[0:00] That's it. [0:02] >> Oh my god. Don't say it. Don't jinx it. [0:04] >> OH, HE MISSED. [0:06] >> OH YEAH, WE GOT IT. [0:08] >> WE'RE GOING TO FORTNITE. [0:10] >> WHAT'S UP EVERYONE? My name is Mitchell [0:12] Saltzman with IGN. And what you just saw [0:14] was our team for Anga and Nephew winning [0:17] the Capcom New Challengers tournament [0:19] for Street Fighter 6. This was such an [0:22] amazing, awesome experience and I [0:24] thought I would do a video kind of [0:26] walking through walking everyone through [0:28] uh what what this tournament was, what [0:31] went down, uh some of the the the key [0:33] reasons that I think our team ended up [0:35] coming up on coming out on top and uh [0:38] yeah, just kind of go through the [0:39] process of becoming a better Street [0:42] Fighter 6 player when you're coached by [0:45] someone as good as Nephew. So, let's [0:47] dive into I never thought I'd be able to [0:49] do one of these videos, but this is how [0:50] Team Nephew won the Street Fighter 6 New [0:53] Challengers tournament. So, to start, [0:55] let's just go over what this event is. [0:57] This is the third year that they've that [0:58] Capcom has done these new challenger [1:00] tournaments. The idea is that it's [1:02] similar, if you're familiar with the [1:03] Sega Jam Slam, it's pretty much Capcom's [1:06] own spin on it. The general idea is that [1:08] there are four teams that are made up of [1:10] creators. Each of those teams gets [1:12] paired with a Street Fighter 6 pro who [1:14] trains them up for a period of about a [1:17] week and a half, maybe two weeks. And [1:18] then at the end of the training period, [1:20] we all come together. We play in the [1:22] tournament where the first round [1:24] everyone plays each other. The top two [1:25] scoring teams move on to the finals [1:28] where they keep on playing each other [1:30] until one team reaches 70 points. The [1:32] teams themselves are divided by skill. [1:34] So you have the top player who's kind of [1:36] like you know I would say around 17800 [1:40] maybe even 1,900 MR. Um you have the [1:44] level below that which is the high [1:45] master tier. Uh that's generally people [1:48] who have reached 1 1600 MR or or you [1:50] know are a little bit above or a little [1:51] bit below. Then you have the [1:53] intermediate tier and then you have the [1:54] beginner tier which is people that for [1:56] the most part haven't played like a [1:58] single second of Street Fighter 6 prior [2:00] to this event. On my team, we had Blood [2:02] Thunder in the beginner tier, who is a [2:04] speedrunner, also a very skilled Tekken [2:06] player. We We really lucked out with our [2:08] beginner seed here. [2:09] >> They're going to have to definitely [2:11] leave uh leave Blood Thunder alone on [2:13] the next round of this. [2:15] >> Uh they they need to try to make this be [2:17] Blood Thunder's last game. [2:19] >> Uh Blood Thunder grinded this game like [2:22] nothing I've ever seen before in my [2:23] life. He he was doing like 12-hour [2:25] streams. He started out as a rookie and [2:27] then grinded his way all the way up to [2:29] platinum 2, which is insane. Just above [2:32] that, we have Bricky, who is a very [2:34] popular streamer. Doesn't typically play [2:35] a lot of fighting games, but has in the [2:37] past competed in a stage jam slam, so he [2:39] had a very stable base in Street Fighter [2:41] 6 to start with. [2:43] >> Oh my god. [2:46] >> Hold on, [2:46] >> bro. When are we watching? [2:50] >> This was a free 20. We thought just I [2:51] thought it was a free 20, [2:53] >> bro. I thought so, too. But Ricky said, [2:54] "Nah, you thought this was free. Uh-uh. [2:57] Look at this setup, offense." And then [3:00] we have me. And if you're not familiar [3:01] with who I am, basically my job at IGN [3:03] is a senior guides producer, which means [3:06] that my main job is to focus on guides [3:07] content. But that job doesn't always [3:09] keep me busy throughout the year. [3:11] Sometimes there are slow periods. And so [3:12] during those slow periods, I like to [3:14] take on reviews. But most relevant to [3:15] this tournament is the fact that I am a [3:17] huge fighting game