It’s been a week since EVO Ended.  That was a really great weekend.  I can safely say that EVO 2011 topped last year. Probably because we did so much more this time around.  So many highlights for new games.  Panels we visited.  People we met and well known players that were more than happy to take pictures with us.  I have written down TTT’s exploits during the weekend.  From Thursday to Sunday when EVO ended.  Read about it after the break.

Thursday

This was not a good day for travel. Probably because it was raining so hard and we couldn’t see the sky. I (NeoRussell) woke up at 6a to prepare. I told Dafleks that i’m gonna pick him up at around 8a.  Our 2nd member (Mahir) will meet with us in a subway station.

Something went wrong along the way and Me, my girl, and Dafleks had to waste time by eating breakfast. We eventually met up with Mahir at 9:30a in the morning for the airport. Traffic was not bad, it was actually good because we got there in about 30mins.

I said my goodbyes to my girlfriend and off we go inside the airport. You all know the jitz of it but for those who don’t, you go through; getting your airplane ticket, get rid of the luggage to meet with you in Vegas, you go through the scanners for any liquid containers, you get padded down by plane police and then eventually head to the gate for the aircraft.

10:30a when all these things ended. We headed out to our gate number. Now here’s the funny thing about it, the Gate number was like in the basement of the airport or something cause that was the smallest aircraft i’ve ever ridden. Probably because it was just a short trip.   When we got there, we found out that our flight got delayed for 2 hours. Waited the 2 hours and get another message that delay again for another hour. Damn!

We finally boarded the plane and off we go. The plane ride was quick since it only went to Denver.

We missed our flight for Las Vegas in Denver by 10 minutes.  Had to wait another 2 hours because of this.  Lots of waiting and excitement on when we will eventually get there.

Got to our flight for Vegas and this one was for 4-5 hours.  In Denver, I got a message that if I want to use DATA for my phone, i’ll have to pay $25.  Since I was gonna use my twitter, i activated. Made a mistake with something so I had to call Rogers.

Talked to them for a good 30 mins about what was activated and the call didn’t go well. The rep didn’t know shit about the plan I just activated and basically told me to just read better next time. My fault for not reading, his fault for not knowing about the plans they offer in U.S.A.

Anyways, on the way to vegas, we were fascinated by the DirectTV screens in front of our chairs. When the plane flew off, the warning sign of “you have to pay to use this” message came up. I ain’t paying $8 to watch shows. Some people are zaps and they bought it. I just took out my laptop and watch “American President” cause I like that movie.

Finally got to Vegas at around 8p their time (our time I guess).  Picked up our luggage and decided on whether or not we should take a cab or shuttle.  I told everyone to take shuttle since it’s only $6. Last time we went, the taxi cost us $80 with 8 people.  Not sure why it cost $80 last year but it’s probably because of Limo. LOL. We just took a cab to make it faster to get to the hotel.

We got to the hotel, i’ve been to Gold Coast before. It’s the same as ever. Rio was just beside it. 5min walk and we saved $100 dollars than people staying in RIO. We got settled and grabbed something to eat.

I know Mahir and Dafleks have never been in Las Vegas before I owed it to them to give a small tour. We took the bus to the strip since we were 10 mins away from it. Got off at bills and headed the MGM way. Took pictures. Watched Bellagio waterfall. Saw a guy propose to his girlfriend when waterfall ended. That was nice. People were clapping. Lots of things to see.  We were looking for pharmacy to buy essentials like water. A big bottle of water for the weekend.

After that, we went to Bills hotel and got steak and eggs. Headed to the hotel via taxi after that. Was pretty tired and have a tournament tomorrow at 8a so me and Dafleks called it a night.

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Friday

I told Dafleks that the next 3 days will be one of the longest weekend of his life.  At 7a in the morning, woke up and started getting ready for EVO.  Grabbed my red gym bag and stored my “Awesome” stick in it.  I only had to play 1 game on friday and that was Mortal Kombat.

