Teach me, Teach me How to Viper [MvC3 C.Viper Technical]

It's time to face the cold, hard truth about my MvC3 team: It's not working.

I have leveled down from 5th Lord to 5th Ranger, simply because I am diving into Ranked matches at every opportunity. I was doing relatively well, beating a lot of high level teams, but falling flat against a number of opponents who were within my skill range. I'm not plummeting by any means, and my technical skills feel stronger than ever.

Taskmaster and Tron do ninety percent of the work in a given match. I can't envision winning any matches without that duo. Aim of Hawkeye and Gustaff Fire assist allow me to deal huge damage on characters trying to get in. Once in close range, Tron's assist confirms into big Tasky combos. It's solid, and I feel confident playing Tasky/Tron against virtually any team that comes up. I've been tacking on Hulk or Dormammu as anchors to make those dramatic Level 3 X-Factor comebacks, but ideally I would be in fewer dire situations if my team didn't rely on the anchor so heavily.

The tragic flaw of my Tasky/Tron/(Hulk or Dormammu) team is that once Tasky falls, I can only do so much with Tron. Normally I just fish for hits and go for damage while trying to earn and save meter for the anchor. Tron dies, anchor comes in, hopefully avoids the initial mixup, and then uses level 3 X-Factor and the stored meter to wreck shop. Great, when it works. But when a team kills off Tasky and then lames out Tron, well, not so great. I end up with a team that has no potential to open up the opposition, and runs out of time or dies trying to get in.

Also, with the UMvC3 changes being a looming reality, I have to consider that: (1) the DHC glitch is non-existent, so the big damage Tron/Hulk combos I've displayed in this space before are worthless, and (2) aerial X-factor makes my Dormammu chip setup less viable. I first pondered a new anchor, but then began to look for a different team concept, one favoring a scenario that involves me winning.

After watching Evo 2011, I'm taking a page from the book of PR Balrog, and opting to go for two strong, synergistic point characters (Logan and Dante, in Rog's case) with a powerful defensive assist (Tron) in the anchor slot. Once the first character is defeated, the strategy changes very little, still using the remaining point character to engage, backed up by the Tron assist.

I am starting to learn C.Viper, and hope to have a competitive Viper/Tasky/Tron team at some point. Becoming proficient with Viper is a daunting task. I've started at page one in the SRK forum Viper thread and I feel like I'm beginning to grasp the mechanics behind her combos. Theoretically, this team has all the tools to win, and with more lab time my Tasky and Tron will definitely be where they need to be, but the variable is whether I can get my Viper up to snuff.

So there's the big announcement: my official declaration of my intent to learn Viper. What follows are some notes I've gleaned from the aforementioned thread, that I will keep handy on my blog for future reference.

First off, learn to rapid fire Seismos. It's simply Seismo, super jump cancelling into another Seismo. Duh.

f, d, df + Atk, [f, d, df, f, uf + Atk] x n

Next, learn the box dash loop. Similar in principle in that we're using a super jump motion to cancel out of the Seismo, but in this case allowing the super jump to come out, and immediately airdashing forward into H, S, land and link M, H, Seismo, repeat. How easy is this?

L Seismo, IADF j.H j.S, (land) M, H, L Seismo, IAFD j.M, j.S, ...

Third, learn this throw/air throw combo with Tasky assist from Chrisis. Gotta be able to get damage off a throw. Will have to learn to H Thunder Knuckle~Feint on Hit as an alternative to S launching. Okay.

Throw/air throw, L Seismo, IADF H, S, (land) M + Assist, H, M Knuckle (Task hits), H Knuckle~Feint, jc, j.M, j.M, j.S, dj, j.M, j.H, j.S, EX Burning Kick, (land) S, j.M, j.H, dj, j.M, j.H, j.S, (land) L Seismo xx Burst Time (DHC)

Finally, step up to Viper guru Gottnoskill's execution exhibition. Two H Thunder Knuckle~Feint loops and two box dash loops, with a relaunch. Nothing to it.

Tri-dash j.S, M, H, S (1st hit), H Knuckle~Feint, M, H, H Knuckle~Feint, M, H, L Seismo, IADF j.M j.S, (land) M, H, L Seismo, IAFD j.H, j.S, (land) M, H, S, j.M, j.M, j.H, dj, j.M, j.M, j.H, EX Burning Kick, (land) S, j.H, dj, j.H, j.S, (land) L Seismo xx Burst Time (DHC)

I'll be in the lab for awhile. Don't bother calling.

