#gg character tournament

[fritextramole]

masterpost

[evanatsuhi]

anyone here know how to seed poll tournaments

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

leona in club leadership

Me: I’m safe after the hitman that was Epel’s Birthday Jacket jumpscared me with the “Leona is a reliable senpai” talk Broomquet Leona: Broomquet Leona: *slowly raises the broom for a bonking*

why Why WHY

THGiS KeEEP S HAPPENinQ GgGggGggGGGGGGggggggg OTL wW E KJEEPA GETTIGN FL*ONA BEING A Goo D CAPTaiN SENAPI MENT0oe ER tPO HIS CLUB mQME MBers AND UNdERCLASMeN I'T S' DRIVXINw fG ME UP THE qm FUCKKERIQQaqBG gg gnK d WALLLLLLLLLLL

I THOUGHT I HAD PUT IT ALL BEHIND ME BUT NO 😭 HERE COMES CATER BAITING LEONA TO TAL K ABOUT AMGIFT /SPELLDrIV3 CLBU IN THS BROOMQUET......... . . ........ .. . ... . . . .. . QHJEBIYslbiufadbadf TO GET THESE THOUGHTS OUTTA MY HEAD I'M GONNA RANT A ND RAVE A LIL' aboUT L*ONA AND HIS cLUB

Alright, so. 🤡 We all know that Leona's the captain of the Magical Shift/Spelldrive Club at NRC (moving forward, I will refer to this as "Magift Club", since that's the shortest phrase). What's more is, we actually get quite a bit of information about how he goes around running the club and training its members (although the information is scattered across various vignettes, so it may be difficult to piece it all together if you don't know where to look or don't read certain vignettes). THIS IS THE GOOD STUFF THOUGH, THIS IS A GOLD MINE OF LuONA CHA EARCTERiXATION AND I'M GOINOG TO POP of DFF ABOUT IT

Firstly! In book 2 of the main story, Jack tells us that he was impressed by Leona's amazing play in a Magift game three years ago. This would later become a part of Jack's motivation to attend Night Raven College--so he could become a great athlete, and, perhaps, get to play against or alongside that player that he admired so much. Even when Jack learns that Leona is playing dirty to eliminated Diasomnia from the interdorm tournament, Jack exposes that he believes Leona is capable of securing a victory by playing fairly. Maybe you could call it a freshman's naive beliefs, but Jack knows that Leona is better than this. What book 2 shows us is that Leona is willing to resort to underhanded tactics to come out on top--but he's also very skilled in his own right, both physically and intellectually, and even at his lowest points, he has people who trust him to lead them: people like Jack. But where does this faith and respect come from???????? For that, we'll have to dive into additional materials.

In many vignettes, such as Ace's PE Uniform and Ruggie's Outdoor Wear, we hear from other characters that the Magift Club members train rigorously (usually to the point of exhaustion). Ruggie, a fellow Magift Club member, confesses to his inexperience; he never played Magift before coming to NRC and he's not a born athlete. He seriously considered quitting the club due to their physically demanding practice and training. However, Ruggie credits Leona for the vast improvement he has made, citing that Leona would give him all kinds of assignments to hone his skills. More importantly, doing all of these assignments also taught Ruggie how to endure and persist in the face of adversity. Ruggie could have just lied here and said the training was easy to quickly and artificially inflate the numbers of new recruits he pulls in to please Leona (some of the new recruits would end up dropping out anyway) BUT HE DOESN'T. This leads me to believe that Ruggie is being honest about what it takes to be in Magift Club and is genuinely praising Leona's guidance as a part of why it's beneficial to join. "Leona makes every session worthwhile [...] He makes all the calls during our games, but otherwise lets us do our thing. Which means we can work out our problem spots for ourselves. He's a great captain!"

Epel, the other main cast member in Magift Club, has not yet joined at the time of the flashback in Ruggie's Outdoor Wear vignette. Upon hearing Ruggie's praise of Leona, Epel gets the impression that Leona is an incredible person. Post-joining the club, this impression continues. In his Birthday Jacket vignettes, Epel describes Leona as someone who is quick-witted, fierce-looking, and has a cool personality. He really admires Leona and wants to be like him someday, making him the second first year that has these sort of sentiments. Epel tells stories similar to Ruggie, saying that Leona has helped him out a lot during club and is generally good at looking out for others. He specifically mentions that everyone counts on Leona for his leadership during games and provides individualized advice to help each team member improve (details which supports what Ruggie initially told the freshmen). People outside of Leona’s reign also comment on this, such as Ace in Endless Halloween Night. He remarks that the first thing Leona thought to do was untie Epel; this leads Ace to conclude that Leona, does, in fact, look out for people despite how he usually acts 🤡

Epel also says that he "knows" Leona would help him study if he were on the verge of failing a class. AND YOU KNOW WHAT??????????? Leona actually DOES tutor Ruggie (who initially descibes his grades as being "in the dumpster") and gives advice and materials to him. Now Ruggie's grades are average, but passing. In his Labwear vignettes, Leona doesn't formally teach Epel, but he does make a voice-changing potion to help Epel out (although his own ulterior motive was to avoid Rook, who was the one that originally helped Epel). When Epel and Grim then beg Leona to show them his technique, he refuses and seems annoyed at their requests. In other words, Leona doesn't seem eager to teach others unless it serves a purpose for himself.

Leons is oftentimes pushing others to perform well, and in a way that serves a dual purpose of helping the individual out but also ultimately benefitting him. For example, Leona helps sand Azul’s contracts because he wants to as terminate an agreement he has with Azul. Additionally, he plots in book 2 not only to help his dorm mates be noticed by Magift scouts, but also to prove his own worth as a leader. In yet another instance, Leona shows students outside of his club how to efficiently mine for magestone so they can fulfill their goal and earn a Vargas Badge. This clears them out of the cave so he can nap there. Leona is working smarter, not necessarily harder. Relating this to Magift Club... As Ruggie and Epel have told us, Leona runs his members ragged during practice. As a rich kid and royalty, he’s said to have a natural inclination for being demanding and ordering others around—but there’s always some kind of compensation or reward for following orders well. Ruggie gets many perks from doing Leona’s errands and chores for him, so he willingly follows Leona. For the Magift Club, the intense training causes those unable or unwilling to keep up to quit, leaving behind the go-getters, the tough, and the willful. Not only are these the types of people most likely to do well in actually playing the sport, but they’re also the types of people Leona himself is seeking with play with.

When your players are willing and able to train hard and by themselves (knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as how to improve), it encourages… independence. It means less work for the captain to do. It means having a group of people who are obedient and obey your every word. It means Leona can get away with napping during club practice. He's working them hard now so they can take care of themselves later and he has to do less. That seems to be the implication in some instances, as Riddle had noted before that, “it has been a while since [he has seen Leona] sincerely apply himself to his club activities.” (That's because Leona has already trained his team to be comfortable train on their own! This is demonstrated in the flashback of his Beastly Garb vignettes, when Leona instructs his club to do cooldown exercises "on their own while he heads off to nap.) And believe me, when he’s “applying himself”, his talent shines through (just as his intelligence does when he wants to employ it). As Epel and Ruggie say in Leona’s Halloween vignette (flashback), 5 people tried to get the disc away from Leona for 30 minutes and still weren’t successful while Leona barely broke a sweat. Part of the reason why Leona is able to afford bossing his team members around is because he can walk the walk. His own abilities, then, also serve as a point of motivation for the rest of the team. They want to be able to perform on the same level as him, want the honor to play with someone like that. We see one prominent example of this in his Dorm Uniform vignettes. In them, Jack is being bullied by Savanaclaw (senpai) mobs because they're annoyed with his athletic abilities and righteous attitude. These mobs also accurse Leona of being unworthy to lead them because "all [he does] is slack off during practice". They quickly learn the true magnitude of Leona's strength when he defends Jack from 30 mobs at once, not only demonstrating that he is fit for the title of captain, but also someone that has earned Jack's respect.

