Back to Block's Documentary on UNI:
- In April, I updated my combo document and uploaded a video component for it:
- In May, I began commentating online events alongside Gosuda, my usual commentating partner. We've commentated Southeast events, Low Kick Esports events in the Midwest and Lunar Phase Online events in the East Coast.
- In June, I worked with Frosty, Redblade and Chickzama to produce an online UNICLR Exhibition for the Color of Change.
- In August, I worked closely with Redblade on gathering talent, organizational duties and collaboration with the Japanese scene for his Rebirth of Division exhibition series. I also commentated the Southeast and Southwest portions alongside DrunkSuikaIbuki!
- In September, I created my own advanced trials for Akatsuki for interested players to attempt and then followed up with the last 7 in October.
And last but not least, I have a certain project that I'm hoping to push out by the end of the year, so please look forward to it!
All-in-all, even with the pandemic changing the dynamic of how I interact with the community, it feels like I was able to accomplish quite a bit. I'm looking forward to conditions improving in the next year, so I can go back at it harder than ever. Thank you for reading!
