WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1 is first offline mayor in about a year; and SoulCalibur is part of it. Given the production quality of WePlay events is insane, it’s an unique oportunity to enjoy great matches and see top players competing seriously once again. Zubaz, being an official analyst for the event, kindly shared his preliminary assessment for what we should expect.
Twitter: @Zubaz_
Twitch: zubaz
Birth Year: 1994
Country: Canada
Hello Zubaz, can you briefly introduce yourself?
Hi, I’m Zubaz. I talk about Soul Calibur 6, and people seem to enjoy it. To be more specific though; I’m a commentator, and analyst for Soul Calibur 6.
You will be an official analyst for upcoming WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1 SoulCalibur 6 event. What does it actually mean, to be an analyst on such event?
As an analyst, my job is to explain potential strategies, character picks, player habits, and system interactions to the viewers. I try my best to make it easy to digest for new viewers, while still being entertaining for veteran viewers.
How are you preparing for this role?
To prepare for all my events, I try my best to interview as many participants as possible. I’ve continued this for WePlay UFL, as it allows me to perform at my best.
WUFL S1 will be first offline mayor after the release of Haohmaru, Setsuka, Hwang, and 3 significant balance patches. Being analyst, can you tell as what we should expect?
This is the first time we get to see these characters (Haoh, Setsuka, and Hwang), so it’s an opportunity to see how they work in the offline environment. I know some players are concerned about potential Hwang picks, as there is not very much experience in that matchup. I think the people at home should expect to see a those characters make an appearance in the event.
In last State of Calibur article, one of the questions revolves about meta developing separately in regions due to pandemic. What do you think about this topic?
I personally think that every region has always had their own style. Some regions value frame data a lot, so their regional meta plays around that. Other regions focus more on conditioning, and reads. It could be cultural, but I just talk about videogames. I’ll leave that to people smarter than me to figure out lol.
I do think the online environment has allowed for bad habits to arise. If the players at the invitational have those, it can definitely be boon for their opponent.
Do you foresee any specific character(s) be dominating in the upcoming tournament?
It’s hard to say if any specific character will dominate, as Soul Calibur rewards the player for making good decisions. There’s obviously some characters that are better than others, but I think it’s the player that matters most.
If I was forced to pick the most dominant character, I’d have to say Nightmare. He has amazing whiff punishment, and is probably the best at the “bait and punish” style of gameplay. His worst match ups have slowly gotten worse over time, and that’s also been a huge boon for him.
When talking with a few players that are attending (can’t say names yet), Hwang is also a concern for them. It’s not that he’s necessarily top tier, but he has a lot of stances/strings/mix-ups. They feel as if being “janked out” by a lack of character experience could be a possibility.
This is very unique situation, as WUFL S1 is one of few, if not only offline mayor in past year. Why you think they picked SC6 (alongside MK11 and T7), out of all available FGs?
SC6 has a very loyal fanbase. We may be small, but we always show up and give our best.
Also, we’re a Bamco fighter. If you get Tekken, you usually get us too.
Please answer a single question that you were not asked but you would like to answer!
I guess I could answer how I started being a commentator/analyst.
It actually started as a joke I made in Boom’s Twitch chat; he was really tired, and didn’t want to commsntate solo. I made a joke saying, “Hey, put in the Zubaz, I have the voice for it,” which apparently I did haha. People liked what I did, so I was asked to do more.
I wasn’t great when I started, nobody is, but I put in a lot of work getting better. I constantly ask for constructive feedback, interview players, and run scenarios in my head all day. I even have conversations in my head with other commentators, with hypothetical matches. So even when I’m not commentating, I’m thinking about it constantly (having JJJ in my head is as annoying as you’d think it would be :P). It’s an art that I’m constantly trying to improve at, and is a fun hobby.
Thank you for the interview!
WUFL S1 SC6 DETAILS
When: April 1st-4th
Where: Kyiv, Ukraine
What: 16-player offline invitational
Stream: weplayufl
Web: weplay.tv/events/soul-calibur-6/wufl-season-1-soulcalibur-6
Format: 2×8 groups > TOP8 with (unconfirmed) 2v2 “for fun” tournament intermezzo
Details: TBA