Though the Dorm Uniform vignettes ultimately frame Leona as siding with Jack, there is a lot of strategic thinking and wisdom in the advice he imparts to both parties involved in the quarrel. He argues in favor of the mobs "skirting the rules", which falls in line with his willingness to disregard morality so long as he achieves an end goal (see: his actions against Azul in book 3, and his actions in book 2 against Malleus). In this case, Jack preaching about playing by the rules is getting in the way of their goals (which will resurface in book 2). That's why he gets put in time-out to "think about his actions", and how he sees the world as black and white, evil and good. To Leona, it's not cheating, it's just playing smart and within the rules specifically specified (the mobs still acted within the boundaries set by rules) or what isn't specifically outlawed (they can't lose to Malleus if he can't play to begin with) to get what he wants. To this point, Leona also sees no shame in strategic retreats and surrenders. This is illustrated by him willingly turning himself into STYX when they approach, and passing on temporary leadership to Ruggie while he's gone. Again, he's just working with what he has in the systems that are presented to him, and he expects everyone else to be able to play the same game. While Leona tells Jack off, it's also true that Leona does have some code of honor as it relates to his own interests; he tells the mobs they're acting embarrassing by "punching down" and being jealous of a freshman. This doesn't come from a place of concern for Jack, or from worry about their attitude, but primarily from irritation that he has to clean up after their behavior. As we see in book 2, Leona himself has no issue with playing Magift against freshmen who are new to the sport (Ace, Deuce, etc.) when they've come unannounced into his dormitory. It's Jack who has to intervene there and call Leona out for picking on the small fry. Even Leona warning the mobs for using magic outside of Magift is a ploy to serve his own agenda. It's against school rules to use magic unless instructed; Leona is, therefore, against his students wailing on Jack using magic instead of fists because it could attract undue attention from staff (and thus cause issues for him, as their dorm leader). This is also why Leona wants to take on the Heartslabyul detective group in a game of Magift instead of just fighting them then and there; it's to avoid causing such a ruckus right before the big interdorm tournament. Leona has a problem with people challenging his authority and making unnecessary trouble for him to fix. When it serves his interests, he'll turn, and/or he won't side completely with one party. He can easily see the pros and the cons of both sides. If Jack is black and white, then Leona is all grey.

This is another notable quality of Leona's: he can identify and understand people's strengths and weaknesses, sometimes even better than they do themselves. His own club members can attest to how Leona gives them specific advice to improve their skills. In fact, we get to see one instance of it in Leona's Beastly Garb vignettes. Epel asks Leona for advice on how to better control the disc, since he's been missing passes and dropping them a lot. Leona responds by telling him not to worry about it and then walking off. A lot of people might look at this and say "he's just being lazy and shirking his work again". But later in the vignette, Leona explains his rationale: Epel's strength is his speed. When he's handling a disc as he's flying, that significantly cuts down on that speed and hinders his overall performance. If Epel tries to get better at all these things at once, he'll neglect his actual strength and not be useful to the team. Leona reasons that since making objects float is a fundamental skill for a mage, Epel will naturally practice it more and improve with time, so in the meantime he should dedicate his time in club to what he's already got as an asset.

This discerning eye is not just limited to club members, either. Leona has shown that, time and time again, he can key in on people. It was Leona who recognized Ace's craftiness and how Ace planned to use Leona's presence to his own advantage in Endless Halloween Night. Leona doesn't worry about the potential harm a wayward disc could have caused Riddle because he knows Riddle could easily deflect it with his own magic (in Ace's PE vignette). He alone noticed that Jamil's eyes "always glare" and senses his malicious intent against Kalim (in Jamil's School Uniform vignette). This is WAY before the events of book 4 ever came out too. Then, in book 6, Leona points out that Ruggie knows how keep to the strongest people to make up for his own deficits, how Jack knows how to adhere to a hierarchy, and how even Kalim has strengths in how amicable he is, and the wealth he was born into. He knows when people aren't meeting their full potential too, telling Jamil that he keeps making excuses instead of actually acting.

What makes the whole conversation Leona has with Jamil so great is that a lot of what is said is relatable for the two of them. Leona, too, knows what it's like to be in a situation where others shun his talents in favor of another. That's why he's able to speak so pointedly on the matter. It's that connection that helps to move Jamil and motivate him to finally act on his own to fulfill a support role for Leona that he needs later on. There's a parallel here with how Leona acted in book 2; he tried and tried and tried, and when he failed, he sat down and gave it all up, blaming his team mates and claiming he played along with their game. Leona was a quitter before. But now he's seeing that same behavior in others and he's calling it out, bluntly posing the question of if they're going to continue to wallow or if they're going to pick themselves up and move forward. It's the same lesson that HE had to learn for himself. If you consider that his Dorm Uniform vignettes play out prior to book 2, it becomes even more fitting for his growth since he tells Jack back then: "[...] guys who own up to their mistakes are all right in my book. Keep at it and model that behavior for the rest of Savanaclaw." This is Leona owning up to his own mistakes. He never openly and formally apologizes what his wrongdoings or promised to "be better" (then again, some OB boys just don't), but he's making up for his past behavior by imparting the wisdom he learned with his peers, whether subconsciously (like, out of guilt) or consciously.

This all goes hand-in-hand with the high standards Leona has set for Magift Club. Cater asks him for the details of his club's training (in Leona's Broomquet), to which the birthday boy responds with a story about how a team member didn't have enough stamina for a game, so instead of training them to pass the disc, he purposefully chucked the disc as far as it would go. It's to demonstrate to the club member that was lacking in stamina that this is the distance they need to be able to go, and this is their current disparity. It comes off as perhaps too harsh (and certainly a means to quit the club), but as Leona puts it, he doesn't want nor need cowards with him. His team should be full of people who get frustrated when they cannot meet their goals and will actively think about how to be better, then come back and try again and again. Think of it like how Mulan found smarter ways to tackle the challenges put forth by the army, rather than training the conventional way. That's what Leona expects of his club members, and it's the same mentality that drives himself. Tackling the same problem using creative solutions--it's like a game of chess. qbkhldyuFVYOwovyifS ;fslh ihof Aana dnAn thEN MCaER T SAYS smsethbha TH LIKE "waaaah~ Leona-kun is such a cool leader~" AFSHYJASVYOIFADOS AND THANE THAT FUCKE R LONA ' JUST G oeaS "this is to be expected of every leader, it's the basics" UNM???????? ??? ??? ???? ? BITCH EXCUSE YOU???? ???? ??? ? ? ? ? ? 😭 IW ANS'T EXPEC TING TO BE FUCXKIGFN A ATTACKED LKIKE THIS, CA T MAN

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I'AMSD Rr ReALLY OUTR HESR RE HAVE ING A WHOEL EXISSITENTIAL CRISIS AND AND AHGALF BECUAA SEO F L I O N M A N OTL I'M OWED MONETY FOR EMOTIUAONL DAMAMGES YOI'LL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYER, K I NG SC HO L AR

P.S. I'M SO SCARE D THAT HE'S GONNA OUTRPAVE ROOO K ON MY FAOVRIRTS LIST I'M SOC UFKC IUNG SCARED

[xandraspalace]

GG, Babe!

