KIWC 2017

So when I started to do these blog posts, I had the intention of doing them all in a chronological order. That being said, I decided to do this post after the tournament that occurred on the weekend of March 10-12 2017. That was the weekend of the 2nd Annual Killer Instinct World Cup in San Antonio, TX. 32 top players from across the globe played for their piece of the $30,000 prize pot. The event was held at the Tobin Center for Performing Arts with players duking it out in front of a live audience in the thousands and even more tuning in via Twitch.tv.

I played in the Top 32 on Sunday in hopes of taking it all. The good thing was that by already playing in the Top 32, I was guaranteed to take home a minimum of $200. I was ecstatic that this year I get to play because last year I wasn't able to qualify to make it into the final bracket via the Last Chance Qualifiers (I will go into detail about that in another post).

Sunday started after a short Saturday night's sleep because everyone who was playing on Sunday was required to be at the venue by 9AM. The fact that we needed to be there so early was not helped by Daylight Saving Time which had us lose an hour of sleep in the middle of the night. As all of the Top 32 players began to arrive and we were getting situated into the dressing rooms backstage, fatigue began to overcome me, so when one of the runners came by to take orders for all the players, I made sure to get a vanilla coke with a bacon and egg breakfast sandwich, to get caffeine and food in my system to help me get through the grueling day that lay ahead of me. After orders were picked up, event organizers told us that we would be called into the conference area once all the food was back, so that we could eat and that they would have Xbox Ones set up in there for us to practice before the bracket began.

45 minutes later we were called from our dressing rooms to eat and practice, and so as they escorted us to the practice area there was an official in there who was reading out the bracket for the Top 32 players. People scarfed down their meals and gathered around the setups to get whatever practice they could squeeze in before the bracket started in 15 minutes.

As people began to be called for the matches out on the big stage, I focused on being mentally ready for what lay ahead of me. I sat down with my music playing and began to think of all the matches that I could potentially face and what my options were with Spinal in each of them. Before I knew it, I was called for my first match against UA Wheels who is a friend of mine and a great disabled player. We've played together so much that at this point we already know each others habits and it just becomes a matter of adapting to each other. As I walked onto the stage, it was an amazing feeling to be on such a stage in front of 5,000 people in the stands along with the 30,000 viewers at home watching via the Twitch stream. I sat down across from my good friend Wheels and we began the match. I had my first ever mistake of pressing the pause button and forfeiting the first match. It didn't phase me but it was an unfortunate circumstance because I can't give an opponent like Wheels a free round like that. We continued to play the set out and Wheels took the set 3-1 (I'll link the video down below).

Killer Instinct World Cup 2017 UA Wheels vs Raven is Raw

I had lost my first match of the day and as I went backstage to the practice room, I was notified by the Tournament Organizer that the first round of the loser's bracket would be getting run in there and that I would be playing Hologram in the next 15 minutes. The first round of the loser's bracket was played so there isn't any footage of this set, but I ended winning the set 3-1 using Spinal against his Thunder.

Later on throughout the day, I ended up playing my third match against UA Guttermagic who also played Thunder against me. It felt great to be back on stage against one of the greatest players that I have watched play the game for the past 3 years. He started off the set strong by winning the first two matches in convincing fashion but as my tournament life was on the line, all the information I gathered in those matches let me make a great comeback. With my back against the wall, I won the set 3-2 by doing a reverse sweep (I'll link the video down below).

Killer Instinct World Cup 2017 UA Guttermagic vs Raven is Raw

My last match of the tournament was against Mentality's Letalis Venator. He is a great Aganos player and he destroyed me. My unfamiliarity against that character ended up being my downfall. His knowledge and his abilities allowed him to win the set 3-0 (I'll link the video down below).


Killer Instinct World Cup 2017 Raven is Raw vs MnT Letalis Venator

That was the end of my tournament life as a competitor, but that didn't stop me from watching the rest of the tournament and cheering for the rest of my friends still in it. The event had great production value and some of the best matches that you could ever ask for. The Top 8 was phenomenal and had some of the best players in the world duke it out for cash and glory.

After going 2-2 in the world's largest Killer Instinct Tournament, I ended up walking away tied for 13th in the world. This placing got me $500 in the bank and I was just happy to see the results of all my work. After a year of work and adapting as time went on, I got to say that I am 13th in the world for the game I love, and now it's time for me to take a break and prepare for whatever lies next in the competitive landscape.