30 Thoughts - King of '94 Edition

[annatar]

I already posted some shout outs but I wanted to put together a bit of a recap while everything is fresh.

Instead of running through all the events of my weekend I was inspired by Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts column. So here's my 30 thoughts about King of '94! Obviously this is slanted towards my own experience and the SNES tournament. Hope you enjoy anyway!

30 Thoughts

1. Despite months of thinking about the event, it was still surreal to walk into the lobby outside Real Sports and have to answer the question: "Sega or Nintendo?" I don't think it had really hit home until that moment.

2. I instantly regretted not wearing a retro hockey sweater. I didn't recognize most of the guys in the room but halifax was running through an orientation speech and I was just trying to soak everything in.

3. I think everyone from the forum was a little afraid they would lose their first game. I picked the Kings and Rangers, two consistent teams, and ended up winning comfortably with LA. My opponent was a super friendly guy named Jeff from--I think--Long Island who took the loss like a champ. We wished each other luck and he went on to beat a couple more guys in the loser bracket before bowing out.

4. My second game was a preview of the final. Of course nobody knew it yet. I lost the coin toss and selected the Rangers against Mikail's Montreal. He was gracious when I pulled out an OT win but his hype man was shocked. I had 2 wins from 2 games but I knew then this was going to be serious.

5. The latter part of the group stage went by in a total blur. The bracket says I beat Randy 5-3 in a WAS-STL matchup to clinch the top seed but I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened in the game. My only goal coming in was to make the last 16 and I'd done it.

6. More on teams in a minute, but there was an interesting strategic element to the coin toss. This was something I neglected to study in the buildup to the tournament, and by the time the important games rolled around I was regretting not having my preferred matchups ready to go.

7. There were 366 SNES games played in total. All 26 teams saw action. Most used? Montreal and Quebec were picked 28 times, followed by Buffalo and Detroit at 27. Least used was Tampa who saw action just once, with halifax at the helm. Everyone's favourite super bud won 5-1 against his opponent's Florida. The team selection process meant some of the strongest teams (PIT, CHI, BOS) were middle of the pack as people were afraid to hand their opponent a formidable weapon. I then ignored this rule in the last game of the day.

8. A few players (including Mikail) opted to continuously throw their favourite team into the mix and hope their opponent would choose the other one. Others were handed a gift when they lost the toss and got to pick the team they wanted anyway. See group F when The90Jacket mysteriously gave BoKnows the Sabres and got smoked 7-0. In all, BoK played 3 games with Buffalo and swept his opponents while outscoring them 22-3.

9. Offense ruled the day. Winner Mikail scored by far the most goals, netting 72 in the group stage and another 57 in the final. His GFA of 9 in group G fell to a still more than respectable 6.33 GFA in the last 16. The stingiest player in the final group was BoKnows at 3.5 GAA, but overall nobody was really able to prevent the elite players from lighting the lamp.

10. Mikail also played the most games, at 17, of anyone in either the SNES or Genesis brackets. For a guy like him who was less master strategist and more battering ram, the extra practice might have helped keep his reflexes sharp. I played 13 and it was not my lucky number.

11. Speaking of lucky numbers, in a triple elimination format with 16 teams the most games anyone can play is 9. Although several players did reach the maximum in the finals, with no shows in the mix in the group stages only one person out of 128 (Tom D. in the Hull bracket) went the distance. The number 9 is considered lucky in some cultures but Tom would likely disagree as he lost his 9th game to a determined halifax. The score? 9-0.

12. That moment when you had to explain to your family or significant other that you're flying to Toronto for a videogame tournament. Oh, and the game is roughly 3 years older than the current crop of NHL rookies.

13. I wanted to try to learn people's real names but definitely had some lapses when I wasn't paying attention. Sorry Bob Kudelski. I mean Adam. Bob just rolls off the tongue. His wife seemed to take it in stride though and even asked me what my username was and what it meant.

14. How great was it when someone scored a big goal and it just happened to sync up with a Blue Jays home run? With the horn blaring and everyone cheering you'd be forgiven for thinking everyone in the bar was there to watch us play instead of bandwagoning the Jays.

15. The most in the zone I've ever felt playing '94 was my semi final games against Mikail where I won 2 straight to send him down and propel me to the final. Perhaps it was too emotionally draining because over on the Genesis side kingraph turned the same trick against kgman and, like me, gave it all back in the final.

16. I allowed 11 goals in the last 2 games. I probably needed to keep that under 10.

17. Everyone is saying it, but it bears repeating. Mikey deserves all the credit in the world for making this event happen. I'm also pretty sure I met Evan and had no idea who he was, so I probably looked like an idiot. The whole day must have been an amazing experience for both of these buds.

18. Maybe it's because I figure I have a chance of ending up in the movie, but I'm super excited to see Mikey's finished product.