Oh yeah. Don't forget to learn the infinite.

And here is some gratuitous girl-on-girl (MarlinPie vs KBeast FT5 at Evo2k11).

Don't You Know Any Other Moves? [Taskmaster UMVC3 Charge Sting New Move]

Looks like Tasky may have forgotten the events of Vanilla Marvel Vs Capcom 3, 'cause he just learned a new move!

Not sure if you can combo into Charge Sting, but reportedly and logically you can cancel Shield Skills into Charge Sting, allowing you to combo on hit, and catch opponents trying to punish Shield Skills on block. (You could do this with the arrow or counter special before, but hopefully CS will be safer.)

Also, allows a free Hyper arrows afterwards as well.

Here's hoping Taskmaster is buffed all around. He's by far best character in MvC3, and I'd love for my experience to give me a leg up if he happens to fall in God-tier in UMVC3.

Trickery [Tron / Hulk / Skrull DHC Trick Touch of Death Combo]

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[H Mixer, OTG cr.H + Skrull Tenderizer Assist xx Bandit Boulder, H Beacon Bomb, j.S, L Beacon Bomb, King Servbot DHC Gamma Quake, S, j.M, j.M, j.H, j.S, OTG L Gamma Wave XX Gamma Crush DHC Lunch Rush DHC He Loves You]

152 Hits
1.4+million damage
Burns 5 Meters (972k with only 2 Meters, 1.28mil with only 4)
No X-Factor

DHC from King Servbot to Gamma Quake before King Servbot hits, or else the opponent will flip out due to hitstun during Hulk's air combo, if you can even hit the launcher.

Stopping at Hulk's OTG Gamma Tsunami nets 972k damage for only 2 Meters. I think Lunch Rush kills Thor with four meters, so the fifth for He Loves You is just for kicks.

Adding the Beacon>King Servbot>Gamma Quake setup increases the damage potential of my Tron and Hulk immensely if Tasky is down.

The Shakedown [MvC3 Online Technical]

Tasky/Tron/Hulk is back in the groove.  A few days under the weather really cut into my practice, and my muscle memory all but went to shit.  Things are improving now, with a couple of consecutive strong days behind me. 
 
Notable highlight:  Had two ranked matches against a Master Lord Zero/Ammy/Phoenix team that was boasting over 1700 wins.  (I'm floating around 250 wins at this point, and the game has only been out for two months, so this should give some perspective on the dedication of this Phoenix player.) 
 
In the first match, I came out of the gate strong with Tasky and the Gustaff Fire assist, putting a hurting on his Zero and Ammy.  Ended up coming down to Hulk and Dark Phoenix battling it out, and I was edged out by the sheer madness of her black chaos. 
 
Got the rematch a few minutes later, and it started similarly, with me coming out of the gate strong nearly wiping his first two characters.  That's when he wisened up and snapped in my Hulk, caught me in a mixup, and sent Dr. Banner packing.  Tasky, Zero, and Ammy got knocked out subsequently, and we were down to his Phoenix and my Tron.  I got a few hits in, nearly triggering the transformation, and then backed off as I would have only had to play about 20 seconds of keepaway for the W.  Not liking the prospect of getting beaten on a time over, his Phoenix used X-Factor and burned one meter to activate her healing shield, in an attempt to recover enough health to put the pressure back on my Tron.  His Phoenix then tried to build back her fifth meter with some teleport and rushdown, however TRON WAS NOT HAVING THAT SHIT.  Once I got a solid block in against his low series, I saw the opportunity and snatched it.  I X-Factor cancelled out of my guard stun and activated Tron's Level 3 grab hyper Shakedown Mixer, which snagged his Jean and did more then enough damage to put her down for the count.  Shakedown gave her the fifth meter back, but since the move is considered one hit (or something), the Dark Phoenix transformation didn't activate.  Tron plopped back in Gustaff and had some post-K.O. chuckles: "Aahaahaa!"
 
I've seen a disproportionate number of people in the higher ranking echelons running Phoenix.  This is actually quite fortuitous, as the more experience I can get against good Phoenix teams, the better.  I am not confident in my ability to hit a proper snapback combo and then finish off Marvel Girl before she can hard tag back out.  I usually prefer to focus on clobbering the first two foes, and then hopefully having enough left in the tank to confront Dark Phoenix.  It is essential that I save my X-Factor, though, because Hulk (or Tron, in the above example) will need it.
 