----- GG, Babe! || Shu Yamino [NIJISANJI EN] x Streamer/Gamer! Reader

Summary : It’s not uncommon to feel pressured and nervous in your first esports tournament, especially if you carry the name of your company’s branch. How do you deal with your anxiousness in this moment of time? You have to thank your lover and your team.

WC : 4198 words.

Warning : Grammar errors, hurt w/ comfort, teeth-rotting fluff (possible cringes?), cursing, possible misconceptions, possible ooc, hints of insecurities if you squint, KanaChiiKuzu references, mention of many Valorant terms, mention of making out (mention only), etc.

Featured Characters : Finana Ryugu, Elira Pandora, Selen Tatsuki, Rosemi Lovelock, Vox Akuma, Uki Violeta, and Fulgur Ovid.

Story Notes : This story is written with first-person point of view and the reader is gender-neutral. The personas written here are based on the avatar of the characters as vtubers, not the person behind it. Enjoy.

A/N : FINALLY I CAN ACTIVELY WRITE ON THIS ACCOUNT!!! I will try to be more active this year. Mostly for writing birthday fiction and other specific projects. I hope you guys can continue to support me. Enjoy!

Other Platform : [TWITTER] [MEDIUM]

     “Oh, hell. That was close,” Selen sighed.

     After winning the match in a very miserable condition. 2v4, if it weren’t for Shu and Selen, your team wouldn’t be able to secure a place in the semi-finals.

     “NIJISANJI EN” registered his name in a virtual e-sport tournament with a team consisting of Finana Ryugu, Selen Tatsuki, Rosemi Lovelock, Shu Yamino, Uki Violeta, and you, NIJISANJI EN solo liver. Five rosters and one substitute, with Fulgur as the team coach and Elira as the team manager — just a formality.

     Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and drooped their stiff shoulders, realizing how tense they had been during the games.

     Except you. Your right hand still gripped your mouse tightly until your nails turn white and your left hand fell limp beside the keyboard.

     There are many things you regret. Even if your team wins, it wasn’t a very good game for you. And as a player who has died too many times in the previous round, you have to admit that your gameplay was very sloppy and rushed.

     To be honest, you were annoyed at yourself for putting your team at a disadvantage. You wanted to cry, you felt pathetic. But in less than half an hour, you have to play for the last round of the quarter-finals.

     “Ah, I should have backed off,” Rosemi whined, slightly disappointed by what she did in the game before her agent died.

     “Uki, try not to be locked in the room,” Selen said, advising the psychic.

     Fulgur added, “Also, don’t rush.”

     “Noted,” Uki answered.

     “They actually messed up with the flash, especially the one who used Yoru.” Finana, who had been paying attention to the opponent as a substitute player, also commented.

     “She’s your senior, Finana! Mind your words!” Elira laughed when she reminded Finana, who apparently had just commented on her senior who was also a quite famous vtuber.

     “Oh, wait! Really?! Senpai, I’m sorry!!” The panicked Finana managed to make the whole team laugh out loud.

     “I guess Shu saved us then,” Rosemi chuckled after drinking her water.

     But Shu could only giggle, “Don’t give me too much credit, guys.”

     Waiting for the next game, the others decide to chat with each other while strategizing the gameplay for the next and final round of quarter-finals. Occasionally, they also greet their chats while joking. However, Shu realized something was wrong, especially with you.

     It’s like your mic was muted, but he could still hear your breathing. Shu glanced at the phone he was using to watch and monitor your stream and somehow noticed how your chat were being flooded with concerned comments.

     How were they not worried? Your avatar was still moving, but you were silent. Your fans started to send some “Are you okay?”s or “Earth to [Y/N]?”s chats, etc.

     “[Y/N]?”

     Hearing Shu called you in a worried tone, the entire voice chat fell silent.

     “Babe, are you still there?” Once again, Shu Yamino, your lover, asked in a worried tone.

     “W-what’s wrong?” Selen broke the silence.

     The chat of each liver was immediately filled with worried comments. Some of the chats, especially Shu’s chat, said something like, “Shu, go comfort your darling!” etc.

     You and Shu were actually just room apart. There was only one wall separating your studio and his. Therefore, if something happened, he could immediately rush over to you.

     Others chose silence. If they show their concern, they will only make their fans worry too. But suddenly…

     “[Y/N], I could hear your hitched breathes,” Shu said, ready to pause his stream.

     “Aww, they’re crying,” Selen cooed. “[Y/N], are you alright?”

     You tried to swallow your sobs. “I-I’m fine.” And you failed instantly.

     Finana, Selen, and Elira bursted out laughing, not to offend you, but because of how cute you sounded when you were crying and trying hard to speak.

     “My, my, [Y/N],” Fulgur chuckled in amusement. “What’s wrong? You’re upset because of the game?” Fulgur, with his coach title, also tried to comfort you and find where things were wrong with you.

     “I’m sorry for ruining the mood,” you sniffed, apologizing to the others and the chat.

     Your team immediately cried their nos and tried to make you feel better by praising your gameplay. They said that everything that happened in the previous rounds wasn’t not your fault at all. Your chat and the others’ also comfort you.

     “It’s okay, [Y/N]. You looked so cool earlier! Your aim was so crazy!” Rosemi tried to cheer you up.

     “But that was not too long since the game started.” You still feelt guilty.

     “No, no, no. [Y/N], it’s fine,” Selen declined your insecurities. “If you didn’t support me at the beginning, we might be done because it will stay a 2v5 game till the end.”

     “You’re telling me Rosemi and Uki will still die?!” Finana, who didn’t accept it, suddenly raised her voice when she heard Selen’s explanation.

     “WAIT, THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!” Selen screamed, making everyone laugh out loud. You started to giggle even though with sobs that can still be heard.

     “Chat, please cheer on [Y/N].” In the middle of chaos, with his calm voice, Uki told his chat to give you some words to make you feel better.

     “Guys, and chat, I’ll be mute for a moment. I need to check on them.” Shu asked permission from the others.

     “Y-you don’t have to. I’m fine now,” you mumbled, wiping your remaining tears.

     Trust me when I say Shu won’t believe you. He is your lover, so he will understand all the emotions you put out even just from your voice. “Nah-uh, I’ll go get some water for us too. I’ll be there in a second, wait for a bit.”

     Shu removed his headset and stood up. But before he left his studio, Shu approached his mic again. “Oh, and to [Y/N]’s chat, if [Y/N] suddenly goes mute, or their stream suddenly pauses or stops, that’s me. You don’t need to worry.”

     “I can mute myself!” you half-yelled at your boyfriend, making everyone giggle.

     “Just go and comfort her, lover boy,” Fulgur teased.

