A few weeks ago, three-peat tournament champion, Sweet Revenge talked about his amazing year at tournaments. His ability to adapt and overcome clearly showed in full force... especially since the release of Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate. Now SR recaps the past, gives us some do's and don'ts to traveling and offers some tips for players striving to improve their game.
DOAN: First, where does that name Sweet Revenge come from? It seems that just recently revenge has been yours.
SR: It comes from a System of a Down song, and I've had the name before DOA. But I did beat Bladez, and Master after going to the lab with Genfu. I was never a technical player until DOA5. I love going to the lab, I find Genu tech every day.
DOAN: When you started playing DOA, did you start playing as a fan or someone with the interest of competitive play?
SR: I was 15 when I bought Ultimate, I got it because I grew up playing fighting games and I wanted to play a 3D fighter online.
DOAN: Describe your first tournament... was it DOA4?
SR: Heard about DOA central. DOA4 came out, and I went to a tournament got second, even beating Tom Brady. . I was using Genfu. TIT.
DOAN: Has anything ever gone completely wrong traveling to a tournament? What are the do's and don'ts of traveling to tournaments?
SR: I almost missed NEC, because of the weather. Don't forget your neck pillow. They are like fifteen dollars at the airport. You don't want to forget your controller. Bring stuff you need. Don't stay up until 8 a.m. playing DOA or you will play as bad as me at Summer Jam. Money for food, if you want to eat with everyone afterwards. Don't exhaust yourself. Buy your tickets earlier.
I'm going to a tournament, to play the game I play with people that play... if I don't win I got to go out with my friends enjoying my hobby.
DOAN: How do you go about getting time off for work to get to all these tournaments?
SR: I have a new GM so I don't konw, but my old GM let me go whenever I wanted. The way I look at it is it's one weekend, and I'm sure most will be flexible with that.
DOAN: How do you go about training in DOA5U? Some people play with competitive players constantly, some study all the available frame data and some people are just naturally good.
SR: I test my tech for hours. Thousands of times if needed. I'm not going to say who can get around Genfu's blendor, but I know. I practice on the wall a lot. Master said it best when not a lot of people take advantage of the environment. I know what to do.
I launch right away because they will start holding. That's how you as an Alpha player can fuck stuff up.
Playing with the competitive players like Master and Lopedo really help. I prefer playing offline, but online is useful every now and then. When you play with competitive players you really learn how to use your set-ups and when not to.
DOAN: How much time do you practice do you put into the typical day?
I go do muscle memory to keep my setups fresh in my head. I spend around half an hour in the lab, practicing reaction times, and looks at other character's setups and what my character has to beat those. All the simple stuff for 30-45 minutes a day.
SR: And with others I play a couple hours depending, some days 30 minutes. After a tournament I take a break because it's not easy going offline to online... some days I play all night.
DOAN: What do you think of DOA5 Ultimate's system in comparison to Vanilla's?
SR: I like Ultimate's because everyone hates the ground game, but I kinda prefer the hard knock down style to true force tech... because Helena was kinda derpy in Vanilla. And I love the bounces and the bounds because on some characters it really helps and I like the animation. There's a new animation, it's different and it's not the same thing. It's a new original DOA mechanic.
Fuzz guarding is much easier to do whether it be offline or online. I like Ultimate more, but I wish I used more Genfu in DOA5 vanilla, because then I was using DOA4 Fu, not using his faint and sit-downs like I should have.
DOAN: Somewhat Mental pushed you hard at K.I.T. and that could very well be because of match experience. Do you prefer to have matches like this at tournaments where you know what to expect, even though you came close to losing?
SR: I love slow rounds. When people reset. It is so rewarding to win a close match. I feel better about it because I was tested and I pulled through. As from a competitor's point, I want a rewarding and clutch match.
DOAN: You have some other interesting relationships in the community. Are you good friends with Lopedo? It seems like you have each other at tournaments.
SR: I'm great friends with Lopedo. I've met him at FR and TFC, we play DOA a lot and his trolling really doesn't bother me. He's very good at it. Lopedo is who is he is. Offline he's courteous.
DOAN: So who do you think would win a finale, Sweet Revenge or Lopedo?
SR: I'd have to go with Sweet Revenge on this one. Lopedo can win, but I think it would be another Master, Xcal situation. It would be big and epic, but as a competitor I would never say someone could beat me.
DOAN: When is your next tournament, and what are you doing now to improve before-hand?
SR: Final Round. I'm going to go into detail on Christie. I felt like at TFC the tech I was using then was evolving, and I'm going to continue using my tech, with maybe a few new tricks. I'm worried about Bladez again, Kwiggles, Sonic Fox and Eman. Oh, and Bladez and Mental are going for sure.
DOAN: Any closing words?
SR: To be one of the best in the world really feels good.
Work hard. You can be one of the best in the world. Mental almost beat me and that's because of hard work, and only playing for a year.
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