Using X-Factor to cancel guard stun and then immediately activating a hyper is an underutilized tool in this game, at least, I think, in online competition.  Often times if I end up one-on-one with my Hulk versus Sentinel, I will allow myself to be put into block stun in the corner, and wait for a big slow normal like frying pan so I can X-Factor cancel into Gamma Crush.  Yesterday I also punished a Chun Li with my Taskmaster by X-Factor cancelling guard stun from Hyakuretsukyaku (Lightning Legs) into his Secret Move counter.  A savvy player could save their Chun in this instance by X-Factor cancelling out of Legs, and then using anything that would beat the counter, but this requires quick reaction, and the willingness to use X-Factor to save Chun.  Not quite as attractive as burning it to kill a character.
 
I am seriously considering dragging my team up to Xanadu in Baltimore to see how I measure up.  I had said I wanted to tighten up a few things, specifically my Hulk OTG (sans Hyper), at which I have admittedly gotten better.  My Tron and Tasky combos could use some tightening up as well, but I've been pretty scrappy lately, and I think I may be better off than I think.  Guess I won't know till I go.

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http://www.justin.tv/offcast/b/283672426 ClakeyD vs Viscant at 1hr47min - Clakey hits She Hulk XFC->Hyper Throw vs Phoenix; (misses w/ Tron)less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyKilla
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Tron - Drillin' Like a Villain [Tron MvC3 Kill Combo]

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[Tasky alpha assist > M Beacon Bomb > H Drill xx King Servbot > H xx Lunch Rush XFC H Drill (mash) > H, S, j.H, j.S, cr.H + Hulk beta assist]

80 hits
1.3million+ (enough to kill any character in the game)
Builds 1.5 meters (not bad)
Burns XFC and 2 meters

It's a very easy execution combo off of Tasky's assist containing two H Drills and two Hypers with an OTG into Hulk. As you can hear, all the links are 100% mashable. Just mash it till it works.

Let Me See That Tron [MvC3 Combo Notes]

Tron Extended	j.H, H Drill, M, Gustaff Fire, j.L, j.M, j.H, (land), j.M, j.M, j.S, (land), S, sj.M, sj.M, sj.H, sj.S, (land), A2, Beacon Bomb, Servbot Beatdown, H, Lunch Rush
Tasky Rushdown	cr.M, H, Spidey Swing, j.M, j.M, Spidey Swing, j.M, j.M, j.H, (land), Shield Skills, S, sj.M, sj.H, Vertical Hyper Arrows
Pool 2x Quick Work	L, M, H, H Quick Work, L, M, L Quick Work (Cuttin' Time??)

As they say, no rest for wicked. Finally got my 100 ranked wins, but this only means it's time to stop punishing scrubs and to start getting down to the ol' nit'n'grit.

The team that earned me those hundred ranked wins (Hulk, Tasky, Pool) is being put on the back burner while I work on a more versatile, more powerful team. I've put Tasky on point and I'm retraining myself to execute his powerful rushdown in contrast to my lame keepaway methods of yore. Tron is in for her high HP, and her long combos. Deadpool is keeping his anchor spot for now, though I need to work out a few assist situations, and I may find I don't need him for his quick OTG.

The extended Tron combo is something akin to Clakey D's signature sequence. I've yet to master the rejump, but another round or two in training and I'll have it. It builds a lot of meter and does respectable damage. For the assist (A1) after the OTG (cr.H), I am hoping Tasky's Horizaontal Aim Master assist will function like Sent's Charge Drones in setting up the Beacon Bomb. If not, I will likely rework the end of the combo in to something akin to [(land), Pool OTG Assist, Beacon Bomb, H, Beatdown, H, Lunchtime]. Will probably need some fine tuning. [UPDATED: Yep. (land), OTG Assist, Beacon Bomb, Servbot Beatdown, H, Lunch Rush.] I didn't include it, but there's always the option to DHC Lunchtime, or XFC into another Lunchtime.

(Without Hulk on point, I don't need Tasky's Parabolic assist to accompany my Gamma Wave spam.)

For the Tasky rushdown, it's tough to reliably hit the [Shield Skills, S] against some characters, and it is vital to superjump vertically to stay with the opponent. Against a big hitbox like Sentinel, I can actually go into another Spidey Swing instead of the Shield Skills, and keep that sequence going a little longer, though hitstun decay haunts the end of that combo.

