The last Sunday of April saw the Belfast FGC descend once again on the Accidental Theatre for more Button Mash action. 2XKO, GGST, and T8 were carried over from February, while Street Fighter 6 returned to the line-up and Capcom vs SNK 2 was the throwback game. Let’s check out how they went down:
Street Fighter 6#
Mopsy (Zangief) grappled the competition into submission, racking up consecutive 3-0 victories against Skeletorr (Alex), kaworuscott (Marisa), and PointyGoose (Ken) on his way to the grand final. PointyGoose would face Neilo (Alex) in the losers’ final, where he would go 2-0 up before Neilo pulled it back to 2-2. PointyGoose prevailed in game 5, though, earning a rematch against Mopsy. This time, he at least managed to win a game, but Mopsy would once again prove to be too strong in a 3-1 win.
Tekken 8#
Friezer (Dragunov) was the class of the field in this round-robin event, finishing on a 6-0 record. Behind him, there was an ultra-close battle for second, with vague (Miary Zo) and kaworuscott (King) both claiming 4-2 records. vague took second place as she had won a higher percentage of her games (8-4, 66.67%) than kaworuscott (9-5, 64.29%). Shout-out to Skeletorr, who used a different character in every match (Armor King, Eddy, Heihachi, Lili, Miary Zo, Bryan) on his way to a 3-3 record.
2XKO#
Oisin Alumento (Ahri/Yasuo) swept aside all opposition as he won 2XKO with a 100% record not just in terms of matches, but in games as well. Second place went to Mopsy (Yasuo/Darius/Teemo/Braum/Akali/Warwick/Blitzcrank) and third went to Pennma (Illaoi/Warwick/Vi).
Guilty Gear Strive#
mattie (Jam/Ky) finally ended Jo’s (Testament) winning streak, doing it the hard way after being sent to losers’ bracket by Mister_Finer (Johnny). Orion (Jam) and Oisin Alumento (Baiken) were sent packing with successive 3-0 wins, leading to a rematch with Mister_Finer who had lost the winners’ final to Jo. This time Mister_Finer won 3-2, before another pair of 3-2 wins against Jo in the grand final.
Capcom vs SNK 2#
kaworuscott (Yamazaki/Eagle/Geese) dominated the opposition in the throwback tournament, winning 3-0 over Dodongo’s Cavern (Hibiki/Maki)* in the winners’ final, before repeating that performance in the grand final. In the losers’ final, Dodongo’s Cavern defeated Scavenger XIII (Ryu/Sagat/Guile), who had been sent to losers’ bracket by Yreval (Ken/Terry/Sakura) before exacting his revenge in the losers’ semi-final.
* - For those unfamiliar with CVS2, you select one, two, or three characters, and divide your four ratio points among them. Three characters is generally considered to be optimal, although at this level it’s perfectly viable to play two or even one character (shoutouts to Mopsy). Just be glad it’s not like CVS1, where you could select four ratio 1 characters, and the only real reason not to was because Nakoruru (a ratio 2 character, in a game where the ratio points for each character were fixed) was completely OP.
What next?#
Just as I write this, the next Button Mash has been confirmed for the 4th of July, with GGST and T8 to be joined by Blazblue: Central Fiction and two other games still to be announced. Of course, that’s not the only fighting game action coming up:
- Q-Con is taking place on the weekend of the 20th and 21st of June at the QUB Students’ Union. Details on fighting game tournaments are still to be confirmed, but hopefully they’re given a bit more time and resources to run than last year. Either way, though, I definitely recommend checking it out as it’s a great event.
- IGM Summer Showdown is set for the weekend of the 11th and 12th of July at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire, and it looks set to be an absolute humdinger with eight tournaments, a potential €4,000 prize fund, and circuit points available not just for IGM’s own Emerald Series, but also for both 2XKO and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising.
- In the meantime, the Saturday afternoon sessions at QUB Dragonslayers will continue, except for the above-mentioned weekends.
As always, be sure to check the Button Mash socials for all the latest info.