WUFL S1 Interviews #5: Bluegod, Keev, Skyll & Woahhzz

This is the last set of interviews with all who participated in WePlay Ultimate Fighting League Season 1 for SoulCalibur 6, but definitely not the least interesting one! How it can be, featuring Bluegod, Keev, Skyll and Woahhzz..?

Can you briefly introduce yourself as a SC competitor?

Bluegod: Hello all. My name is Bluegod and I am a SC player who has been playing ever since SCV. I have been playing SC for almost 8 years now! My favorite ever SC character is Patroklos and my favorite SC6 character and main is Azwel.

Keev: Hello, my handle is Keev (Keev_Rayne), I’m a big Soulcalibur fan and I’ve been a competitive player since the end of Soulcalibur 2. My main character has been Nightmare since the end of Soulcalibur 4.
Bonjour, mon pseudo est Keev (Keev_Rayne), je suis un grand fan de Soulcalibur, joueur compétitif depuis la fin de Soulcalibur 2. Mon personnage principal est Nightmare depuis la fin de Soulcalibur 4.

Skyll: Hello! I’m Skyll, a French Mitsurugi main! I’ve started playing competitively in SCIV a bit but I was only able to travel for tournaments in SCV. When SCVI released, I was already part of Team Oplon so I took that opportunity to travel for Soulcalibur VI tournaments and events.

Woahhzz: Hey there, I’m Woahhzz. I am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I started my first SOULCALIBUR game with SC4 back in 2008. I’ve been competing and traveling on and off since.

How did you enjoy WUFL S1?

Bluegod: I enjoyed the event greatly. This was my first time seeing my SC friends in over a year! I also got the chance to visit a country I’ve never been to before. The production for a SC event was also at a calibur (lol) I’ve never seen before, and the weplay staff were all really awesome. What really made the event special to me was the treatment everybody received from Artem and Valery. Artem and Valery if you are seeing this, thanks again!

Keev: Playing offline is great. You get to rediscover certain aspects of the game. The organization was amazing, everyone from the staff was very considerate and available. We had a training room open 24/7. The level was very high with players from all horizons. Finally, every aspect of the show was expertly handled: the staging, the interviews, the photos and videos…  
Jouer offline fait énormément de bien, on redécouvre certains aspects du jeu. L’organisation était géniale et le staff attentionné et à l’écoute. On avait une salle de training ouverte H24. De plus, le niveau était vraiment très haut avec des joueurs de tous horizons. Enfin, l’aspect show était très maîtrisé (mise en scène, interview, photos, vidéos).

Skyll: This was one of the best, if not the best event ever made for Soulcalibur in my experience. The production value was insane and the staff took care of all the needs for the players and talents invited for the event. I will keep so many good memories from this event too. Being able to see again some Calibur friends was truly a blessing.
I just hope for a WUFL Season 2 now!

Woahhzz: WUFL S1 is the best event I’ve ever experienced. Everything about it from start to finish was amazing. Other than the staff and production team being phenomenal, it was one of the first tournaments that really let us express ourselves and tried to capture our personality both in and out of the game. This was something I really appreciated.

What was your personal highlight of the tournament?

Bluegod: This one is difficult because there are so many different moments I can choose. Something I personally really enjoyed was my team tournament match vs Linkorz. Linkorz is my favorite person to play against but I’ve only ever played Azwel vs him in tournament. Getting the chance to express myself with a different character vs him in an official setting was kinda cool.

Keev: My matches against Woahhzz and Akeopo, which were decisive for me if I wanted to have a shot at surviving pools. 
Mes matchs contre Woahhzz et Aekopo qui étaient pour moi des matchs décisifs si je voulais avoir une chance de passer les pools.

Skyll: I have too many highlights from this event. I guess I’ll just list 2 of them. First one is the Soulcharge CE from Myloes into the SC 66A+B from Bluegod. That was so damn cool ahah! And the other one is my comeback against Partywolf in the loser bracket. I thought it was over for me but still managed to stay in the match with a well placed 1BB near the edge. I feel like my heart stopped at some point ahah.

Woahhzz: Personal highlight would be when I won the tournament of course! Honestly, I didn’t expect to win considering how I barely scraped by in groups. I was so focused on my next match and what was in front of me that winning the whole tournament never occurred to me. When James handed me the microphone during the ceremony, I was actually freaking out inside because all I thought about was how really unprepared I was for a speech. Aside from winning, another personal highlight was being reunited with some old friends and meeting new SC players. It was really great to see everyone. There’s also something really nostalgic to see a bunch of gamers cramped up in a hotel room and playing casuals again.

How did you prepare for the tournament?

Bluegod: If I’m going to be honest, I didn’t get the chance to prepare that much because I didn’t expect offline to come back so soon! When I got there I tried to play as many casuals as I could. I kind of have a pre-tournament ritual where I like to play a long set vs a player with strong defense before a big tournament. I find that playing players with a strong defense helps me tighten up my gameplan and helps me to prevent making mistakes.