I was messing around with some Deadpool combos to give me more options up close. I found that double Quick Work combo to be pretty flashy, but I have yet to test if I can tag on a Cuttin' Time Hyper after the second QW. Here's hopin'. [UPDATED: Nope.] Also of note, Cuttin' Time DHC to Parabolic Hyper Arrows is stylin' sweet, though it's easy to mix yourself up and activate Tasky's Hyper Counter instead. (It doesn't look very pro...)

KILLA SMASH [MvC3 Progress]

So, I know KB has been quiet lately. MvC3 is here. Connect the dots.

I am proudly reporting a 55-6 record in ranked matches at the moment. (I had started 10-0, went up to 19-2, and then had chalked up four more losses on my way to 37-6. Since then I've enjoyed an 18 game win streak.)

My ranked team is Hulk/Tasky/Deadpool. I commence nearly every match the same way: spamming H Gamme Waves and calling Tasky's Parabolic assist constantly, forcing most opposing teams to try to find a way in, and typically taking decent damage in the process. Eventually they resort to super jumping over my zoning, which prevents them from seeing Hulk's hyper-armored H intercepting their jump-in. From there, the games begin.

Catching an opponent in the aforementioned armored standing H gives a ground bounce, resulting in a combo along the lines of [H, cr.H, S, sj, M, M, H, S, Gamma Tsunami] and then DHC into Tasky and Pool's projectile Hypers if meter is available and the damage is necessary. If I am fortunate enough to have them in the corner following the super jump S, I OTG with Deadpool's Katana-rama assist, popping them up for Gamma Crush (which is significantly more damaging than Tsunami). I also use Hulk's [jump-in H, S] or the Anti-Air Gamma Charge bounce to start the sequence.

After Hulk has bullied one of them into nonexistence, I typically play a really lame keep away game with either Tasky or Deadpool, building meter and getting in as much free damage as possible. The opponent will often get desperate to get back in at this point, and, when they do, I usually bring Hulk back in to clean up at close range. Once I've trained an opponent to fear Hulk's armored normals, they're ripe for being command grabbed, which sets up Tsunami DHC into whatever else.

It is a cheap, lame, dickish way to play the game, but if there's one thing I know about the Marvel series, it's that a smart opponent will never hesitate to win through any cheap, ruthless, unsportsmanlike means possible. Dark Phoenix stall teams can be problematic, mostly due to my tendency to stay with my lame zoning too long into a match. The few teams that can outplay me in keep away (normally teams repping Arthur and/or Dormammu) likewise tend to be troublesome. I've run into a couple of solid rushdown teams, and in particular one of my last few losses was against a very capable Wesker/Dante combo. The vast majority of teams I face are really weaksauce rushdown (typically Wolvie/Dante/Akuma) and my above referenced strategy makes short work of them.

I had Super-Skrull in the line up because he is so cheap and easy. I received a number of messages from a displeased individual on the receiving end of these tactics, that repeatedly called me a "cheap pussy" for using Skrull, so I dropped him from the line up in favor of Deadpool. But, for the record, Skrull's teleport into 'He Loves You' (Inferno) is, like, braindead easy. I would still use him against a troublesome Sentinel, I think.

So far Legoman hasn't really gotten into the groove as I have, which I'm sure is due in no small part to my prior experience with the VS series, as well as the tremendous amount of time I've spent with the game since release. I am sure he'll find his niche given more time with the system. In our one foray back to SSF4 since MvC3's arrival, he dominated every match up except for Cody vs. Honda, which I came away with somehow.

Back to MvC3, I'd like to become proficient with more of the cast. I want to learn Phoenix so that I can understand how to counter the Dark Phoenix transformation, and can employ the strategy myself if necessary. I also would like to learn a rushdown character (probably Dante or Wesker) to diversify my team, as that could both speed up easy wins, and give me more options against lame stall/keepaway teams. I've been impressed by both Weskers and Dantes for their ability to teleport passed zoning defenses.

Stay tuned for more. Also, I'm K1774771K on PSN, if you're looking to get fucking smashed.

Odds and Ends: Year of the Rabbit Edition

First off, My man HebeGB threw down some heat to cap off 2010 on Dirtbox Radio. You can grab the recording from the Dirtbox Radio archives or directly here.


