Pro players weigh in on Street Fighter V's Urien

Urien, the Vice President of the Illuminati, has been crushing, killing, and destroying in Street Fighter V for nearly a week now. He’s the final DLC character for the first season, but is he being embraced by the community? We checked in with a few pros to get their thoughts on Street Fighter’s latest.

While two players spoke very highly of Urien, one was far more reserved than anyone might have expected given his now classic reaction to the Urien reveal a few months ago.

Wave’s David-Paul “AutoMattock” Mattock

AutoMattock’s took a circuitous route to Street Fighter V and Urien. He grew up playing Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, so he’s very familiar with the last incarnation of the character. From there, he transitioned into Street Fighter IV, playing as Gen, but didn’t really take to the game.

However, he excelled at the widely maligned Street Fighter x Tekken, placing top 8 at Evo 2013 with Sagat and Jin as his team. During the game’s relatively short run, he became one of the “tech monsters” the FGC sometimes relies on to find strategies and develop characters in fighting games.

“I look at what a character is capable of and how I can apply it,” AutoMattock told Yahoo Esports. “Street Fighter V hasn’t played to my strengths [reactions] with its characters, but Urien does. He has a strong zoning game and he forces people to block, which is a Christmas miracle in this game.”

AutoMattock believes some top players are struggling in Street Fighter V because they aren’t used to developing a character on their own. This could explain why players have been experiencing character crises over the course of the Capcom Pro Tour, something Team Secret’s Chung Gon “Poongko” Lee went through earlier in the year.

“If you’re looking for something that isn’t there, you’re going to be disappointed,” AutoMattock said. “If you work with the system in front of you, you can develop and expand on that. In other games, especially 3rd Strike, I could say ‘that’s Haitani’s Makoto, Daigo’s Ken, or MOV’s Chun-Li’ based on how they played. Show me a video of Chun-Li or Karin in Street Fighter V, I couldn’t tell you who is who. I think Urien will change that. Players can express themselves.”

If you’re interested in Urien tech, you can see what AutoMattock is doing via his Twitter account.

When asked to summarize Urien in a few words, AutoMattock chose creative, reactionary, diverse, and dangerous.

Circa Esports Long “LPN” Nguyen

Ask LPN who he mains in any fighting game and he’ll give you the same response every time. He mains the game, meaning he isn’t beholden to any one character. He wants to learn the ins and outs of every character for every possible match-up. So it would only make sense to consult LPN on Urien for Street Fighter V.

“Hands down the best DLC character,” LPN told Yahoo Esports.

He couldn’t even wait until the end of the interview to give us a few words to describe the character.

“Mobility, damage output, priority, flexibility, versatility,” he said, calling Urien an upgraded Alex because they both play more like actual Street Fighter characters in comparison to Laura and R. Mika.

LPN cited Urien’s tools as a plus when competing against most of the cast, especially his footsies. He also appreciated Urien’s defensive capabilities that make him a “walking wall.”

“He has everything all the DLC characters have individually, like zoning [Juri], a fast and slow fireball [Guile], a shoulder rush that can space opponents out [Balrog/Alex], and a left/right mix-up with his Aegis Reflector [Ibuki],” LPN said.

Like AutoMattock, LPN believes players will be able to express themselves through their desired playstyles with Urien.

“Nash, Ryu, and Urien stand out the most in terms of self-expression,” LPN said. “Daigo plays a pretty reserved Ryu and Tokido feeds on opponents’ fear and is more aggressive. You could play a meticulous, methodical style of Urien similar to how Momochi plays; slow-paced, hit confirms, and barely takes any risks. Then there are players like Poongko who could go berserk.”

“He’s a bad ass mofo,” LPN said.

Urien fanboy, Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli

Of all of the Street Fighter V players out there, everyone expected LI Joe to be first in line at the Urien Kool-Aid stand. But surprisingly, he’s a bit more cautious about the DLC character than AutoMattock and LPN.

“People see these combos or setups and no one is really thinking about how practical they are or not,” LI Joe said. “No one is looking at how he’ll fight Chun. If your setup begins with landing a clean jump-in or a crouching fierce – you’re not going to land those regularly against people that play well.”

LI Joe raises a great point. Players are already concerned about trying to contend with top tier characters possessing three-frame jabs that can be used as an anti-air (Necalli, Ryu, and Chun-Li). Since Urien doesn’t have a cross-up, it makes jumping in that much harder against better characters.

Though as LPN pointed out, he is more of a “walking wall,” meaning he’s more creative when using his long range normals, shoulder dash, or V-Trigger Aegis Reflector.

“He has good tools. He has a way to get people off of him, but it costs meter,” LI Joe said. “I think his damage might be a little low. If Ryu lands a clean jump-in on him, I’d like to compare the damage.”

Who would’ve thought LI Joe would be the voice of reason in the Urien hype?

“I am happy with the character. I think they did a good job incorporating him into the game,” he said. “It’s cool to play someone new. He’s hands down my favorite character in Street Fighter. Even if I don’t win with him, at least he’s in the game.”

When asked to give his five words or less summary of Urien, LI Joe did not disappoint.

“Look at that bod,” he said.

The general consensus? We won’t see Urien winning at a higher level right away. However, Urien seems equipped to perform better faster than the previous DLC characters.

It took months for a player to win a CPT event with a DLC character, and that was Unequalled Media’s Sean “ImStillDaDaddy” Dench in an EU CPT Online Ranking Event. We have yet to see a DLC character win an on-site event, but at this stage, Urien seems like the most capable of doing it sooner rather than later.

Michael Martin covers Street Fighter V and the Capcom Pro Tour. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.