fan. And these games [3:19] are really why I spend a lot of my free [3:21] time playing after work. And then above [3:23] me as our top player, we have Brawl Pro. [3:25] He's an amazingly talented fighting game [3:26] player. He used to be a coach on the [3:28] very first SAM slam for Tekken. But he [3:31] also has a damn good Zengeef in Street [3:32] Fighter, as we'll see in just a little [3:34] bit. So that's the format. That's our [3:36] team. And now I figure it would be a [3:38] good idea to kind of look into the [3:40] training sessions and just talk about [3:42] the nephew factor of it all because man, [3:45] I can't speak for everyone else on my [3:46] team, but nephew was such a huge, huge [3:49] factor in me performing the way that I [3:52] did in this tournament. Our first [3:54] training session started with a little [3:55] bit of going through some common [3:56] knowledge checks that my opponent's [3:57] characters like to use. For Caruse's [3:59] Honda, a big part of it was butts slam [4:01] counterplay. This is a tricky move that [4:03] a lot of Honda players like to use a lot [4:04] since it's plus on block leads to a [4:06] knockdown on hit which puts you in a [4:08] strike throw mix up when you get back [4:09] up. [4:10] >> I think it's neutral jump and air throw. [4:12] >> That way you'll get to both sides. [4:15] >> Yeah, cuz I think jumping back or [4:17] forward actually messes up like the if [4:20] it detects your if it's behind you or in [4:23] front of you. [4:24] >> And sure enough, this came in handy in [4:26] the actual match. [4:28] Yeah, that was a that was a little bit [4:29] of a little bit of a a run through to [4:32] start things off. Oh my god, the air [4:34] throw for Chunley. We covered her [4:36] cross-up jump that she likes to use to [4:38] get out of the corner, calling out the [4:40] instant air legs by just crouching next [4:41] to her on wake up, ways to deal with her [4:43] fireball, etc. Stuff that I'm going to [4:46] be honest, I still need to work on. But [4:48] perhaps the most valuable thing was [4:50] having Nephew simply watch me play some [4:51] ranked matches and give me feedback on [4:53] what I was doing wrong or what I was [4:55] missing out on that could be better. [4:57] >> Yeah, it was good up until you you did [4:59] the ex again and burned yourself out. [5:02] >> It was good until you did something [5:04] really stupid. [5:05] >> One of the big and easily fixable notes [5:07] that he noticed was that I was often [5:09] defaulting to shimmying instead of [5:11] establishing the threat of the throw. [5:12] Once I started throwing more, I found [5:14] that my shimmy started becoming more [5:16] successful, which not only led to me [5:18] getting big damage, but also made it so [5:20] that opponents weren't getting out of [5:21] bad spots as often. Another big tip, [5:24] which was something that I already knew, [5:25] but it was good to have reinforced, was [5:27] that I was burning myself out far too [5:30] often. A bad habit of mine was just [5:32] getting too hungry by doing drive rush [5:33] cancels in situations where the return [5:36] just wasn't worth it. And the last note [5:38] that I had to focus on was that I was [5:40] often pressing my offense when it wasn't [5:42] my turn. This can work against opponents [5:44] that don't know when it's relatively [5:46] safe to press a button on defense, but [5:48] at the level I was playing against, [5:50] moving forward after three jabs were [5:52] blocked was getting me killed, and I [5:54] needed to respect when my turn was over. [5:56] We practiced doing three jabs on block [5:58] into an instant air dive kick, which [6:00] will beat people trying to take their [6:01] turn back with a low. I also want to [6:03] take a moment to shout out the Las Vegas [6:05] local scene because while Nephew was my [6:07] main coach that I had throughout the [6:08] tournament, I also had some side [6:10] coaches. You know, one of the great [6:11] things about going to locals is that [6:12] when you get to play people uh in [6:15] person, you can talk to them after a [6:17] set. You can find out what you did [6:19] wrong. You can learn more about the [6:20] character that they're