Damascus, fighting game commentator, recognized for his work on various games and in particular Dragon Ball Fighter Z, has decided to organize a cup welcoming “national” teams from North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. .
The concept
16 teams of 5 players will compete for a month to find out who are the champions of our region. These teams have been divided into 4 groups of 4 teams which will each compete once. The first two of each group will advance to the next round, which will be direct elimination without a loser bracket.
Although 5 players make up each team, only 3 of them will play per game. This will avoid blocking some of them too often, who have professional and/or private obligations on the side, but above all to surprise certain opponents or adapt to their favorite characters by choosing a player whose hand has positive match ups against the majority of them. This event will be broadcast on 4 different twitch channels: that of theorganizer (the portrait on the image below), ofAnti-Villain (the 4th), as well as those of the organizations Salty EU (the pad) and Saltmine League.The event will start on January 30 at 6:30 p.m. This schedule will be the same for all competition days.
Favorites
France appear as the monster of group A. With two players qualified for the European finals of the official 1v1 circuit, as well as veterans like Achorawl, they seem cut out to reach the top 8. Germany seem to be their big rival, because big names from the European scene are also in it. The alliance of Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as that of Switzerland and Austria, seem a step below, especially because their players are less known. This will not necessarily be a disadvantage for them, as they will probably find it easier to study their opponents, with the many competitive replays available. A qualification on their part at the expense of France or Germany would be unexpected, but not so surprising as that.
In Group B, the scarecrows are Spain and Russia. Led by Uriel Legion, the selection of the country of Cervantes will want to impose the same domination on Guilty Gear Strive as that which it exerts on the Old Continent on the DBFZ scene. On the other side of the mountains, Kurokich wants to take his revenge after losing two finals consecutively during the last InterContinental Fight Club. The other players of the selection of the country of the Tsars are less known, which is not necessarily to reassure the other competitors. For those who follow the various esports scenes a little, there is frequently a story with a team from the Motherland that arrives out of nowhere and sweeps away the competition. History could therefore repeat itself on Strive. If the selection seems less strong, it may be because we have less data on it. Some of its members have nevertheless made more than honorable performances in European tournaments, and others are veterans of fighting games. This team will be one to watch as they could well be one of the surprises of the competition. As for Italy, it appears to be the outsider of this group. Historically, their scene is less strong in Europe than that of other countries, but in recent years, their players have tended to increase in power, especially on Tekken 7. Underestimating them would be a mistake that could be very expensive.
In Group C, the United Kingdom is the favourite. People following the competitions on GGST will probably be surprised not to see SnakeBelmont, another player who has distinguished himself, even if his absence can be explained by the presence of two other main Axl in the team. Moreover, Mystic like BARRYBONES do not necessarily have much to envy him in terms of the mastery of Axl Rose’s look-alike. The team has been smartly built to deal with every possible situation and that makes it even more terrifying. The level of Finland and Portugal will be interesting to see, because if Finland seems a little above, Portugal’s proximity to Spain could well have allowed them to progress very quickly. Especially since after seeing the success of their direct neighbor in various games, the Portuguese will no doubt be keen to show that they will also have to be reckoned with in the years to come. The union of several North African countries may seem a bit inferior on paper, but this impression could be due to the ignorance of their players. Although less publicized, there is an FGC scene on the African continent, which is increasingly active thanks to local associations. Discovering them more in this tournament will be a pleasure, and it cannot be ruled out that it is ultimately them who teach the Europeans a lesson.
Ha, Group D! The group of death, the D group! Impossible to identify a clear and precise favorite. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are fast-growing scenes, which have already earned the respect of the international community on different games. We will clearly have to count on them to try to grab the qualifying places. The Israeli scene, on the other hand, is less known, but several players from this country have had good results in European competitions. Its composition not being revealed at the time of writing, it is difficult to estimate its real potential, but it is certain that they are to be classified at least in the category of teams to watch. Finally it is perhaps the team of Norway and Sweden which may seem to be the weakest of the group, especially with the absence of Leffen, winner of the European EVO tournament on Strive. Nevertheless, the countries of the North are known to regularly produce very good players, and there is almost always a member of these nations in the top European players on fighting games (when they are not outright dominating the world like Armada on Melee few years ago). Like Israel, they are a team to watch very closely, and seeing them drop out of the squad would be anything but a surprise.
Composition of the teams
Spain
- Uriel Legion (Captain)
- GenisGod
- Apopaino
- Gamba
- PotatoSalvage
Russia
- Kurokich (Captain)
- ArsenKamelot
- Gogawa
- Ashimriat
- SilverNT
Germany
- An Bi (Captain)
- Zer0q
- TrueDevin
- Nexxyy
- Babotaku
UK
- Mystic (Captain)
- BARRYBONES
- Setchi
- Maka
- Zine
Morocco
- WOLFMAN (Captain)
- Frionel
- WarriorBySand
- REDRaven
- Mouljaveel
Italy
- Nelkhael (Captain)
- Armix
- Arrow
- Mr. Jetstream
- DFoppi
Finland
- Shaggy (Captain)
- Rigand
- Zokhiz
- Elda
- Tofma
North Africa
This team brings together players of different nationalities.
- Kayan (Captain)
- Verix
- javichu
- Nekomaster
- Skeiron
Norway and Sweden
- Budfelic (Captain)
- Smoib
- NotPichu
- Wiase
- LimaVonLima
Belgium and the Netherlands
- Nindo (Captain)
- Bella
- Gamma
- Moment
- Reza
France
- Skyll (Captain)
- WhiteBl4ck
- Pinhead
- Achorawl
- Arefu
Portugal
- Zeno (Captain)
- BlueHek
- vigilant
- FramePerfect
- medusa
Saudi Arabia
- Latif (Captain)
- slash
- SSF
- Boomano
- The Punisher
United Arab Emirates
- Envy (Captain)
- Needless
- PhantomXIII
- MZA
- Pistachio
Austria and Switzerland
- Onii (Captain)
- Akaraian
- Nonov2
- FuujinHand
- BlackNat
Israel
- Zando (Captain)
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
- TBA
If there’s one thing fighting game players love, it’s tierlists. Rather than ranking Guilty Gear Strive characters based on their high-level power, this tierlist aims to show which ones are the easiest to start the game with.
Taking advantage of Baiken’s release, Arc System Works made a very small patch for Guilty Gear Strive. However, not everything works as expected, and a fix has been announced.
See the rest