picture credit: Joe Brady at Red Bull Kumite London
Mister Crimson is currently the best French Street Fighter V player. It has been now two years that he dominates France, even the whole of Europe. After starting his professional career on Street Fighter IVthis Crimson Viper player (whose nickname is a tribute to his first hand) succeeded perfectly his transition to Street Fighter V. Today he gives us some time, in the middle of his intensive preparation for the upcoming tournaments.
Two fantastic years
Nathan”Mister Crimson” Massol has not always been the indisputable best tricolor on Street Fighter V. During the early years of the game, this title belonged rather to Luffy, and even the place of number 2 could be subject to debate. He will need two consecutive victories at the Supa Strong Championship (unofficial French championship but recognized by the community), first against Luffy then his ex-teammate Killzyou to obtain this title. “If I was able to reach my current level, it is largely thanks to the French-speaking community.”
The rest of 2021 brings its lot of disappointments. the team tournament scheduled on the sidelines of the Olympics is replaced by a solo competition, which provides less hype for an ordinary spectator according to the champion. Then Capcom Cup is canceled because of pandemicand the qualification obtained during the Capcom Pro Tour 2021 only gives him access to one showmatch against Killzyouwhich he will win without losing a single set.
Then comes the Red Bull Kumite London. called to the last minutethe French jumped at the chance despite the two weeks of quarantine required to participate safely. Fortunately, the energy drink brand makes set-ups available to players, and for two weeks, the European ladder becomes the best ladder in the world in terms of level of play.
As the tournament approaches, social networks igniteand spades are exchanged especially between European and American players. Crimson and Punk, one of the best players in the world, go head-to-head on RS first, promising to settle this in the arena. Finally, it’s Mister Crimson who will win 3-1 on his opponent in the quarter-finals. He will then defeat Luffy 4-3 in the semi-finals, after a tight match. However, the most impressive game remains without doubt the grand final, against iDom then reigning world champion. This will result in a legendary match, with theone of the actions of which the Frenchman is most proud. He manages to find a mousehole in the middle of iDom’s pressings, well helped by the advice of other Laura hands, to interrupt the opposing offensive.
This action required a lot of coolness, because he only had 5 hole frames (5/60th of a second) and his blow came out in 4 frameswhich meant that he only had 2 frames to press the button. If he had pressed too early or too latethen punishment of his opponent would have been terrible. This action represents, according to him, the “quintessence of fighting games, between match-up knowledge, decision-making and responsiveness”. It gave him a huge psychological benefit. You can see this action in the video below (time coded), knowing that he will do the same thing to iDom at 6mn 24.
Mr. Crimson will eventually win the Red Bull Kumitethus offering himself a major title, which by his own admission, opened many doors. It is partly thanks to him that he was able to join the Giants Gaming team for a limited time, in order to compete in the Street Fighter League, a team competition. The tricolor is full of praise for this format, saying it brings something different to fighting games. Even if the competition could not go to an end, because of the pandemic, he is satisfied with their virtual second place, leaving the tournament with theone of the best individual win rates. The player tells us that he hopes to be able to renew the experience.
Its year 2022 is off to a flying start, with very good performances in the Saltmine League, the best regular online competition in Europe. It is during theFrance/Spain/Portugal online event of the Capcom Pro Tour 2022that he will accomplish a new genius action. While he is in the Grand Final loser side (i.e. he must win a match to reset the bracket, and yet another to win the tournament), he finds himself tied 2 sets everywhere, and 1 round everywhere against Killzyou. There is then one bar left and little life left for both players. He knows that his opponent’s character has an EX shot that can pass through projectiles. He then decides what to do EX Yoga Flamea special move with a similar starting animation to that of his Yoga Fire (his fireball), to bait his opponent. If Killzyou does not take the bait, defeat is assured, the blow having a large recovery (when the character is vulnerable before returning to a neutral position). He tries, and his opponent gets tricked. The bracket is reset.