playing and you [6:22] make friends with people who can help [6:23] you. So, I especially want to shout out [6:25] and thank Prototype who took some time [6:26] out of his day to run a set with me and [6:28] then walk me through some of the holes [6:29] in my game. He was specifically telling [6:31] me that I was leaving too many gaps in [6:33] my pressure strings, which basically [6:34] allowed people to get out of my pressure [6:36] and continue their own combo by pressing [6:38] a button in between those gaps. Roach, [6:40] who also ran a set with me and told me [6:42] that on the flip side of Prototype's [6:44] advice, I shouldn't be afraid on defense [6:46] to press my fastest medium button to [6:48] find the gaps in my opponent's pressure [6:50] because often they're also not airtight [6:52] and are relying on me being too afraid [6:54] to press a button to get out of it. I [6:55] got to thank Side for the Chun Lee [6:57] matchup experience. Mugs for the Honda [6:59] experience. You know, you always hear [7:01] support your locals. Well, I mean, this [7:02] is this is going to sound really cheesy, [7:04] but I felt like my locals supported me [7:06] and it was an awesome feeling. So, shout [7:08] out to the Las Vegas local scene. And [7:09] one last shout out to my buddy Gagan who [7:11] really helped me out with the Cammy [7:12] matchup experience and just in general [7:14] my Cammy knowledge. Uh, I only got to [7:16] play Fee once in this tournament, but if [7:19] I had to go up against him again, I felt [7:20] pretty good about the matchup. So, let's [7:22] talk about the actual tournament itself. [7:23] So, it started off I had the first match [7:25] against CarQu and uh like I was talking [7:28] about earlier, I felt uniquely prepared [7:29] for this for this matchup. I feel like [7:31] you can't really grind up to to master [7:34] rank without knowing how to deal with a [7:36] lot of Honda's gimmicks. He's a [7:38] character where if you do not know how [7:40] to deal with them, you'll just get [7:41] knowledge check in cuz it's going to be [7:42] a a free win for him. And one thing that [7:45] I noticed that ended up paying off [7:46] really well. And this also kind of goes [7:48] back to Nephew telling me to throw more. [7:51] But I noticed that every time he did a [7:53] headbutt, he would just kind of stop [7:54] there and block because, you know, it's [7:56] not his turn. So, he didn't want to [7:57] press the advantage when it wasn't his [7:59] turn. So, I used that as an opportunity [8:00] to just simply walk up and throw him. [8:02] And I did this basically every time that [8:04] he headbutted me, which ended up adding [8:06] up to a lot of damage. Also, one of the [8:08] weaknesses of Honda is that his only [8:10] real non-s super reversal special move [8:12] is his EX headbutt, which is vulnerable [8:14] to grabs. So, I went in with the [8:15] strategy of making sure that I was [8:17] grabbing him constantly on his wake up [8:19] >> there. It was interesting to see the [8:21] level of matchup knowledge there, man. [8:23] >> I feel like um that was like that he had [8:25] a str that was a strategy. [8:26] >> The next matchup was Blood Thunder [8:28] versus Kyle Bossman. And look, a lot of [8:30] people probably don't know this about [8:31] me, but I am such a huge Kyle Bossman [8:33] fan. I actually stole my my salute from [8:35] him, but Blood Thunder just grinded too [8:37] hard to to lose the kind of style that [8:39] that Kyle was employing here. Actually [8:42] didn't even really know that AI had a [8:43] way to completely bypass fireballs [8:45] because I use Cammy. She doesn't have [8:47] any projectiles. But Blood Thunder knew [8:49] this matchup really well and just, you [8:51] know, did what he does. The next matchup [8:53] was Brawl Pro versus Feisty. And we I [8:56] think we all we all knew that this was [8:57] going to be a tough one. I think Feisty [8:58] has the highest MR of anyone that [9:00] participated in this tournament. So, [9:02] this was always going to be a really [9:03] tough fight and Brockport did a really [9:05] good job. He took a game off of her, but [9:07] ultimately uh Feisty Kim was too strong, [9:09] so we lost