Street Fighter V pro NYChrisG wins 8 games in a row to make epic tournament comeback, only to lose in the end
Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez orchestrated what would have been one of Street Fighter V’s greatest comebacks to date against Brian “Brian_F” Foster at ESL’s King of the Hill but couldn’t seal the deal, suffering a soul-crushing defeat.
NYChrisG was the reigning King of the Hill on Tuesday, meaning whoever won between Brian_F and Ted “No Respect” Sarmiento would get a shot at playing NYChrisG. Brian_F bulldozed No Respect 10-1.
During a pre-game interview with commentator James Chen, NYChris offered his thoughts on the upcoming match with the Balrog player.
“Hopefully I don’t get hit in the face. The character will activate V-Trigger. Then I could possibly lose. In order for that to happen, I will take 70% of his life and then I could potentially lose. That’s pretty much what’s going to happen. Hopefully it doesn’t,” NYChrisG said.
What he’s referring to is a common theme with a few heavy damage dealing characters in Street Fighter V Season 2, with Balrog arguably at the top of the list. A player can put in all kinds of work to wear down Balrog’s health. But one mistake and Balrog with EX meter and V-Trigger can kill the opponent in the blink of an eye.
NYChrisG said he would play Urien first and if things went sideways, he would go with Ibuki. He joked about disagreeing with Daigo Umehara’s assessment that Guile was a favorable match-up against Balrog, calling him “a liar.”
And so the two combatants readied up and went into game one. Brian_F scored a perfect round victory, setting the tone for the next nine games.
Brian_F bullied NYChrisG’s Urien for six straight rounds, giving him a fast 3-0 lead, forcing NYChrisG to make the switch to Ibuki. It didn’t even seem to matter for the next six games as Brian_F Crush Countered and pressured NYChrisG into the 8-1 deficit.
At this point, a player is playing for pride if nothing else. NYChrisG might not have even been playing for that. In a post-game interview with commentator Stephen “Sajam” Lyon, NYChrisG said he didn’t feel “motivated” and as a result dropped combos and didn’t punish the way he should have. He struggled getting in on Balrog and Brian_F’s decision-making and button timing was immaculate. NYChrisG could only reel back in disgust with each mounting loss.
But NYChrisG is a long-time veteran who has likely played his fair share of long sets. He began chipping away at the lead by tightening up his gameplay. He turned the tables on Brian_F and made better decisions on when to push buttons and used more throws to take advantage of when Brian_F wasn’t pushing buttons.
Seventeen rounds later, NYChrisG had not only tied the series up, but taken the lead 9-8. Brian_F only won one of those 17 rounds. Brian_F’s frustration and inexperience in long sets showed. He hadn’t adapted to NYChrisG’s adaptations and he was pressing too hard, resulting in too many mistakes.
Momentum was now in NYChrisG’s favor and all he needed to do was close out the set.
I think everyone has been in a similar situation in some form or another in life. You’ve exhausted everything in you to claw your way out of a hole. But in doing so, you run out of gas and fall in the final moments. That seems to be what happened to NYChrisG in the last two games of the set as he seemed to have fallen back in the trap, allowing Brian_F to mash through his attacks and take the momentum back.
Brian_F snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, taking the final two games and dethroning the king with a final score of 10-9. NYChrisG set his fightstick down on the floor and promptly walked off the set, clearly upset with the loss.
You can watch the full match with interviews on ESL’s Twitch channel.
“I was 100 percent downloaded,” Brian_F said in his post-game interview. “I think that’s a weakness for me as a player. I get downloaded pretty easily.”
“I play sets against good players where I start out strong and they figure me out. I need to figure out how to adapt.”
Brian_F hoped he could outlast NYChrisG in the set after having such a commanding lead and fortunately it worked out in his favor.
“I feel great. I’ve never felt better in my life,” NYChrisG said with a hint of sarcasm to start his post-game interview.
As far as his previous assessment of how the match would go, he was pretty spot on. NYChrisG did damage in many rounds but Balrog’s damage and comeback factor were just too much. The first seven games took the motivation to play right out of him. In hindsight, NYChrisG should have picked Ibuki from the start. He practically gave away the first three games with Urien. That’s a choice I’m sure he’d love to take back.
“When you fight that character, you don’t even care about winning. The more I was fighting, the more I didn’t want to be there. I definitely shouldn’t have that attitude,” NYChrisG said.
“I’m pretty salty. Only because maybe I should’ve won.”
Michael Martin covers SFV and the FGC. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.