My pool started at 8a in the morning. The time was really early but it didn’t matter since I was awake that time anyway.
When we got to the venue hall, I see a great amount of people waiting in line to get their badges.
I couldn’t retrieve this yesterday cause the flight was delayed so we had no choice but to wait for our badges as well.
It was pass 8a and I know my MK pools are starting.  Thank god one of the EVO staff came out and said just go in, forget
about the badge and play your pool if you start at 8a. He just said to grab the badge after, they will be open.

When I went inside the venue hall, I was in awe of how many players are already inside.
On my left, there was casual station and Focus Store.
On my right, I see KOFXIII station and some space.
A bit forward and I see SFxTekken machines and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (or TTT2) machines just across
from it.

I went directly to my pool to make sure I didn’t get disqualified.
Dafleks went directly to TTT2 as he should since it was our only chance to play it

Got my confirmation on who to play first.  I’ll just make this simple since I’m creating my own neorussell.com blog.
In MK, I won got passed first pool.  In the 2nd pool, I beat 4-5 people until I got taken out.  If you want more detailed info, stay tuned for my website report of EVO. It will be different.  Find it at neorussell.com

Anyways, after I passed my pool, I went directly to TTT2 machine.  I see Dafleks having the time of his life playing TTT2.
At around 10a, Dafleks MK pool was starting.   I told Dafleks this and he said he doesn’t care about MK.  I figured as much since he is a Tekken player after all.  I don’t even know why he entered in the first place.

Anyways, we stayed in this machine from 10a-1p.  The 3 of us are Tekken players and we wanted to do our test.
Dafleks had more than enough time with it before I came at 11a.  So naturally, he would know how to play the system better.
Did a few more testing after that.

At around 1p, we figured we should eat to not pass out.  We went to a Chinese Buffet in Rio Hotel.
The price was good enough ($18) for us to decide and eat.  Weird that you have to pay first before going in.
Anyways, we started chatting about our pools.
We started talking about TTT2 as well and how it’s the game we will play all day.

After our 3rd plate, we saw Harada (Tekken producer) pass by with his posse.
When he passed by, I said to him “Harada-san, arigato”. He just smiled and kept walking.
Probably thought I was a stalker. LOL.  We kept trying to find him after eating but figured it would be
disrespectful to have him take pictures during his only time off away from games.
We left him alone and went back to venue hall.

We played TTT2 from 2p-6p. This game is just so much fun.
I took lots of footages. Learned my characters and figured out so much stuff.
Sad to say that I will not play this game for 2 years until console is released.

At around 4p, I took the time to break away from TTT2 and experience SFxTekken.
I saw Wolfkrone playing the game.  Started talking to him about how it feels.

We both agreed that it was relatively easy system.  Still, it was enough to have a full conversation on how everything works.
Expect a better guide from me about SFxTekken in the future.  I didn’t really play SFxTekken. I was asking the players about how the game feels and what does what.  Learned a lot.

Went back to TTT2 at around 5p. Dafleks still playing.  More testing on my end.

@6p, they came with me to watch my MK pool.  Again, more detailed explanation about this in my blog so i’ll skip it.

At around 9p, we got hungry again and went for a small meal.  I forgot that Kellfire comes on friday night.  Good thing I looked at my phone. Saw his text message that he had arrived.  Gave him instructions on how to get to the Hotel.  When he came, I asked him if he was hungry and he said no.  Not really sure what happened after that. I believe we just watched MvC3 top 32 and we walked around the two casinos after.  Went back to the room at 1a to get some shut eye.

_______
Saturday

(This was an eventful day out of all the days we spent in EVO.)

Another day, another evo tournament. This time around, we have Tekken
and MvC3.  I signed up for Tekken but not MvC3. Lucky for me, Dafleks wanted to concentrate on his Tekken pool so I took his place.  He informed me late though cause when I got there, he already got disqualified for not showing up.
I had to play as him so when I got there, I told the judge that was me.  Didn’t seem to be a problem so I continued on with his disqualification.

