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Atlanta's hero puts it all on the line to improve his game.
Although competitive gaming doesn’t match the physicality of traditional sports, the mental strain undertaken by players in the fighting game community is nothing to sneeze at. Tournament nerves and high-pressure situations are an important part of high-level play, and players who can embrace the anxiety and soldier forward often find themselves atop the standings when all's said and done.
With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why fighting game competitors try to make themselves as comfortable as possible during a major event. Some sit on the floor or listen to their own music in order to further replicate their training conditions at home. In any case, the fact of the matter is that most players aren’t going to look for ways to make things harder on themselves.
But Hoa "Anakin" Luu isn’t your ordinary player. As one of the United States's premier Tekken players, Anakin has the experience and abilities to win just about every tournament he attends. That’s why, when Bandai Namco Entertainment announced their plans to extend spots for the high-profile King of the Iron Fist Tournament to North America, the Atlanta representative was considered a shoe-in for the trip to Japan.
No one, however, could have predicted the path he would take to qualifying.
Thrown into the deep end
Anakin’s journey to the North American finals began at Final Round. Although the developers had provided the community with a handful of opportunities to try Tekken 7 since it landed in arcades, the dearth of releases outside of countries like Japan and South Korea meant serious competitors were left to play catch-up by learning on the fly.
"Right off the bat, I made it a point to try and understand new mechanics like Rage Arts as much as possible," Anakain said. “New characters are also incredibly scary in new games, so that was also on my mind. It’s pretty normal for combos to differ for characters in between games, but my experience helped out a lot in that area. It was something I was used to."
That said, Korean competitors Jin-woo "Saint" Choi and Se-hun "SoDam" Oh were too much for the hometown crowd to overcome. In his first Tekken 7 tournament outing, Anakin ended his Final Round weekend in third place.
But while the importance of regular access to Tekken 7 was clearly on display, Anakin was quickly picking up on the skills necessary to advance in the new title. His next stop on the tour came at Combo Breaker, his first tournament after being signed by Circa eSports. The combination of competing at the biggest tournament in the Midwest and proving himself to his new sponsor weighed heavily, but Anakin was able to pull out a first-place finish after a near-elimination in losers finals against Chris "RenoFace" Phojanakong’s Claudio and Lucky Chloe.
"Going into Combo Breaker, I felt confident that I could take it with the competition in attendance," he explained. "I didn’t really face any new competition or fight against a ton of new characters other than my match against RenoFace. It was actually a big wake-up call to learn the new characters with my limited access to the game."
Anakin’s victory at Combo Breaker gave him an automatic entry to the North American finals, the finalists of which would earn a chance at the main event in Japan. In theory, this early qualification freed Anakin up to visit events at his leisure to increase his understanding of the game, but in actuality, the Tekken tour’s rules included a rather surprising stipulation.
Unlike the Capcom Pro Tour, which allows and even encourages players to enter multiple qualifying tournaments as a way to accrue ranking points, the organizers of the King of the Iron Fist Tournament actively discourage Tekken competitors from doing the same thing. In order to compete at future events, Anakin would need to give up his automatic spot, essentially starting at square one.
With the next competition rapidly approaching at Community Effort Orlando, Anakin was faced with a tough decision: Rest on his laurels and hope that what he had learned about Tekken 7 so far was enough, or forgo the position he earned at Combo Breaker to further learn the intricacies of this new title. He chose the latter.
"I was fully aware of the decision I made and the risk I was taking," Anakin continued. "I didn’t fully agree with the rule itself, as something like that has never been implemented to discourage winners from competing. Still, I went with it and kind of ignored the fact that I could lose my spot at the North American finals. It was more important to me to learn the game and improve."
And improve he did. While there wasn’t much of an international presence, Anakin’s run through the Community Effort Orlando bracket brought him face to face with local talent like Terrelle "Lil Majin" Jackson, Cody "KoDee" Dinkins and Circa teammate Stephen "Speedkicks" Stafford, all of whom had the potential to upset his plans of regaining his qualifying spot. After a tight run through the lower bracket, however, Anakin was back on track.
Calculated risks, huge rewards
But he didn’t stop there. Taking advantage of Tekken’s multiple appearances at multiple Wizard World conventions, Anakin again relinquished his path to the North American finals in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Virginia, only to earn it back again. Naturally, this dedication resulted in improved gameplay, and close victories became shutouts as Anakin focused his efforts on Jack-7, the latest version of an old standby.
"Continuously entering tournaments had more to do with getting better and simply playing more Tekken 7 than it did with me being confident in my abilities," he said. "I think anyone that knows me knows that I wasn’t trying to be cocky or disrespect anyone. Looking back, it ended up being a lot of fun getting involved with the Tekken tour."
Apart from trying to learn more about the game, Anakin also had one more goal in mind: Avenging a particularly disappointing performance at the Evolution Championship Series earlier in the year. After a relatively smooth trip through early pools, he was immediately matched up in a losing effort against Hyun-jim "JDCR" Kim, a Korean native long thought of as one of the best Tekken players in the world. One match later, and Anakin was bowing out much earlier than he anticipated.
As the King of the Iron Fist Tournament wound down to the North American finals, Anakin was faced with one last test: placing well enough against his peers to make it to the next step in Japan. In his mind, it would take a good deal of luck to walk away the winner thanks to the work and experience of the other competitors. And thanks to a switch to the Fated Retribution update halfway through the tour, research became a much more important part of going the distance.
Anakin would meet his match in Jimmy "Mr. Naps" Tran, a fellow Tekken veteran who Anakin considered a favorite to take the entire tournament. Despite losing to Mr. Naps in first winners and then grand finals, Anakin’s second-place finish was enough to secure a coveted trip to Japan for the main event, a longtime dream that was finally coming true.
"All I could think about at the time was going to Japan," Anakin reminisced. "Going to Japan and representing the United States at the global tournament is such an amazing honor. It’s one of two items I needed to cross off my list of things to do as a Tekken player, next to winning Evo, and I remember feeling proud that I got to do so much throughout the year before the game was even released. There's no better way to end the Tekken tour than extending it!"
The next uphill battle
Now, the only question that remains is how well the American representatives will fare against their Korean and Japanese counterparts. For his part, Anakin is confident not only in his own chances, but the country as a whole thanks to recent performances by American players in high-level tournaments.
"In the past, the best players in the United States have always shown the ability to compete with players in any country, and at the top level, Anthony 'Geesemaster' Jaimes has already proven that American players have the potential to beat anyone in Tekken 7. Given the condition of our scene compared to that of Japan or Korea, I think we do pretty well. They have a lot more high-level players and benefit from enormous communities, but we Americans are super competitive, and I think that helps us power up against international players."
In addition to Korean powerhouses Saint and Jae-min "Knee" Bae, who qualified by virtue of their respective first and second placings at Evo 2016, players like Filipino prodigy Alexandre "AK" Laverez and Osaka representative Wataru "Chikurin" Saito will also be in attendance, a significant group of competitors that makes victory a shaky proposition. Still, with bragging rights and just under $30,000 to be won, there’s no doubt everyone is bringing their A-game to Japan.
"Thanks to Tekken, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience moments I would have otherwise missed out on," Anakin concluded. "I’m really looking forward to 2017, the year of Tekken!"
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