     And Shu went mute after saying, “On my way!!”

     “Babe?”

     After gently knocking on your door, Shu opened your studio door. You turned your gaming chair around and stared at him with your glassy eyes. “Have you muted and paused your stream?” he asked, glancing down at your monitor. Shu held out a glass of water for you.

     You nodded and took the glass from his hand. After drinking half of the water and put the glass on your desk, your hand immediately grabbed the clothes that Shu was wearing and pulled him closer. There was really nothing strange here. It was just that your instinct to get spoiled by Shu got stronger when you’re down.

     Shu didn’t said anything and just put his arms around you. You buried your face in his stomach. “Do you still want to continue the game?” Shu asked, pulling himself away from you a little. His voice was soft and almost a whisper. His hands never stop cradling your hair.

     That was when your tears ran down your cheeks again. You could only nod, answering your lover’s question. Shu didn’t even care that his clothes are wet because of your tears.

     “Then tell me what happened.” Shu pulled himself and slowly knelt before you. One of his hands helped you wipe your tears and the other hand gently caressed your thighs, comforting you. “Tell me what’s wrong. What’s upsetting my baby, hm?”

     You tried to control your sobbing. But after Shu asked with his sweet and gentle voice, you wanted to cry even more.

     “I’m just frustrated,” you admitted between your sobs. “I-I’m frustrated with myself. I’m sorry.”

     “Oh, babe…” Shu cooed. “You don’t have to say sorry.”

     Shu knew saying how cool and good you were during the game won’t comfort you. It will only make you more upset with yourself.

     “Baby, look at me.” Shu took your hands slowly and held them tightly. His thumb rubbed them gently, hoping it would calm you down.

     You mustered up the courage to look at him.

     “Listen, this is our first official esport tournament as NIJI EN, right?”

     “Mm-hm,” you nodded.

     “Well, you see. This kind of thing happens because everyone is under pressure, including you, including me. The anxiety, the nervousness, all those things distract us. You see, being too focused makes us overly tense and forget how to have fun. Even Selen and I feel pressured because this isn’t a normal Valorant stream we used to have where we can play as we please,” Shu explained.

     “I’m sorry I played rashly and carelessly earlier,” you mumbled, still trying so hard to not to cry again.

     “I told you; you don’t even have to worry about it.” Shu’s eyes never leave you, and he looked at you with so much love and patience. “You know it yourself that there is no right or wrong in this kind of games. Adapt yourself to the game and your team as comfortably as possible. In this game, what’s important is the result. It doesn’t matter if you die early or survive until the end. As long as you can win, that’s enough.”

     Shu released one of his hands and tucked some stray hairs behind your ear before he rubbed your cheek gently. “And you, you were so cool when you helped me and the others earlier. Your aim is crazy. If I’m someone else, I won’t believe that you just started Valorant after me.”

     You lowered your gaze. Insecurities hit you once again, assuming that Shu was only saying that to comfort you. But Shu’s hand gently made you look back at him.

     “No, no. Eyes on me. I’m telling you the truth.” Shu continued, “Even if you died earlier, we still won the game, right? And you contributed to that victory. You played an important role in the earlier rounds. Do you understand?”

     You nodded and wiped your tears for the last time. “I do,” you whispered. “Thank you, Shu.”

     “Don’t mention it,” he smiled as he handed you the rest of your drinking water.

     After making sure you were calm enough, Shu glanced to your chat which still seemed worried about you. “Well, let’s see…” the sorcerer read your chat quickly. “Looks like we’ve been gone for too long. Chat is starting to get more worried.”

     “Do you want to cry for a little bit more?” Shu once again looked at you and asked.

     You shook your head and rolled your gaming chair over to your desk. Shu also stood up, following you. Too tired of crying and realizing your voice was starting to get hoarse, you gulped down the remaining water that Shu had previously handed over to you.

     “Since we cannot have you upset—well, I personally can’t have my baby upset, do you want to switch up with Finana so you can have a break for the final rounds? I can have Elira arrange that for us.” Shu gave you a suggestion.

     “No, I want to play with you. I’m fine now,” you uttered, voice still cracking.

     “Alright then.” Shu wiped your last tears and kissed your forehead gently.

     You put your headset back on and tidied up your set. Shu helped you get ready and made sure you were completely okay. After turning your mic back on and continuing your stream, Shu stepped back a little to make room. “There you go.”

     You greeted your chat and apologized to them for waiting so long and worrying them. Of course, your chat was immediately filled with the “It’s fine,” or “Are you okay now?” comments.

     “Just go straight to the collab vc channel,” Shu stated, his voice audible to your viewers. “And [Y/N]’s chat, please comfort them in my place, okay?” Your chat was immediately flooded with obedient comments from your fans like, “Understood, Marshal!” or “Roger that, Shu!”

     “I’m okay now, Shu!” you whined.

     The sorcerer could only chuckle. “Yes, yes. I’ll take my leave now, babe. I can’t leave my chat alone too. Good luck.”

     Once again before he left your studio, Shu kissed the top of your head and ruffled your hair.

     “Mm-hm, good luck to you too, love.”

     “Eyyy!!!” Shu’s solid eys cut through the others’ conversations on the Discord channel.

     “Oh, you’re back!” Selen cheered.

     “Welcome back, Shu.” And Fulgur was welcoming the gamer back. “How is [Y/N]?”

     You went back into the voice call channel and turn on your microphone. “I’m fine now. I’m really sorry with a lot of things, especially how unprofessional I have been. I really messed up earlier. I’ll do my best from now on,” you uttered your apologies and explanations to your teammates with a hoarse voice.

     “You don’t have to worry about it,” Rosemi was welcoming you back with giggles.

     Likewise with the others, they started quarreling again while comforting you. And surely it managed to make you laugh. “Thank you guys. Please take a good care of me.”

     “Please take good care of us too, [Y/N],” Elira said between her giggles from the previous jokes the others made. “Anyway, Couch Ovid, what was the strategy again? Can you explain it to Shu and [Y/N]?” Elira continued, adding some tease for him.

     “Alright, alright.” Fulgur began to explain what he and the others had compiled. Thanks to the help of Selen’s “gamer brain,” everyone could devise a strategy that was fit for you and your lover. “So, [Y/N], I need you and Uki to focus on supporting Selen while Rosemi is supporting Shu. Is that okay?”

     “Mm-hm, I’m okay with that,” you confirmed.

     “Shu, just because you’re a predator, don’t you dare to forget that I’m currently your support!” Rosemi aggressively clicking on her mouse, knowing that Shu can easily win the game without any assists.

     “I know, I know,” Shu laughed. “Calm down, easy.”

     When everyone laughed at her malds, you realized someone doesn’t really say much. Until…

     “[Y/N].”

     Just as you were about to call her name, Selen preceded you. “Yeah?” you waited for the lunar dragon to speak.

     “Don’t feel overwhelm on this one, got it? Just enjoy it.”

     You were silent before Selen continued her sentence.

     “We don’t want you to have any regrets in the end. Swallow all such feelings and uneasiness. Whether or not we make it to the semi-finals is a later matter.” Now all fell silent. “Why are you guys so quiet?!” Embarrassed, Selen asked, half shouting.

     “Wow, those were the wisest words Selen ever said,” Uki stated.