this one. But then we came [9:11] back with Bricky versus Doky Bird. I [9:13] know this was a match that Bricky was [9:15] was a little bit worried about. I think [9:16] we were under the impression that Doki [9:18] was going to use Honda because that's [9:20] who she had used in previous uh [9:21] tournaments, but she switched it up on [9:23] us. She used Mai, and I think uh Bricky [9:26] might have had a little bit of [9:27] unfamiliarity in this matchup, but he [9:29] ended up doing really really well. I [9:31] think Bricky showed really good [9:32] knowledge of Street Fighter 6's [9:33] mechanics. He was using his drive rush [9:35] to get plus frame. He was using drive [9:37] impact in the corner to get the stun and [9:38] just played really solidly overall, [9:40] allowing us to take the victory over [9:42] Team Shine with a score of 30 to 20. [9:44] COME ON, BRICKY. OH, YES. YEAH. [9:47] >> LET'S GO, BABY. [9:49] >> LET'S GO, BRICKY. [9:50] >> Hell yeah. Our next match up was against [9:52] Duel Kevin's team, and this time Bricky [9:54] was first up at that. And I feel I feel [9:57] kind of bad for Bricky because he had to [9:58] he basically all of his matchups were [10:00] against newer DLC characters. He had to [10:02] go up against Mai, he had to go up [10:04] against C Viper, and then later he had [10:05] to go go up against Alex. So again, [10:08] there was a little bit of unfamiliarity [10:10] going into each of these matchups for [10:11] him, but again, he did a great job. Uh [10:13] he ended up losing this one, but he did [10:15] manage to take it to the last game, last [10:17] round, and it was even really close. He [10:18] was looking really good at the beginning [10:19] of the round, but then his opponent [10:21] Ricky Peacock hit a level three that [10:23] kind of just flipped the momentum of the [10:24] match and he ended up losing the set. [10:26] >> Gear to DI. [10:28] >> Wake up. [10:29] >> Wake up level one. [10:30] >> Yeah, I I was like, is he Ricky going to [10:32] do wake up level one? But the thing is, [10:34] it doesn't matter cuz if he did wake up [10:35] level one, the size would have still [10:37] blown it up. And Ricky Peacock taking [10:40] game number one for dual Kevin. The next [10:43] match was a bummer because it was the [10:44] one I was most looking forward to was [10:46] the mirror match between me and FDX. I'm [10:49] a huge fan of FE's Tekken content. He [10:51] has basically single-handedly made me [10:53] into a halfway decent Tekken player. So [10:56] getting to play against him in Street [10:58] Fighter was was kind of awesome for me. [11:00] Uh but unfortunately he kind of [11:01] steamrololled me, but you know he just [11:03] kind of out camied me. Uh he did a [11:05] really good job of using uh spin [11:07] knuckle, heavy spin knuckle to get in [11:09] and just, you know, put me in a [11:11] situation where I had a guess between [11:12] strike or throw and his reads were just [11:14] on point. He was DPing me whenever I [11:16] went for aggression. He wasn't biting on [11:18] any of my bait. He was just he just [11:20] played really really solidly. If I did [11:22] end up playing him again, I was going to [11:23] be ready to check those heavy spin [11:26] knuckles. So, at the very least, that [11:28] would have been different if we ended up [11:29] playing again. But yeah, man, I got no [11:31] excuses. He played he played a better [11:33] Cammy and I ended up losing this match. [11:36] >> Yo, can they play again? Bro, that was [11:38] hype. I like that match a lot. The next [11:40] match was our 20 point match. And [11:42] anytime we had an opportunity to put [11:44] Blood Thunder in the 20point match, uh, [11:46] we were going to take it and I think [11:47] it's pretty clear to see why. Uh, I [11:49] don't think anyone at this beginner [11:50] level really had the tools to deal with [11:53] Blood Thunder. And he ended up taking [11:54] this 20 over Abby King Sm. And that [11:57] ended up making this next match between [11:59] Brawl Pro and Beckman really important [12:02] because we were tied up going into this [12:03] final match, which is a position I think [12:05] Brawl Pro kind of ended up finding [12:07] himself