Secondly, last I battled Legoman, the impending arrival of his blushing bride and some distractions arising from his distribution gig may have taken his eye off the ball. Leave it to Killa to make the most of the situation. We played only three matches: Dudley vs. DeeJay, Makoto vs. Dhalsim, and Cody vs. Honda. I won all three.

Step ya game up, Lego.

I feel like I can maintain optimal spacing in the Honda match better than before. Fake rock and roundhouse Ruffian keeps him guessing, and I've started to take more control on the ground from midscreen, readying Bingo to punish his Focus attacks, or using Crack Kick > EX Criminal to stuff most of his other advances.


Thirdly, Phoenix and Mike Haggar were revealed today for MvC3. Looks like the Lupinko list I inscribed here is dead on. If they're going to throw a curveball, it better be soon. I think the only surprises will be the DLC down the road. The Dark Phoenix mechanic, seen at about 0:50 in the clip, seems really cool. And, as I stated before, I would've taken Alex or Cody over Haggar.




Finally, as expected, I've picked up Caitlyn, the new sniper champ in League of Legends. (Not Legal Legends, ffs. Due to my poor pronunciation a couple of cohorts assumed I was playing a multiplayer online courtroom drama, to which I objected.) Took me a little while to wrap my head around the build. At this point, she is strong, but requires a high degree of discretion. I'm running armor penetration quints and marks, and mana regen per level seals and glyphs. Masteries are 9/0/21 for cooldown reduction and movement speed. Ghost and Cleanse as summoner skills for escapes.

I start her with Doran's Blade and one health potion. From there I buy the new CDR boots, then Brutalizer, then Phage. I then ditch the Doran's to make Black Cleaver, then upgrade Brutalizer to Ghostblade and Phage to Frozen Mallet. This set inflicts a lot of damage on enemy champs she can outrange, as every hit lowers their movement speed and armor. While this doesn't always set up a kill, it does disincline enemy champs from trying to take her on directly.



The concept artwork is by Eduardo Gonzales, who also did the Miss Fortune concept design I liked so much.

Best One Yet: Round 2 [MvC3 Leaked Roster List]

From lupinko on NeoGaf, bold used to indicate unconfirmed characters:

Galactus (Boss) Taskmaster (unlock) Shuma-Gorath (DLC) She-Hulk Deadpool Captain America X-23 Magneto Modok Hulk Spider-Man Dr. Doom Sentinel Storm Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Super Skrull Dormammu Wolverine Iron Man {Thor}

Amaterasu Ryu Rad Spencer Chun Li C. Viper Hsien-ko Jill (DLC) Chris Wesker Dante Trish Arthur Felicia Morrigan Viewtiful Joe Tron Bonne Mike Haggar Akuma (unlock) Zero

Thor was not listed, but lupinko disclaimed that he thought he was missing one, though he knew the roster was 38. As long as Galactus is non-playable, that makes for the 19-19.

Discrepancies: No Mega Man, which is unexpected. Hsien-ko was thought deconfirmed along with any Darkstalkers characters beyond Felicia and Morrigan. And Akuma was thought to have been discluded when S-Kill suggested there were no more shotos.

I was still expecting Storm and Sentinel, so I'm glad to see that. Hsien-ko and C.Viper I believe are excellent inclusions. I would rather Alex over Haggar if the need was a grappler, or Cody over Haggar for a Final Fight character, but c'est la vie.

Taskmaster is an interesting prospect. Could be the mind-melting style or whatever to which S-kill alluded.

So Yeah... [MvC3 MODOK Magneto Arthur Rad Spencer Announce Gameplay]

Fight! Fight! Fight! [Upcoming Fighting Games]

It's like a late Aughties fighting renaissance.

Super Street Fighter IV

The game du jour as it were. Even with Lego's new work schedule, we still manage to get in some ferosh matches here and there. His freetime at night has allowed him to refine his skills online, particularly his Honda and Dhalsim. His Honda is better in every aspect, and a real threat. I'd say definitely his best now, and it is worth noting that his advancement started before Mike Ross's Top 8 Evo finish and Honda's top tier status on the new JPN rankings. Likewise, as a solid alternate, his Dhalsim is crafty, and he's moving the Yoga master around the screen much more smoothly.