     “For real,” Shu agreed with the psychic. Likewise with others.

     “Oh, shut it, will you?!” And that was a reaction that one could guess from Selen Tatsuki.

     Hearing their antics, you could only chuckle. You could hear Selen and Rosemi gasping because you finally laughed. The gloomy and gray atmosphere that had enveloped you and the others was immediately lifted.

     “There they are,” Shu cooed, chuckling sweetly to you. “That’s my baby’s sweet laughs.”

     You gasped when you heard Shu’s chuckles. His chuckle sounded light and soothing to your ears. But unfortunately, that moment had to be broken when Uki and Selen shouted for the two of you to get a room and followed by another laugh.

     “Alright, we can do it!” you told yourself while taking deep breaths to ease your nervousness. “Like what Shu said, there is no right or wrong in this game. Let’s just focus on winning this round and making it to the semi-finals.” And before you focusing yourself to the game, you glanced at your chat. “And do wish me luck, chat,” you whispered.

     Everything was running smoothly. In some levels, you and your team become a Team Ace. On another level, Shu and Selen were carrying the team by themselves. However, towards the final level, something unexpected happened.

     “The hell?!” Selen sneered when the enemy flashed her. It wasn’t long before the sound of Selen’s deafening screams pierced your ears and the others’. “WHAT THE HECK?!” Selen went mald when the enemy dinked her dead.

     The team was immediately in a panic. Selen was the team’s lead carry and your team currently doesn’t have any agent with any revival utility. Meanwhile, the team’s main carry, Shu, tried to stay calm when Selen’s tantrum almost dominated the voice chat channel.

     Panic came back to haunt you. You don’t know how this team would fare without its lead carry.

     “Babe, calm down.”

     “Ah!”

     Before you could lose your focus, Shu pulled you back from your reverie, making you gasp.

     “Selen, that’s fine. And Uki, take her position to carry the team with Shu,” Fulgur gave instructions to the remaining team players.

     You noticed how Selen kept apologizing and malding over her death in the game. Of course, panicking won’t solve the problem. You were wrecking your brain to find a way out of this problem. Your brain was constantly looking for alternatives to win this round.

     4v4 shouldn’t be so bad. Shu had already taken down one opposing player. Until something crossed your mind. Your brain managed to come up with a pretty brilliant idea. “Fuu-chan, will crossfiring help?”

     “But this map is not suitable for crossfiring.” Elira sounded worried.

     The position of the current map was very wide and had few places to hide. Being too far apart from the team might be one dumb way to lose.

     Fulgur seemed to be silent and thinking. He was trying to calculate the winning percentage if the team uses your idea.

     “One down.” Uki suddenly announced after he took down one enemy. “Four versus three,” he stated.

     “NICE, UKI!!!” Everyone cheered amidst the panic.

     Uki managed to reduce the risk of losing. The thing that Fulgur was worried about should lessen a bit. “Elaborate your idea, [Y/N].”

     You took a deep breath before speaking. “Simple! Uki and Rosemi are in the right position, stay there. And Shu—” You paused yourself when you heard your lover’s gun shots. You suddenly heard him hissed in annoyance. He must have just messed up with his aim, you guessed.

     “Shu, if it’s not too much for you, can you move away from Rosemi a little and find the right position to surround our three enemies?” you continued, asking a favor.

     “Nothing is too much for you, babe.” Shu immediately did what you asked.

     To be honest, you yourself know that Shu can shoot from anywhere. Without any strategy from you or others, he can easily win the game. He is a predator, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. However, even though it’s unlikely, what happened to Selen could also happen to Shu. You don’t want that to happen again, especially in a crucial moment to determine your team’s position in the tournament.

     “Thank you. And I’ll rotate and take the flank,” you stated your final strategy.

     “Wait, [Y/N], that’s too far and dangerous!” Finana strongly refuted your idea.

     Selen who couldn’t do anything anymore also pays attention to the strategy you proposed. “It’s fine,” she said. “Shu, Uki, and Rosemi are enough. The three of them had basically already surrounded the enemies. [Y/N], your intention was to cover the escape route, was it?”

     “You’re right!” You smiled as Selen understood the purpose of your plan. “Start firing!” You took your agent to the other side of the map as planned.

     “One down… Two down!” Shu raised his voice in excitement.

     The sound of other cheers sounded even louder. Your chat and the others’ started to hype with the possibility of your team winning.

     “Cypher tries to escape!” Rosemi shouted.

     Luckily, you made it to your proper position in time. You replaced your firearm with a knife and started attacking them. “WAIT, ACK! NO!!” you screamed. Unfortunately, you died because your aim was suddenly messed up due to panic.

     But not long after, an unexpected sight suddenly appears on your PC screen. “Nope!” Shu spoke, accompanied by the sound of bullets. “You killed my lover, senpai! You must die!”

     “OOOHHHH!!!!” Everyone cheered with joy and excitement when the word “WIN” appeared clearly on their respective screens. Chat went crazy and hysterical screams were heard filling the voice chat channel.

     You sighed in relief. Too tired with your overwhelming emotions, you chose to remain silent and hear the others’ triumphant cheers. You leaned back on your gaming chair and closed your eyes for a moment.

     “Babe your chat is filled with “#[Y/N]MVP”!!”

     Hearing Shu say so, you opened your eyes. Sure enough, your chat was flowing with the hashtag that your boyfriend just mentioned.

     “Check the Twitter too…?” you read one of your comments aloud. According to what your chat wanted, you grab your phone and opened blue bird app.

“DAMN, [Y/N] IS THE SAVIOUR OF THE TEAM!!”

“NO WAY, THAT’S SO COOL!! Y/N BASICALLY CARRIED THE WHOLE TEAM!!”

“[Y/N] MPV!!!!!!!!!!”

“THE WAY SHU AVENGE THEIR DEATH OMGGGGGG!!”

“SHU x [Y/N] THE ACE x MPV COUPLEEEEEE!! LETSGOOOOOO!!!”

     It made you want to cry again. No, not crying out of frustration like before, but because you were touched. “Why are our fans so sweet?” you cracked, making others laugh again.

     “Aww, you’re crying again,” Selen giggled.

     “That was a simple yet critical strategy. You two are something else,” Uki also commented.

     “That was a good save,” Fulgur sighed. “Nice job, [Y/N]!”

     Elira added, “Yeah, great job! Wow! Nobody uses Sage. We were too panicked by Selen’s death.”

     “I’M STILL HERE!” Getting called out, the owner of the name went mald once again.

     Meanwhile, Finana and Rosemi were still having fun celebrating the team’s victory and bragging about you being the MPV.

     “Wait, let me divert my voice chat with [Y/N] to dm vc.” Shu mumbled to himself. “[N/N]!!” After celebrating with his chat, the sorcerer switched your voice chat to personal and called you in a cheerful voice. “GG, babe!”

     Shu laughed happily. Hearing it makes your heart flutters. You got a lot of appreciation from your fans and teammates, but his appreciation is what you need the most.

     “Oh my God, chat, the legendary ace himself complemented me! Wow!” You didn’t completely fake your excitement. You were really happy at his complements.