19. Name tag problems. They kept flipping around so you couldn't see the name. So you'd have people walking around asking a group of people if any of them was called John. Best part? Sometimes the people would look down at their own name tag before answering.

20. I don't think I realized until the event started how different it is playing next to your opponent in a crowded bar versus playing at home. This was the first time I had played seriously in a public venue and the adrenaline rush was unreal.

21. Despite the high level of play, I wonder how things would have played out if some of the top players who couldn't make it to Toronto had been there. Take the people we already had and add the likes of Grayto, Oilers442 and c4outlaws? It would have been a gauntlet.

22. I would have paid money to see Oilers442 take on Mikail. Defense meets offense. Oilers would be almost guaranteed to get his preferred Edmonton every other game and I think he could have taken down the beast. Simpson 3:16. We missed you out there bud.

23. It's been discussed but it seems it's a little easier to play SNES at a high level than it is Genesis. I wonder if any of the top Gens players could have been competitive in both brackets? I think an angryjay or kingraph could have easily snuck into the last 16 in SNES. On the other hand after holding kgman to "only" a 5-2 win in the King of '94 final, I am curious if Mikail might have been able to win some Genesis games.

24. That being said I feel safe saying there is nobody on the planet who could reasonably expect to win both tournaments.

25. It does go to show how far we are from optimizing the SNES game. Outsiders walked in and beat some established online players. There were more than a few humbling moments for forum members who got shown a thing or two by the "nobodies".

26. I spoke to chaos after his second loss and he was looking everywhere for his next opponent (Wu-Tang hoodie). Eventually he was awarded the win by forfeit and quipped, "I would have beaten him anyway". The confidence clearly wasn't misplaced as he ran off 5 wins in a row to get out of elimination bracket hell. That's backing up the talk.

27. File this under: what happens in the DoubleTree stays in the DoubleTree (except when it's on film)--the bludgeoning death of a Sega Genesis console. Mikail didn't look like he wanted to stop swinging the sledgehammer and I was just waiting for him to either take out some of the furniture or punch a hole in the floor. We had to settle for a visit from security.

28. It was funny how you could throw a whole bunch of hockey fans from different places in a room and nobody was talking about their team or taking potshots at someone else's team. Somehow '94 brings everyone together.

29. There's no substitute for puck luck. I had a total of 6 wins by 1 goal including two in OT. Normally goal differential is a good indicator of success but in a relatively short tournament you can get away with it. My barely there +0.33 goal difference in the final was second worst of the top 6 finishers. Mikail cruised to a +2.67 GD.

30. McMarkis (one of the guys I regret not being able to meet) pointed out this week, "You got paid to play '94" which is pretty crazy--but it was never the money and always the pride and bragging rights that we fought for. When's the next one? I have some unfinished business.

[kingraph]

Best part? Sometimes the people would look down at their own name tag before answering.

was really laughing at that.

Glad to see it wasn't just me who couldn't remember parts of games or entire games. Great post, great format.

[halifax]

This was a great read man. Thanks!

[chaos]

27. File this under: what happens in the DoubleTree stays in the DoubleTree (except when it's on film)--the bludgeoning death of a Sega Genesis console. Mikail didn't look like he wanted to stop swinging the sledgehammer and I was just waiting for him to either take out some of the furniture or punch a hole in the floor. We had to settle for a visit from security.

Hahaha. We were talking about this, he seemed a little hesitant on the first swing, then started going nuts. If Mikey (or Hali, I forgot who stepped in) didn't stop him, he would have destroyed the whole place.

[IceStorm70]

Awesome write up Annatar. #12 really hit home for me.

I had my annual dr's appt yesterday, you know to get my blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked. I am 45 now (44 at tourney).

Anyway, 'that moment' from #12 was never as funny as how hard my doctor laughed when I told him I just got back from a video game tournament.

[Bob Kudelski]

Well done, great read. Thanks annatar. My tournament sunmary should be posted soon. I've been chipping away at it all week.

[jer_33]

Awesome - love the 30 thoughts format.

[TomKabs93]

was really laughing at that.

Glad to see it wasn't just me who couldn't remember parts of games or entire games. Great post, great format.

I honestly almost never remember anything from any game I've ever played :S

My memory is wack

[halifax]

12. That moment when you had to explain to your family or significant other that you're flying to Toronto for a videogame tournament. Oh, and the game is roughly 3 years older than the current crop of NHL rookies.

Haha...yeah I can relate to this as well.

21. Despite the high level of play, I wonder how things would have played out if some of the top players who couldn't make it to Toronto had been there. Take the people we already had and add the likes of Grayto, Oilers442 and c4outlaws? It would have been a gauntlet.

I really hope these guys can make it next year. With more planning time, they may be able to work it into their schedule. Mikey and I are working on picking a date for it now.