GSR#1 Writeup: Outsiders and Old Timers

You can't fit this many people into an Xbox live lobby!

    Today at Kafeneio in South Salt Lake, Steven Malecki and Yury Mendez ushered in a new fighting game tournament age for Utah with the 2014 Great Salt Ranbat #1, the first of many to come.  Due to complications with the stream, only those in attendance watched the events of this inaugural tournament unfold .  For those unfortunate people stuck in the office or at home, here is what you missed.

     Opening the first Great Salt Ranbat with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, 16 people entered, but no one could beat Daniel. 

     Ever hear of Daniel? 

     Maybe not locally, but if you were following Evo 2013 you may have seen him place in the top 32 in UMvC3 where he went by the name "dragoomba".  Daniel was in town today from Idaho for a Smash Bros. tournament held in Orem, and heard they were playing Marvel somewhere else, so he figured on giving that a shot, too. Well, that paid off.  Handsomely.  In a strange ending, Daniel left early so he wouldn't be late for Smash, leaving Marvel grand finals unplayed.  However, seeing that he had already effectively beaten the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th placers in the Marvel tournament, everyone agreed to award him 1st place.  His team of Dormammu-Super Skrull-Haggar left no doubt that he deserved it.  Yury Mendez took 2nd place, losing only to Daniel in round 3 after trying various teams of Magneto-Doom-Dante and Tron-Vergil-Doom, and JT placed a respectable 3rd with C.Viper-Nova-Doom, losing to Daniel and Yury in winners and losers semifinals.     

   
     The second game of the evening was Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition 2012, fielding an astounding 36 entrants with a bracket comprised of old timers and new blood alike.  36 man brackets don't flow as well as brackets of 16, 32, or 64, but I didn't hear anyone complaining.  More people means more street fighter.

     As the tournament progressed, some familiar faces emerged at the top of the tournament standings.  Players from the early days of Vanilla SF4, Uy and his cousin Thanh each took 5th place.  Renzo Vigo "iPeru" earned a 4th place finish, losing to both Mark Means and Gustavo Romero "801 Strider".  Mark would go on to place 3rd, and seemed surprised as he thought he had placed 4th.  Tournament winnings winding up in his wallet quickly proved otherwise.

Sanford and Rico, anyone?  At least no sticks were broken.

     Steven Malecki "SRM Slinkun", tournament organizer and Guile/Vega player, cruised to the grand finals undefeated relying mostly on everyone's favorite wall-jumping, claw-dropping Spaniard, Vega.  While Gus suffered defeat in the 4th round at Renzo's hands, he wouldn't be deterred from beating the remaining players before him to reach the grand finals.  Using Abel against Steven's Vega, Gus reset the bracket, winning 3-0, and would later take the finals in another 3-0 upset.  As a heads-up to everyone, you don't have to defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance in Utah.  You have to defeat Gus' Abel.
     For their first tournament, Steven and Yury did an excellent job.  Yes, at times the salt flowed, as it always does when emotions run high and players play to win.  But there were also many good games played, many hands shaken, and many runbacks promised.  So attend the next ranbat in a month.  That way you can express your thanks to them in person, and nothing says "thank you" to tournament organizers more than showing up and throwing down.