More detailed info of my matches in my blog in a bit.  Just to break it down, I passed both Tekken and MvC3 pool.
The new pool continues @6p so I had time to kill.

Went back to the TTT2 machine again. I didn’t spend so much time in it this time around.  Got the camcorder and started filming EVO sorroundings. That was about 20mins of my time.  Went around some more. Asking for pictures of people who are well-known.  Me and Dafleks cornered a few players for pictures.  Kayane, Harada, Kayo Police and other ones.

There was 2 panels that day that we wanted to go to.  The Tekken and SFxTekken Panel was that day.
I missed so much panels because of Tournaments and TTT2 that we decided to go this time around.
The other ones didn’t interest us at all.  I heard they were giving out free prizes so that was a plus as well.

First one was the Tekken Panel.  It starts at 2p so we got there at around 1:30p to get a good line.
Being buddy with the Marketing people of Tekken, they mentioned to me that a tshirt would be the prize.
It was a good TShirt, kind of cute actually.  Heihachi with the “I Love Tekken” sentence in it.
The panel was mostly about Bandai Namco news.  Tekken Hybrid, TTT2 and SCV details.
It was fun since Harada-san kept putting down Daishi in a good way.  LOL!

We went for Q&A after and unfortunately, didn’t get called to ask my question.
Not enough time.  I was gonna ask about Kunimitsu and why she hasn’t come back yet.
I later asked this towards Harada-san after and he said she is the least playable character and nobody liked her at all.
I accepted that answer but my Kunimitsu love will always be there.

So a funny story that I have to say, our very own TTT_RXS wanted something unique for his wall.
He came up with the idea of getting Harada to sign an SFxTekken poster.  Knowing fully well that Harada has nothing to do with this game.  Did Harada-san sign it you ask? He did, he made a comment about Ono in the poster.  “Ono, i’m gonna kill you“.  We busted out laughing.

Here is were the story takes an even more funnier tone.  Ono-san just came in for his SFxTekken panel which was next.
Being the little michievous people TorontoTopTiers was, we showed it to Ono-san.  The reaction he gave was priceless.  Imagine a grown man, just giggling after reading what Harada-san wrote.  He was asking for a marker as well.

Ono-san is really funny, when he was writing the message, he layed down on the floor and started writing like a little girl.
Just imagine a little school girl writing in her diary.  He was gigling while he wrote the note.  When we read it, we were so surprised at what he wrote.  He actually wrote a swear word.  There were a discussion within the TTT team about this and we were hesitant to post this story up online but we figured, it’s all in the name of fun.

He wrote “f*** you Harada-san”, and then he drew a middle finger on top of the Heihachi icon Harada-san created.
After he finished, we ran back to Harada-san to show it to him.  He just said on the mic really loud.  “ONO-SAAAANNNN!!” Playfully of course.  That was the end of that, for now.  TTT was so proud to be part of Ono-san and Harada-san’s twitter war.

SFxTekken Panel started.  The panel was devoted on revealing new characters.  They showed 2 trailers, one Kuma but the other still a mystery.  They explained the system for SFxTekken and how it’s going to work.

When the Q&A started, I felt compelled to ask a question but one person in the crowd got chosen before anyone else.  It was Harada-san wanting to ask a question.  He basically said that he thought him and Ono-san were friends.  He mentioned that after that swear word he put in the poster, I don’t think they can be friends anymore.  Ono-san’s response was that he loved him.  LOL!!  Point for TorontoTopTiers.com for this slight jabs on their end.  Anyways, being a Tekken player myself, when I played SFxTekken, the health meter started blinking.  I thought, I had RAGE on.  I told them that it was confusing for me to say the least.  They made a light joke about the subject and that was the end of that panel.