in a lot. He kind of was our [12:09] closer and for good reason. I thought [12:11] this was going to be an interesting [12:12] match because on paper I think Ingrid [12:14] has a really good a really favorable [12:16] matchup against Zangie just because her [12:18] her range game is so oppressive. But at [12:21] the same time, if Zangief gets in, uh [12:24] boy, uh Ingred's in a lot of trouble. [12:26] And I think that's kind of exactly how [12:28] it played out here. Brawl Pro was just [12:29] able to bully his way in. Beckman made a [12:31] couple of losing guesses and ended up [12:33] taking some SBDs and that's really all [12:35] it takes. [12:36] >> Let's go. [12:37] >> Oh, let's go. [12:40] >> Clutch. [12:42] >> Kill her, bro. [12:44] >> Then we had to face off against our [12:46] rivals in this competition, Team JB. The [12:49] first match was Skull Volver versus [12:51] Blood Thunder. And this was probably one [12:53] of my favorite matchups to watch just [12:55] because of the sheer earnestness of [12:58] Skullvolver's Zangief. You know, you can [13:00] kind of hear it in our chat. We we [13:02] didn't want Blood Thunder to lose, but [13:04] if if he did, you know, we would have we [13:07] would have cheered on Skullvolver for [13:08] for pulling it off. [13:12] >> Oh man, he is aggressive. [13:15] >> Oh my god. We were [13:16] >> We This is the poster child for Modern [13:18] Death. [13:19] >> I love him so much, man. [13:22] Oh. [13:24] >> Oh, he tried to grab the leg. [13:27] >> What's funny is it should have worked. [13:29] >> Yeah. Fortunately for us, Blood Thunder [13:31] knew all the counters to all the things [13:32] that he was doing and we ended up taking [13:34] those 10 points. [13:36] >> GG. Blood Thunder. 10 points on the [13:39] board for Team Neph. Which brings us to [13:43] the first of what ended up being four [13:44] matchups for me against Huntress. And uh [13:47] this this first one didn't go very well [13:48] for me. I tried to play this match like [13:50] how I would normally play it, which is [13:52] doing a lot of dive kicks, trying to [13:54] kind of bait out a response, and nothing [13:57] was working. The dive kicks just weren't [13:59] effective. Whether it was because I was [14:01] just hitting them too high, or I was [14:02] just landing too close to her feet [14:04] without touching her feet, which led to [14:05] a punish, she wasn't falling for my [14:07] hooligan throw, which is something that [14:09] I rely on a lot until people give me a [14:11] reason not to rely on it. So, I ended up [14:13] losing this 2-1. But I did end up [14:15] getting a lot of information that I put [14:17] to use in our subsequent matches. That [14:20] was godlike. Yo, Huntress Huntress Chan [14:22] Lee is nasty, dog. [14:24] >> No, she she got a good Chung Lee. Her [14:25] Chung Le is really really good right [14:27] here. The next matchup was Bricky versus [14:29] Con. And I think this was probably [14:30] Bricky's finest hour. Coney actually had [14:32] a full rank advantage over Bricky. His [14:35] Alex was diamond three. Bricky had a [14:37] platinum three Chun Lee. And so I think [14:38] a lot of people probably expected Coney [14:40] to just kind of roll through Bricky. But [14:42] this matchup, which ended up being a [14:44] best of five, worth 20 points because [14:46] team JB had the home team advantage, [14:48] which allowed them to select the 20 [14:49] point matchup. And Bricky actually took [14:52] the first two games pretty clearly. He [14:54] played like a Chun Lee. Absolutely [14:56] possessed. [14:59] >> Yo, are you kidding me? [15:02] >> Nephew. [15:03] >> Yeah, [15:04] >> dude. Bricky, you're playing so good. [15:06] >> Oh my god. [15:08] Unfortunately, Con made some really [15:09] smart adaptations in the next three [15:11] matches and he ended up taking the whole [15:13] set. But man, this was a really hype set [15:15] to watch and I urge people to check it [15:17] out because I think it's a really good [15:19] encapsulation of what the new [15:21] challengers tournament is all about. [15:23] >> Level three. [15:25] >> He blunts. My god. [15:31] >> Oh my god. [15:34] Cody back to the wall. The pressure of [15:38] his team all