     “Won’t you go to them and hug them for real?” Shu read one of his chat comments. “Babe, should I go there? Yaminions are right, I want to hug you and cuddle you and—”

     “Shu, stop!” you abruptly stop him before he can mention all the things he wants to do with you. “Let’s finish the stream first. We still have evaluation about today’s game with the others. Moreover,” you paused for a moment, paying attention to your and Shu’s chats. “I can have him all night, so I’m giving Yaminions a chance.”

     “AYOO?!” If Shu was drinking or eating something, he might have choked hearing your words. Without a doubt, Shu’s chat and yours went panic and crazy. Seeing their expressions, you just laughed out loud in amusement. “Haha, funny.” Shu faked a laugh.

     “God, someone in your chat said, ‘You don’t have to hide it, Shu. We know you’re also excited.’” Your laugh was getting out of control.

     “They’re not wrong, though!” From his offended tone, you could imagine how Shu was pouting his lips at that moment.

     You could just run into his studio and kiss the pout if you wanted. However, it would be very unprofessional of you if you did.

     A pop up notification suddenly appeared on your and Shu’s phones screen. “What on earth Selen just tweeted?” Shu asked before he read the tweet out loud for you. “With a capslock, ‘Anyone or someone in their stream please tell @ shu_yamino and @ [Y/N][L/N]_2434 to stop making out and rejoin the collab voice chat,’ triple exclamation marks.”

     “What the fuck?” You were stunned, hearing Selen’s tweet from your lover. You glanced at your chat who once again clearly went crazy. “Did they just assume we’re doing that?!”

     “Vox just replied, ‘There is nothing sweeter than the sweetness of victory. Let them have their moment.’” Shu laughed, reading his genmate’s tweet.

     You slumped back to your chair. “Hell on earth. Chat, did you guys hear any making out noises? You’re not, aren’t you?! Such things like you guys watching us doing that didn’t excite me.”

     “BABE, YOU MAKE IT WORSE!!” Now it was Shu’s turn to panic. Your lover was trying his best not to scream and burst the audience’s eardrums. His reaction definitely made you laugh out loud.

     Before this, you felt very down because of your insecurities. But when you’re with him, everything feels better, no matter how chaotic your surroundings are. With him, you don’t have to worry about anything. You surely feel the safest around him.

     Before you moved your voice chat back to the collab channel, you stated between your laughs, “You guys will still clip that moment even if we say don’t, so go ahead. Consider this as the compensation for today’s victory today.”

     “You’re the worst,” Shu sighed.

     Of course you could only giggle. “I love you too.” ----- [FIN].

GG, Babe! A Fiction by Author Xandra January, 2023

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 02/03/2024

One-Winged DJ

Season 7 Featured on: The Year of Grand Dad Sound Selection [Side A]

Ripped by duuzu, digboye, COCONABE, l4ureleye, Netyasha Roozi, Jiko Music Performed by Chase Beck

You may have noticed that I try to keep an air of suspense when doing posts on the King for Another Day tournament such as Thank You, Everybody!. That is, of course, to not spoil the victor of Season 4 Episode 1's year-defining event - but at this point, it's a bit of a fruitless endeavor to try and uphold. Because DJ Professor K's victory celebrations haven't just been contained to his awarded day-long takeover during Season 4 Episode 2 - the takeover that gave us incredible rips like AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A CHUNKY BEAT, 88811, Ska Cha Cha (Rotten Mix) at an absolute breakneck pace during the SiIvaSummer All-Star Festival. Because during that takeover, a new flame was kindled - a flame by the name of Jet Set Radio Evolution.

Hideki Naganuma's style of sample-filled funk music is DJ Professor K's headlining ripping source, the one most closely associated with the game that the character originates from. Yet its a style that can be expressed in so many ways, not needing to be derivative of any prior existing songs from the two Jet Set Radio games - September, for instance, is able to sound authentically Naganuma-esque whilst being built off of a song as far away from his style as possible. Jet Set Radio Evolution, then, is an entirely made-up game - its name and logo deriving from a declined proof-of-concept, but its "soundtrack" completely made up by the SiIvaGunner team. This is far from the first fake game on the channel, and not the first one to be done without much of a shred of irony (Kirby Rip Attack is due for coverage on here) - but, notably, its a fake game born specifically to keep DJ Professor K's impact on the channel alive in the Seasons past his takeover. And, well, it took a few Seasons, but during Season 7, the team started going truly ham in utilizing its true potential.

There are a number of these Jet Set Radio Evolution rips I want to cover on here, both ones from DJ Professor K's takeover and from its revitalized usage during Season 7 - but to me, it was One-Winged DJ that really showed just how much flexibility rippers have with Naganuma's style of music. One-Winged Angel has long been seen as a sort of legendary track to rip due just how extensive of a song it is, a song that has a distinctly menacing feel to it that I can't imagine is easy to translate into a rip. Rips like One Winged PSYcho - V​.​S. Sepsyrop feel like absolutely herculean endeavors, and during Season 7 in particular we saw an absolute tidal wave of rips using it, as if it were just any other meme source in the channel's backlog and not this legendary 7-minute long work of art. Hen'yoku no Piraman was the first of these I covered, and while One-Winged DJ is likely far from the last, it still manages to feel like it sticks out from the crowd in just how dense of a sound it has - likely a result of how many people contributed to its creation.

There's the obvious highlight, of course: Chase Beck, the voice of DJ Professor K himself, returns to the role with new lines to supplement the original choir in latin of the original song, and it immediately gives the rip a charm to it, especially all these years after the original event and after Chase Beck's last "needed" performance as the character had long since passed. Before that even gets to kick in, though, its hard not to notice just how many different parts of Jet Set Radio's soundtracks are utilized right from the beginning: a bassline and voicelines echoing That's Enough, samples and pacing from Sneakman, the interlude's melody broken by the noise and chaos of The Concept of Love, and all throughout using small little sound effects and one-second samples from all over the games' soundscapes.

This is the kind of rip I could sit here and dissect for pages on end, yet I believe the point has been made abundantly clear already. In a Season already FILLED with celebration of every part of SiIvaGunner's life, One-Winged DJ is an absolute flex of a celebration, reminding us all of why DJ Professor K truly earned his win whilst showing just how much there is to still be done within the ever-appealing Naganuma style. I'm beyond proud of the rippers involved in how this rip turned out, and hope that the Jet Set Radio Evolution rips continue to impress into Season 8.

[solradguy]

about that most iconic fighting game protag. it’s so weird every time i see how popular gg is and then like. no one cares. you never see gg merch at cons and like. gg doesn’t get in smash at all it’s like. damn

Guilty Gear's in this weird spot where it was decently "big" over in Japan since day 1 but was this strange, quirky, underground thing here in the west until Strive where suddenly it's the headliner game at major tournaments like EVO. I think the Sammy-Sega merger putting the entire franchise into IP hell for most of the 2010s didn't help too... Maybe if that had never happened we would have gotten a GG character into Smash...

Strive really has kicked the frontdoor down here in the west though. I bet the amount of GG merch at cons and stuff is going to go way up between now and the next game in the series haha

also I don't think most other fighting games have a community on here the same way GG does? and following my blog is like being exposed to the elephant's foot of GG content rofl so there may be some kind of data bias there hahahah

[calmingpi]

Just realized kaja was not aware that gg characters get put in tumblr tournaments, which means theres an extremely good chance that she doesn't know about the train marriage

[secondbestguiltygearcharacter]

thank you to everyone for participating in a tournament that i created for the sole purpose of making sure axl would not be able to lose. most bisexual gg character tournament will be a lot shorter but will also be the last gg tournament i host unless i can think of a funnier idea.

thank you for participating!!