Looked at the time and it was close to 6p.  I told the guys, I’ll see them later so I went through my pool in both Tekken and MvC3.  I lost 2 straight in Tekken (sad). Lost to a NYC player and 1 of the top 8 player.  No big loss on my end, I passed my pool and I was happy.  In MvC3, I just wanted to lose somewhat to concentrate on Tekken since they were happening at the same time.  I still fought with my hardest but my competition was NerdJosh’s sparring partner.  Oh well, atleast I lost with dignity cause I almost beat him.

It was around 9p during this time. I lost Dafleks and Kellfire.  I hope they are having fun.  I sent some messages to Dafleks asking where they were and they just said eating, will be back soon.  I on the other hand did not eat anything since 8a.  I only ate Twizzlers to sustain from passing out. LOL!

So I felt lonely and just talked to a few people that knew me.  Playing Tekken casuals and watching MvC3 on big screen at the same time.  It was fun experience but still felt lonely.  They came and picked me up at around 10:30p.  Went back to the hotel after SSFIV top 32.  It had some hype matches. Daigo just made Tokido look like a kid.  Tokido didn’t even win a round. It was a massive blow up.  After Top 32, we went back to the hotel.

Before EVO, I talked to Lapchi to talk to him about his ideals on Canada Cup East Coast.  I figured, I’d hear him out to see if our ideals are the same.  I sent him a message and he replied back saying to go to a bar, he is there with people.  I thought it would just be us one on one but it was the complete opposite.  I knew I needed company so I asked Dafleks and Kellfire for company.

Anyways, went to dress up for the bar cause I kind of felt sticky with the Superman shirt I was wearing.

Got a bit lost but eventually found Lapchi. He had Mago with him.  Now this night got a bit crazy keeping in mind that we’ve been awake since 7a in the morning.  It was now 1a in the morning. Lapchi laid out his plans for East Coast and I told him how I felt.  This discussion will continue from what he says so we’ll leave this at that.  He told us to just have fun and we’ll discuss business some other time.  So the 3 of us mingled with the rest of the players.

Lapchi treated us to drinks and we couldn’t deny because that would be rude right?  It’s funny, whenever Lapchi saw a good player, he called them up to join the fun.  The pictures in this event, you will see some big names.  Again, the night got hyped. There were some Canada Cup chants. We tried TorontoTopTiers chant but it didn’t fly as much as the rest. 3a in the morning. Made more connections, again the pictures will say it all so look into those.

The following top players ended up showing in this event:
Mago, Pongko, Infilratrion, PR Balrog, Alex Valle, Justin Wong, Marn, and many known players as well.

I looked at the time and it was 6a. The bar was cool in a way that you could see the skyline through the roof glass.
I promised myself that the minute I see sunlight we should bounce.  At around 6a, I saw the sunlight.  We said our thanks to Lapchi and his group and headed out.  I was planning to go to a pool at 8a but it looks like that is not gonna happen.  We also wanted to have good seats for finals so we slept it off.  Went back to the hotel, closed the blinds and I set up my alarm for 10a.  4 hours of sleep was good enough I guess.

______
Sunday

So my plan on Sunday before EVO finals was to go swimming.  Needless to say, I knew I couldn’t get up at 8a to do that.
We were out all day yesterday that we needed the rest.  I set my alarm for 10:30a.  I knew we were gonna miss Blazblue finals but that was alright since nobody really played BB but me.  Seeing that we just slept at 6a in the morning, everybody was groggy from last night.  It was fun but we had one more day of EVO and finishing it was the goal.

Woke up at 10:30a and got dressed for finals.  I mentioned to the TTT peeps if it’s alright to wear the TorontoTopTiers.com T-Shirt today to represent the site.  Everybody was alright with the idea.  I had a medium size and it was so big for me so I covered it with Mahir’s blazer.

Heading to the event, RXS sent me a message asking to meet up for lunch.  Told them we will be there at around 11:30a so wait for us by the door.  Met up with Vince and found good seats.  I know some of you guys saw us on stream so it was worth it to go there in the morning.