I've been trying to smooth out my new additions when I have time, though right now I think most of my focus should be on Cody and Bison. I thoroughly enjoy using Cody, and I know I am only scratching the surface of his potential. While I'm connecting bigger combos, and countering more approaches, I've yet to tap into the strength of his pressure strings and frame traps. I had been of the opinion even a month ago that my Guile and Rufus were my strongest overall chars, but the reality of my inability to reliably execute certain elements (notably Guile's Flash Kick FADC Sonic Hurricane and Ruffie's Short-Fierce link) has led me to think I may have more luck in competition with the mighty Bison, as my technical insufficiencies are much less damning.

I keep entertaining the idea of making an appearance at Baltimore's Xanadu Wednesday night Xanbats, or Fairfax's CyberGround Tuesday night Ranbats, and my relaxed work schedule looks like it will accomodate this. Though, of course, I can't take Lego as my wingman... Wah wah.

Allegedly at least two new characters will be revealed in September, and hopefully made available as DLC soon after. Sounds like Alex (3s) and Rolento (FF/Alpha) are the strongest candidates, with Elena (3s) and R.Mika (Alpha) close behind. I would be sated with Alex's addition, but, for 900th time, I'd really like to see Charlie.

Marvel Vs Capcom 3

Hypewise, MvC3 is dominating the digital blog waves. Super Skrull's moveset looks flippin' tight, Dante's movelist if f'n Riddick Bowe, and Silver Surfer is now rumored to be in. And, you know how rumors work, Silver Surfer is in, so that must mean Galactus is the final boss, which must mean Dormammu is playable, and so on, and so on. Still, should be the next big thing on Killa Blog for the next 18 months or so... (Just to warn ya.)

And for the record, since last time we spoke, DMC's Trish, Okami's Amateratsu, SF's Chun Li, Marvel's Thor, Super Skrull, and Doctor Doom have been shown. Amateratsu doesn't gel with the Best One Yet list I relayed here, so I guess we don't really know who's in and who's out. Still no sign of any Mega Man or Spiderman chars... And I am still hoping Dictator makes it in as the third Street Fighter, if not Charlie.


Arcana Heart 3

You know I've never delved in Arcana Heart, another obscure fighting game that has a passionate following stateside. Apparently the third iteration is also coming to XBL and PSN which will mean an unprecedented amount of exposure for the series. Don't know about price point, but this could potentially be very far reaching.

Third Strike Online Edition

And speaking of downloadable fighters, I think if 3sOE can even move half the digital units that MvC2 has, it will have been a smart choice on Capcom's part, regardless of how long it takes to release. It's catering to the 3s die-cores, which is a very wise choice since they (and the MvC2 crowd) are the ones that kept the fighting game scene alive during the MvC2-SF4 drought.

Street Fighter x Tekken :: Tekken x Street Fighter

A fun announcement and everything, but these are so far off in the distance it has barely bleeped my radar. I hope TxSF doesn't preclude Namco from working on Tekken 7...

Best One Yet [MVC3 Leaked Roster?]

Of all the leaked lists floating around, this is the one I find most likely.

ryu
chun
bison
volnutt (Mega Man Legends)
roll
zero
chris
wesker
dante
trish (also Devil May Cry)
morrigan
felicia
joe (,Viewtiful)
frank (West from Dead Rising)
frankalt_chuck (Dead Rising 2)
mike (Haggar from Final Fight)
arthur (from Ghosts n' Goblins presumably)
wolverine
storm
cyclops
magneto
spider
venom
hulk
iron
ironalt_war
america
thor
doom
skrull (called it)
strange (,Doctor)
dormammu
deadpool
marvel (,Miss presumably)

This list just makes a lot of sense. Both sides have seventeen (or really sixteen plus a clone) making the just above 30 number Capcom has tossed around.

The more I think about SF's Seth being in, let's say that's actually Dr. Strange... or Dormammu...

Mystery [Thor MvC3 Ryota Niitsuma Destructoid E3 Interview]

Nice t-shirt you have there, producer and director of Marvel Vs Capcom 3.


And here is a link to the interview video queued to the last request to see the Ryota Niitsuma's Thor t-shirt.

Thor makes a lot of sense for inclusion in MvC3 as Marvel Studios will start pushing him pretty hard for his own film and The Avengers. This would be his debut as a playable character in the series, as he was only an assist character in Marvel Vs. Capcom 1.

I think we can put our differences behind us... for science...you monster. [E3 2010 Videos MGS:R MvC3 Portal 2]

Metal Gear Solid: Rising Xbox 360 Trailer - E3 2010 Trailer

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Xbox 360 Gameplay - Don't Mess With Chris

So Excite [Deadpool MvC3]

^A still from the new trailer.