Keev: Preparing was hard. We only received the list of participants less than two days before departure. We didn’t know the groups until the day before the tourney. So the training was more focused on theory. Certain players were sure to be present, and I was able to train versus French and UK players who use the same characters.
La préparation a été difficile car on a eu la liste des participants moins de deux jours avant le départ et les groupes la veille du tournoi. C’était plus un entraînement théorique que pratique. Il y a quelques joueurs qui étaient sûrs d’être présents, j’ai pu solliciter les joueurs FR et UK jouant les mêmes personnages afin de m’entraîner.

Skyll: I labbed against the characters that I would be in the tournament for sure. Practiced against them online and made sure I was able to do all the things labbed on PC but on PS4. Input lag difference can be a big issue sometimes.

Woahhzz: I prepared for the tournament by staring at frame data and videos during downtime at work. Then when I get home, I would ask my friends to play me on my Parsec so I can get acquainted with offline timing. Shen Chan and BlueGod also gave me some valuable Mitsu drills before my first match against Skyll in the playoffs, which proved to be very helpful.

How do you feel about your performance?

Bluegod: Not going to lie, I’m very disappointed in my performance! However at the same time I am really motivated. Not sure what it is but winning doesn’t really motivate me. Losing however really does motivate me to want to get better. I want to for sure come back stronger for the next event.

Keev: I’m very disappointed. I think I could have done much better. We learn from our mistakes, I’ll try to perform better next time. 
Très déçu, je pense que j’aurais pu faire beaucoup mieux. On apprend de ses erreurs, je tâcherai de faire mieux la prochaine fois.

Skyll: Hum, tricky question honestly. I always want to win so I’m disappointed to finish second ahah. But to be fair, I think considering my path and how the matches played out, I shouldn’t be too picky. In fact, I really thought it was over for me a good number of times during the whole event.

Woahhzz: I am my own worst critic but overall, I am very happy with my performance. I had a lot of trouble sleeping for almost a week leading up to groupstage and playoffs. Due to this, I felt like I was playing poorly during casuals but I’m glad I was able to step it up during game day. Despite winning, I still felt like there were a fair amount of mechanical mistakes from my end, which led to some of my matches to look like a sloppy slug fest. I still feel that there is plenty of room for improvement.

Where there any significant differences between your local competition and what you experienced at WUFL S1?

Bluegod: Yes there was for sure. Players from different regions of the world play vastly different. WUFL had players from all parts of the world so I got to interact with so many different playstyles during my time there. Being able to express myself and interact with vs all these different players and playstyles is one of the main reasons to why I enjoy competitive fighting games.

Keev: WUFL is a full-on tourney with a pool stage. This type of tournament takes time and we don’t have them anymore these days… In such a configuration, it’s important to keep in mind that every round counts. After my defeat to Myloes I realized that because of the upsets (Woahzz beating Yuttoto, BlueGod losing to Myloes) I was already losing out on score average, even if I managed to win my next two matches 2-0. You have to be focused each instant, whereas in a classic tourney you only care about winning the encounter, since winning 2-0 or by a pixel doesn’t make a difference.
Le WUFL est un tournoi avec des phases de pool. Actuellement, ce genre de tournoi n’existe plus car cela prend énormément de temps. Dans ce genre de tournoi, il faut garder à l’idée que chaque round compte. Après ma défaite vs Myloes, je me suis rendu compte que suite aux différents imprévus (Woahhzz qui bat Yuttoto et Bluegod qui perd contre Myloes), j’étais déjà out au goal-average. Et ce même si je gagnais mes 2 prochains matchs 2-0. Il faut être concentré à chaque moment, là où l’objectif des tournois classiques est de gagner la confrontation, que ce soit au pixel près ou 2-0 ça n’a pas d’incidence.

Skyll: My local competition is just online gameplay with opponents of very different skill level so I could easily feel the difference. Every opponent there was a big challenge, playing extremely well with their character. It was also way harder to open up people using spacing tools because they could react faster without the online delay. It felt great to be able to play the game like that!

Woahhzz: I felt that all players at WUFL were extremely strong players but I can’t really say that there is a huge gap in the level of play from my “local” online competition. What makes the WUFL players unique is their specialty and optimization with their character. A fair amount of the characters that were picked in WUFL are not commonly played at such a high level in the US. Either that, or they have a completely different style with a character that I am used to fighting.

Is there anything else you will like to mention or talk about?

Bluegod: I received a lot of support and good wishes throughout my time at WUFL. To everybody who wished me well or supported me thank you so much! Your support definitely reached me and it genuinely made me really happy. The only other thing I’d like to mention is directed straight towards Namco >.>. Please bring back Patroklos in Season 3!

Keev: I hope they will keep supporting Soulcalibur, this event was really great. Thanks to everyone supporting me, fellow players and friends. I’ll come back stronger! 
J’espère qu’ils continueront avec Soulcalibur car l’évent était vraiment bien. Merci pour le soutien des joueurs et des proches. Je reviendrai plus fort !

Skyll: When is SCVI Season 3 and WUFL season 2?! Also, can I have some moves not -14 for Mitsu please? I wake up during nights hearing Setsuka’s doing umbrellas ahah

Woahhzz: Thank you Weplay for this amazing event. Hopefully it sparked the soul of many to try out out SOULCALIBUR or rekindled those who stopped playing. I can’t wait for offline tournaments again and I am crossing my fingers for WUFL S2!

Thanks a lot for the interview!