Blazblue Finals just ended and next was Tekken.  The Tekken Finals was a bit disappointing.  Not because I hated the game, it’s just that the crowd was dead.  The people behind us kept asking what the game is about and I explained to them how Tekken works.  Funny how I did the same in last years EVO.  Tekken ended and the crowd was still dead.

After that, they had a TTT2 Exhibition.  That was also dead with the crowd.  It is an awesome game but the crowd was just not getting it.

Last thing from namco was the SCV Featurette.  That was kind of cool.  They explained the system somewhat.
I love the character select screen they had, it was just a list of character names playable.  Namco’s time ended and it’s now time for MK Finals.

I’ve been playing Mortal Kombat ever since it came out and it is a nice game.  The competition is there but it’s still considered an american game which means nobody cared as much.

Anyways, Mortal Kombat Finals were starting and they had the disclaimer of violence up on screen.  The crowd was pretty hype for this game actually.  They cheered for that.  Exciting matches.  The Kitana player was good but he wasted too much meter.  Perfect Legend ends up winning MK EVO.  Good for him and for MadCatz as well.

The next game was weird.  It was a 3S Exhibition.  I felt hungry so I asked anyone if they wanted to eat.  Went to a steak house in the hotel.  We asked Moon and Vince to save our seats.  That was some good ribs.  We then went back to EVO room and MvC3 just started.  YAY!

MvC3 Finals was really hype.  Everybody was into the game. Everytime people saw Phoenix users, they boo’ed them.
When Phoenix gets hit, they cheered so loudly.  There were some hype matches.  Grand Finals was good.  In the end, Viscant won with his Phoenix Team.  I swear she is not fair at all.  Good thing she got toned down in UMvC3.

Last tournament was what everyone was waiting for.  SSFIV:AE to defend against the Japanese and Koreans.
Before that, Ono-san had a few words.  He apologizes for not balancing SSFIV:AE.  Good for him for realizing this.
He said that rebalance will come soon.

Back to the tournament.  Latif took out a lot of good players.  He took out Daigo.  Pongko took out Daigo as well but not before making a quirk before the match.  He made him look free.  I’m not sure what happened with Daigo in this tournament.  It’s like he didn’t know about C.Viper’s invincibility when she does EX quake.  Anyways, the crowd was going wild for Latif.  One more competitor and he wins EVO.  Alas, he got stopped by another Japanese player by the name Fuudo.  Great Fei Long player.  He made him look like a child.  It was an easy win.  After a few pictures from the winner, that ends TTT’s EVO Trip for 2011.

We went back to the hotel and decided to check out the BlazBlue Players then head to Lapchi’s canadian room event thingy.  The room that the BB guys had was bigger than ours.  They had some stories of this weekend, that’s for sure.  Anyways, Nazir and Diobrando wanted to join us.

Sadly, Canadian Room had a cover and no one in the group really played SF for us to stay there.  It would have been nice but we’d rather spend the money on food.  It was 12a in the morning and our last stop was TGIF Restaurant.  It was pretty fun hanging out with Nazir and Dio.  We talked about their weekend of fun and then compared our weekend of fun.  We called it quits at 2:30a in the morning since our flight leaves at 6a and I knew we had to be there early.  We said our goodbye’s to BB guys and headed to our room.

We packed and double checked every equipment we owned so that we don’t miss them.  I don’t think Hotels ship out items to owners in the first place.  Anyways, ride to Airport was umm… interesting to say the least.  The same procedure in the plane.  We got in and said our goodbye to Vegas.  See you next year EVO 2012.

Thanks for reading our TTT’s exploits in EVO 2011.

Pictures of TTT Exploits in EVO 2011:
Facebook.com/torontotoptierspage

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 

See if you can match up my story with our trip pictures.  There are a few interesting pics in there that’s for sure.
If you like the pictures please press “LIKE” in our facebook page.  It helps us so much.

NeoRussell

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Posted by Neorussell