Seth Versus Super Skrull [MvC3 Roster Speculation]

Let's take a look at the MvC3 silhouette image, shall we?


Not labelled in the foreground are the trailer characters (Morrigan, Chris Redfield, Iron Man, Hulk, Wolvie, Ryu). I have written the names of the four additional confirmed characters next to their (very) likely outline (Cap, Felicia, Deadpool, Dante).

Doctor Doom and Chun Li are guesses, but both are extremely strong candidates for inclusion, and the silhouettes are quite telling. In the same parenthetical manner, I have labelled the far right image as Frank West, though I really hope he is not included in this game. I didn't like him in TvC, I've never played Dead Rising, and I don't really like the zombie-summoning, bat-wielding shtick. Similarly, after some personal debate, I marked Iron Fist. That mysterious fin (outlined in red) methinks is the popped collar of Iron Fist's costume. Not too sure on that one, though...

Anyways, the remaining two are the focus of this post. A lot of people are calling Super Skrull for that second-from-the-left. I am inclined to agree, and I think it very wise to use Super Skrull instead of using four roster slots for Mr. Fantastic and company. SS has their abilities, so it's a nice trade off between inclusion, and spreading the character love around to as many different properties as possible.

Over on the right is a character I originally had thought may be Mr. Sinister; the aforementioned fin played no small part in this, but upon further review of Sinister's character artwork, his wacky slatted cape doesn't really match. Though, as far as X-Men villains go, I believe Mag-Fuckin'-Neto will be included, but I just didn't think the image matched him either...

Some of you out there in the wild world of teh netz have suggested it is SFIV's last guy Seth. This makes more sense in terms of pose, and in Marvel/Capcom balance (8:8), but something occurred to me today: If Super Skrull is being used for popular abilities at the lowest expense of roster slots, Seth would be a good choice for the same reason. Seth is notorious for copying and using moves of others, so instead of including Dhalsim, they've got Seth using his teleport and extended punches, plus Zangief's SPD, Charlie's Sonic Boom, and Akuma's dive kick, so you can scratch those three of the inclusion list, too.

So, what do you think?!

Odds and Ends: Killa Blog Is Not For You Edition

Ryze has gotten me pretty damn far in LoL... Been sticking with a pretty reliable Ability Power build, and going for champion kills early. I'm up to Summoner Level 13 thanks in no small part to his Rune Prison. Just recently switched to using Ignite (instead of Ghost). My normal abmbush goes something along the lines of: Desperate Power > (Lich Bane)Attack > Rune Prison > (Lich Bane)Attack > Ignite > Overload > (Lich Bane)Attack = Kil Initial is on a Rampage.

This week's upcoming available champion rotation includes a couple of champs I am looking at maining next, including Karthus, but most notably werewolf Warwick the Blood Hunter. Apparently, he's best as a "jungler", soloing buff mobs and pulling off egregious ganks. Seems like a natural fit, seeing as I'm a junglist myself, partially lycanthropic, and prone to fits of ganking.

MvC3's roster is slowly being revealed... Marvel's Deadpool and Captain America, Devil May Cry's Dante, and Darkstalkers' Felicia join the fray officially now. I hope Deadpool's inclusion doesn't disclude the possibilty of a slot for Cable. It really shouldn't be either/or; they work so well together! I expect Mag-fuckin'-Neto and Chun Li to be in the next batch of revelations. Anybody think there's a chance for any newer Street Fighter characters to make it? (Say Rufus? Maybe Alex?)

Lego's DeeJay has been pissing me off royally. His time with Honda has taught him the charge inputs well... too well. EX Jacknife Maximum, or whatever the fuck his 'Upkicks' are called, owns a lot of my Rufus pressure. Beginning to think Abel may be a better matchup, as his crossup is a lot safer. Also may try to use Guile more, as I had a really solid set versus Lego's Sagat last night. (Man, is that charge fast now!)

Lost is almost over... This week's episode "Across the Sea" will allegedly reveal Flocke's purpose finally, "What They Died For" will air on May 18th, and five days later (Sunday 5/23) they'll show the 150 minute series finale. Can't wait. I'm pretty sure Jack Shepherd will replace Jacob, though I keep wondering what role Desmond Hume will play in the conclusion of the standard timeline, and also in the alternate scenario.