Good luck and have fun to everyone at the event, everyone elsewhere will be looking forward to seeing how you all go and to see who is playing well at this first fully open event.
Man, after playing Renarism last night, I have serious doubts about going. I'm decent with Leifang; Gunstar Red good? No, but I think I'm close. VPai good? No, but again, I think I'm pretty close.
Thats a nice compliment, did we come across each other online in DOA4 back in the day? (I'm Gunstar Red).
You are likely already almost there but I want to encourage you to go - you are sure to learn a lot from good Lei Fang players like Nykko and you will be SO glad to play other people offline. I want to see Lei Fang repped well!
I've always lived by a quote from the late Ayrton Senna (Formula 1 driver who died whilst racing in 1994):
Even Ayrton Senna would have had to lose many races in his time before becoming world #1, so it is with high level play, you learn to play under pressure in that environment by just going. I can't stress enough how fun it is to be in the same environment with other players of the same game. So the social and community reasons are really up there, but just for purely competitive reasons - play the best, get beaten, apply what you learned and you will improve so much more, and with that comes with greater understanding, satisfaction and enjoyment in your own play.
Any offline tournament is a good opportunity, so if any of you can go to one please don't pass it up!
Will be looking for you all on the stream (archive, working during it I think)