[madameaug]

Finish Him || JJK x OC

Pairing: Jungkook x Jennette

WC: 656 (purposefully short)

Context: Jungkook is playing the story mode of Mortal Kombat. After he finishes the story he extends an invitation for Jennette to play with him.

Note: I'm excited for MK 1. (Tanya looks AMAZING and I hope they add Jade too)

"I'm not gonna go easy on you." Jungkook handed Jennette the Playstation controller. Mortal Kombat 11 had just been released, and Jungkook was one of the few streamers who could play it earlier than the rest of the general public.

The past few days, his streams comprised him completing the story and competing in online tournaments. His favorite character by far was Liu Kang. How could he not? He was a powerful Asian martial artist with wicked cool fire powers. It was natural for him to gravitate towards the character.

"I've been going at it for six hours just today." Jungkook tried to warn Jennette. His girl had just come back home from visiting her parents. Taking off her Crocs, she got comfortable on the loveseat. Back in high school, she would play fighting games like Street Fighter with her dad but wasn't a full-fledged fan of the genre. Jennette preferred role-playing and decision-based games.

"I think I'm gonna choose her." Jennette moved the select icon over the character named 'Jade.' She, too, wanted to choose a black character to play with, and Jade looked cool. The staff in her hand, being her choice of weaponry, would be a great advantage over her opponent, who would have to be up close and personal to attack her.

The match begun with the two characters taunting each other. With a swift slide, Liu Kang started a string a combos on Jade. Jungkook laughed cockily as he continued his assault.

Trying not to lose, Jennette started to mash the buttons on her controller. Landing a few uncoordinated hits on Liu Kang. Things were not looking good. Jungkook completed the combo for Liu Kang's fatality to add more salt to the injury. Jungkook leaned back into the couch, watching Jennette's facial expressions. Waiting for her to turn and look at him gloat.

"GG, babes." He stuck his hand out, but Jennette just smacked it away. She knew Jungkook well enough to know that his attempts at sportsmanship were rarely genuine.

Jennette sat up, leaning, closer to the TV. Her hands gripped the controller tighter. "Run that back."

"Don't say you didn't ask. for this." Starting another match, Jungkook demonstrated his skills by stringing combos. His character managed to trap Jennette against the wall. Sparing her no opportunity to counter his attacks. This battle ended quickly, with another win under Jungkook's belt.

Jennette refused to look anywhere remotely to her side. She already knew Jungkook would have that stupid grin on his face. His ego was growing by the minute.

"One more round?"

Jennette agreed, but this time with a plan. She was tired of these humiliating losses. Jungkook was always finding a way to hop around Jennette and push her into an invisible wall. To effectively beat Jungkook, she planned on tagging some of the move lists. Once she entered the new game, she immediately paused the game. Searching for simple combos that she could execute.

Jungkook didn't think much of it. He firmly believed that he could still molly-whop Jennette's character regardless. Resuming the game, Jennette entered the simple combos, finally landing attacks on Jungkook's character. Like an inverse relationship, Jennette's smile grew, and Jungkook's shrunk.

"Are your fingers getting sweaty?" Jennette taunted, winning the first half of the match.

Like the old saying once said, Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Jungkook soon regained the upper hand in the match. Leaving Jennette silent. Jennette should have known how Jungkook would react when he lost. It is the fastest way to light a burning blaze under his ass. All of a sudden, Jungkook became a pro player. Blocking Jennette's attack and using his meter to execute the perfect counters.

"Fuck this."

Jennette didn't even stay to watch the end of the match. Once Jungkook activated Liu Kang's fatality, Jennette had enough. With his hands behind his head, Jungkook kicked up his feet. Enjoying the sweet, sweet, sweet taste of victory.

[gentle-giant-swag]

AHEM! THE RECOGNITION FORM IS HERE

BTW! because holding a preliminary doesn't just fit right now! I have decided to make it so each fandom with 2 individual submissions that only have one will go through one, somewhat. The most recognized one will be the one who joins the bracket!

HERE IT IS

BTW, this is for almost gentle giants, not complete GG, more characters who almost fit the trope but have a few drawbacks (but still joined both of the summer-autumn and spring brackets at times)

tagging more polls: @thecatfight2023 @mythologyolympics @videogamedogbracket @whowouldwininafite @gayest-classiclit @best-kirby-character-tournament @onepiece-polls @badass-queer-couples-battle @countriesgame @haveyoueatenthis

[gear-project]

Once again touching on the Survey, if you were the brains behind GG Strive, what future aspects of the game would you want to see? You're the boss, so spare no expense and leave no idea out!

That's a tough call... I can't really say I know much of the production talent involved to state their true potential as game developers, much less who else they outsource to, but assuming they did:

Most likely my favorite callbacks would be mechanics from Guilty Gear Isuka: namely:

--Boost Mode (Action Quest Adventure Mode, similar to Granblue Fantasy Versus, but in a beat-em-up setting, similar to Street Fighter 6's World Tour Mode). Journey by yourself or with Online allies, defeat random enemies or a powerful Gear boss! Some rewards will be hidden away if you look carefully.

--Robo Ky Factory (considering the fact you could make your own Street Fighter character in SF6, Robo Ky Factory did something VERY similar in the past, although it was limited to RK as a character... imagine taking that idea and just letting people run wild with it and make any character, robot, Gear, or human or Demihuman they wanted). Borrow moves from their fave characters, grab whatever items/buffs and stuff they need to fulfill quests and objectives, and so on.

--Isuka Mode (Crossed Swords Crossbill Free-for-All): Similar in concept to Team of 3 with its' 3 on 3 tag in system, only this time it's a game where 4 players play in a single field all at once (similar to Smash Bros, they can work in Teams of 2 or 3 on 1, and only the last one will be left standing). The Lane system could partially return, letting players escape from being cornered, back attacks are allowed, knocking opponents in to the background or foreground, or even the NEXT AREA... even for players who are surrounded on all sides, they would have a Positive Bonus granted to them and have an Automatic Gold Burst as an emergency tactic to fall on.

--Medals of Millionaires (M.O.M. Mode): Similar to Robo-Ky Factory, but built around Survival and earning Medals... grind hard and get rewards. Defeat strong foes, unlock new items and powers (which can later be added to the Extra Menu). Even if you lose, it's not the end, you can keep playing till you find what you're looking for!

--Guilty Gear Generations (Legacy mode): This mode will bring back all classic gameplay mechanics and concepts from previous games and even old attacks characters used to have... the idea being that every character's fighting style will evolve to its absolute theoretical peak in this mode. The only limits would be the rules set by the players themselves (GG Mode, GGX Mode, GGXXR, GGXXAC, GG2, GGXrd, and even Strive would be options). Instant Kills will take many forms in this mode, be warned! This is the mode that features EX versions of all your favorite attacks from older games.

--Extra Menu: Did we miss anything? Was M.O.M. or Survival Mode not enough? Want to have powers like a Vampire? Want to auto-parry everyone's attacks? Want infinite Tension? That's what this mode is for. Build your own Tournament Rules, build your favorite battle conditions, play online or offline and come up with any scenario you wish. Works with GG Generations Mode and Isuka Mode as long as fellow players agree to the online match.