on his shoulders down 02 in [15:43] grand finals and he brings it all the [15:46] way back. So that tied up the score [15:48] between us and team JB going into the [15:51] final match of Garpro versus Hotashi. [15:53] And it really should come as no surprise [15:55] considering Hotashi is a former EVO [15:57] champ in Guilty Gears drive. But man, [16:01] Hotashi's fundamentals in neutral [16:02] throughout all these matches really [16:04] against Brawl Pro were just so good. I [16:06] think the only thing that really held [16:07] Hotashi back throughout this whole [16:09] tournament was a couple of drop combos, [16:10] like crucial drop combos. But in this [16:13] first match up against Brawl Pro, he did [16:14] end up getting the better of us, which [16:16] ended up giving us our first overall [16:18] loss in the tournament to Team JB, [16:20] giving them the number one seed spot and [16:22] us the number two spot going into the [16:24] finals. I'm not going to go into every [16:26] individual match of the finals because [16:28] it's a lot of just us playing the same [16:30] people, but I did want to go over my [16:32] matches against Huntress and talk a [16:33] little bit about the adjustments that I [16:35] made that Nephew kind of drilled into [16:37] me. So, Nephew kept on pushing on me [16:39] that I need to stop doing dive kicks, [16:41] which was hard for me because I'm so [16:43] used to doing dive kicks as Cammy. It's [16:45] it's like untraining muscle memory. But, [16:47] Nephew was right. I found a lot of [16:49] success just hitting her block with [16:50] regular jumpins, which for those that [16:52] don't know, puts you in kind of a strike [16:54] throw mixup because when someone blocks [16:55] your jump in, you are at a frame [16:57] advantage. You can either shimmy to try [16:58] to bait out a throw, press an attack, [17:00] which will usually counter their own [17:02] attack since you have frame advantage, [17:04] or you can just do a throw yourself. [17:06] Little four drivers to get him. [17:09] >> Good. [17:12] Look at the damage on that. Big damage. [17:14] Do it again. [17:16] Ro can't afford to drive impact anymore. [17:19] Ooh, [17:21] nephew also noticed that she kept on [17:23] catching my dash up. So, I tried my best [17:25] to do more walking and less dashing. [17:27] These adjustments paid off and I ended [17:29] up taking game two. I lost game three in [17:31] a very close set and then came back in [17:34] game four to win a very crucial win that [17:36] ended up taking a lot of pressure off [17:38] our team and ensured that we would go to [17:40] a final match with Hotashi and Brawl [17:42] Pro. [17:44] YES. LET'S GO. [17:46] >> LET'S GO. [17:46] >> THAT'S MY RABBIT. That's my rabbit. [17:49] >> I saw you're always a little bit ahead. [17:52] So, I was like, what did he do? [17:56] >> Which then brings us to the very [17:57] beginning of this video where Brawl Pro [17:59] was able to close it out against [18:00] Sotashi, giving us the opportunity to [18:04] >> WE'RE GOING TO FLORIDA. [18:06] >> AND THAT'S ABOUT IT. I can't even really [18:08] begin to describe how amazing of an [18:12] experience this was for me. This has [18:13] been something that I've I've literally [18:16] dreamed about being able to be a part [18:17] of. Never really thinking that I would [18:19] actually get to do it. So, thank you so [18:21] much to Capcom. Thank you to all my [18:22] teammates. Thanks to all the other [18:24] teams. Thank you, Nephew, for helping me [18:26] up my game. I' I I used to think that [18:28] master was an unattainable level for me. [18:30] And then I hit it and I never thought I [18:31] would hit 1,600. And then I hit 1,600 [18:34] and I plateaued there for probably the [18:36] better part of the last year or so. And [18:39] with Nephew's help, not only have I [18:41] blown past 1,600, I've gotten as close [18:43] as like 1670. I'm almost at 1,700, which [18:47] is crazy to me. 1,700 now actually feels [18:50] like a goal that I can actually attain. [18:52] Uh, man, I love Street Fighter. I love [18:54] fighting games, and I hope you guys do, [18:56] too. Thank you all so much for watching, [18:57] and until next time, I'll see you then.