Finally Mister Crimson wins the tournament and validates his ticket for the Capcom Cup. Asked about his former partner Killzyou, first known for his performances on PES, he replies with a laugh: ” I can’t really say that I trained him. I pushed him to participate in tournaments, but he really improved on his own. He is an incredible player, who learns very quickly to master different characters. Today he has become my main training partner, and it is largely thanks to him that I am progressing so much. In the end, it was perhaps me who benefited the most from this relationship (laughs). He has the potential to be one of the great players of tomorrow.“
Eyes on the EVO
Although this tournament is getting closer, Mister Crimson has two important deadlines before EVO. After winning the qualifying event, he will have participated in an event in Qatar this Friday where he obtained second place, and will continue with an invitational organized in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia from Monday to Wednesday. What to prepare well before the EVO which will take place at the beginning of August.
About this prestigious tournament, Mister Crimson don’t consider it the fighting game world championship, unlike other players. For him, only count victories in the finals of the official circuits of the publisher. This does not prevent him from qualifying the world’s toughest tournament EVO to win, and that a victory there remains one of the goals of every professional player. Regarding his chances this year, he remains very modest, for good reason. EVO takes place on PS4, a medium it has abandoned lately. Most of the other competitions taking place on PC, he trained more on this medium.
There is a difference ofinput lag (the time between which a button on the controller is pressed and the moment when the character does the action in the game) of a few frames between the PS4 and the PC. If this is invisible to ordinary mortals, at the pro level the difference is felt. In his own words, PC play is more reaction-based, while PS4 is more anticipation-based. Since the Capcom Pro Tour is done on PC, the Frenchman made his choice according to his personal objectives.
Even though he feels that he did not follow the best possible preparation following his own choicesthat does not mean that he has no ambition for this tournament. He admits to hoping that the platforms will be standardized in the years to come. He also teases a big project who will set up after EVO. However his primary objective remain above all This year’s Capcom Cup.”I was the first player to win an official tournament on Street V, with the Cannes Winter Clash in February 2016. I want to win the last tournament on Street V, in order to close the loop”.
While waiting for the rest of the Pro Tour, he is concentrating on both his training and related activities. He stream regularly to interact with the community, having even recently done a series of live 98 consecutive wins on the Street V ladder. It also gives SFV course on the coaching site Metafy, in order to transmit his passion. He continues to work with Nacon, the controller manufacturer who has sponsored him since his debut on SFIV.
From Street V to Street 6
“Street Fighter V has come of age. Capcom has listened to player feedback throughout the game’s existence, and the game is extremely enjoyable today. It offers a diversity of playable characters at the highest level almost never seen in fighting games. Although there are some differences in overall potential, even the top low tier characters can beat the top tier.“Mr.Crimson admits to really liking what was done on Luke, who remains strong in preparing for Street 6 without being the most broken character in the game.
It is for this reason that he chose it in complement to his Dhalsim. He places the two characters high enough in his personal tier list, and hopes he finds equally strong hands in the next Street Fighter. “Dhalsim was perfect for me. In addition to being very strong, he is not played much, so I can more easily abuse things that would not work if I had chosen a more popular character.“
Mister Crimson recently posted a video, where he gives his impressions after some hours on Street Fighter 6. According to him, Capcom has done a great job with the drive system, bringing back mechanics from older titles like the parade of SFIII or the Focus of Street IVwithout making them as central as in previous games. The many possible options with the same resource bar (the drive) will allow players to find their own style of playand two hands of the same character could finally play very differently.
The fact of being able to start the round at full speed is not to displease this practitioner of French Boxing, who does not find illogical that a character reaches his full potential after taking several fairground potatoes. Even if he recognizes that the old mechanics allow comebacks, the Drive system can also allow to have a game very nice and spectacular. He hopes the Modern mode with simplified inputs will allow new players to discover the game morebefore investing enough to switch to classic mode.
Mister Crimson admits to being a little disappointed by the artistic direction of the game. The motion capture makes the shots a little too heavy, to the detriment of the fantasy that can be found in previous games. “It’s paradoxical, I like the realism of the gameplay with the drive, but I would like to have totally illogical moves because Street remains a video game (laughs)”
In any case, he can’t wait to get his hands on the game, to play it 8 hours a day at the beginning to acquire the muscle memory necessary to perform at the highest level. “My goal is to be at least as strong on Street 6 as I am currently on Street V.” And that, Mister Crimson has the capacity.
esports
The most famous of the FGC events will be fully broadcast on the MGG Twitch channel with retransmission on TV. Find the information, program and commentators for the follow-up of all the tournaments of this 2022 edition, as well as the details of this project which will take place over several years.