IN CLOSING:

Basically, I think Guilty Gear boils down to a lot of this... add as many characters as you think would be fun, but it won't be complete without some aspects of these basic ideas... or at least, that's my broad take.

[fritextramole]

masterpost

[dissociationswagcompetition]

How I thought the tourney was gonna go (and how incredibly, incredibly wrong I was)

So for anyone who was following me at the beginning of this tournament, you'd know that I actually went and filled out my own bracket with the contenders and it was roughly 2/3 of who I thought would actually win, and 1/3 my own personal bias of who I wanted to win. Well now that the tournament's over, let's compare my thoughts versus the actual bracket and get a chuckle over just how much I got wrong!

Under the cut to prevent dash clutter

So for reference, here is the actual bracket:

And here's what MY bracket was:

Can you uh. Can you see a few um. Discrepancies.

Let's go over some of my favorite things I got wrong:

Overall, my left side of the bracket wasn't too bad! I figured Kris would get pretty far, and predicted they'd get to the final four!!

I sent a few predictions to my bestie and like while I was wrong that Darcy would go far, I DID predict Omori wouldn't make it till the very end! I just didn't think it'd be Harrier that'd take him out

RIP Uendo system I really thought they'd go further than this 😔

So. Eda. I uh. OKAY LISTEN. I REALLY THOUGHT SHE'D DO BETTER! IIRC SHE WAS ONE OF THE ONES WITH MORE SUBMISSIONS DURING THE NOMINATION PERIOD!

I DIDN'T REALIZE HOW MUCH "IF EDA CAN SURVIVE CECIL" RELIED ON THE IF.

The right side of the bracket... hoo boy

Listen, sorry Shallan fans, but I knew absolutely nothing about this character prior to running this tournament, I have immense respect for her now but like. At the time I didn't even know about her, let alone her fans would be so dedicated to coming out for her sweep. GG!

ENA... MAN... Okay to be fair I knew this one would be close.

I honestly thought ENA would pull through... admittedly I also thought it'd be hilarious if the finals ended up being Eda vs ENA for funny name stuff. But man! I even got Mob going to the final four wrong!!!!!

The bottom right I didn't do too bad! Of course I never would have guessed the Blitzwing/Mikoto tie but overall I did okay in that corner!

I DID think Blitzy and Ingo would go further than they ended up going but still!

So yeah. I got a lot of the early matches pretty well, but I lost my finalists in round 1 so I was basically doomed from the start XD Well hey, at least know that this is pretty solid evidence that I didn't rig any of these votes JBSDJKBFKSJDBFKJB

Bonus: My bracket, but scored as if it were a March Madness tournament

I would have scored 61.5 points if this was scored like a March Madness tournament... which is not TERRIBLE but it still FAR from great XD

[tillman]

Actually please tell me about the assassins. Like why do people hate zato

of course always i love the assassins everyone is always free to ask me about the assassins theyre awesome and swag and modern gg loves to forget they have a fuck ton of lore and like a whole organization that basically ran the world for years? hysterical. like the assassins guild losing their grip on completely running politics only rlly faded out w ericas presidency and when venom took over cus well. venom. pwab. it was a whole thing. i just think its so funny they truly are just not talked about anymore.

anyways zato talk below cut the Attempted Child Murder Count is 2 btw if ur counting. 1/2 success rate on murdering children zato. tehy call him that.

anyways zato! i know him. im like . at a loss where to even start why people hate him. like first off he was Completely different before he died- xrd on Zato is not rlly the same character at all compared to who he was before, which was a power hungry freak of a man who turned the guild from slayers intentions of u know the whole dandy fun time to basically just killers for hire completely. awesome zato moments include: murdering baldheads patient, taking a contract to murder an infant, taking in orphans to make them in his own image (see: millia and venom), (possibly forcing Angra upon millia? she did only activate the spell 2 years after joining the guild and well its implied she was Young and presumably didn't really know what would happen. this ones just speculation but the timeline always leads me to ponder that one), uhhh agreeing to join a tournament because hes told millia will be there and he wants nothing more than to murder her. normal stuff. this is all pregame stuff too. i dunno i think the grooming two kids who viewed him as their only savior and idol in the world into becoming murderers and forcing them to fight each other is a bit hate worthy . good on millia for turning him over to the cops she should do this again. acab and all but put that fucker back in his void prison for the third time.

the main thing about zato is he just kind of sucks and ruins the lives of everyone hes impacted. id say millia is the most obvious example of this but like fuck look at XX era eddie, forbidden beasts (well. at least eddie they refuse to give more lore on the beasts and im suffering for it) incubate within their hosts and learn from them. eddie is the way he is Because Zato was the one who hosted him. and eddie even partially resents his impact in some of the endings, a lot of them focus on the struggle of eddie wanting to be viewed as his own person outside of zato (something something millia parallels this will never ever be relevant again now that eddie is literally Just a dog lol thanks xrd on) (in general i could also go on about how all 3 of the assassins eddie venom and millia all completely and utterly think of themselves as weapons because of zato but)

i could go on forever. honestly. i fucking hate zato. <- kind of a lie i really like his character and what he represents for the assassins <- this is also a lie i think what strive is doing with him is the worst most cruel shit and makes me so mad. anyways zato sucks.

also hes a spaniard.

[eru-iru]

I know I'm new to guilty gear and only went into it last year august but I'm just happy that xrd is still alive after all these years you know? the timing of the rollbacks happening really helped too and even tho I'm a complete newbie to gg and fighting games in a whole I enjoy the characters, stories, and animations a lot (especially bedman he has a big special place in my heart).

about bedman, even tho content of him is few I'm happy to see some ppl still loving him after all these years and new ppl like me who are liking him too. he's still a niche but that fuels me to keep drawing him he's just so fun to draw and I can't run out of ideas of him at the moment ahaha. and I'm not good at him but he's the one I just latched onto and comfortable on playing right now.

I'm bad at the game but I enjoy watching xrd streams especially if there's a bedman player ahaha. been watching a lot of jp tournament streams I could find and it makes me excited watching them I would scream LMAO

But yeah, this is really fun so far and I'm just happy I got to discover this game and the community! I'm also just very thankful for all the support my bedman art is having! thank you and I'm glad you enjoy it! I just really love drawing him and just do whatever idea comes to mind since it's all just very self-indulgent. I don't really have the time to practice the game because of college but I'm more in the lore side anyway ahaha but it's still fun \(^w^)/

[mana-sputachu]

Feng is kind of in a worse spot than most cuz most of the cast at least have initial character arc to hook players in. Feng's entire purpose was to give Asuka some kind of motivation to participate in the most infamously dangerous combat tournament in the world, which in the meta sense went towards giving us back Jun's gameplay. With HER plot relevance falling to the wayside thanks to friggin' Lili... yeah, Feng ain't got much to do

We truly deserve decent FGC writers (Tekken isn't the only game that suffers poor writing, sadly *sighs in post-bankruptcy SNK and KoF*) but that ain't gonna happen anytime soon, I think.

I lowkey envy Guilty Gear fans, GG plot seems way more solid than any other FCG currently (and they have Testament<3)