Hello everyone, this is HajinShinobi here. Many of you know who I am or may know who I am from DOA Central (few years ago) and FreeStepDodge. Before I go any further, I'd just like to clear something up so that things do not get mixed up further in the future. Yes, I am HajinShinobi, the Ayane player. But I am not a high level player, and I've never been a high level player nor have I ever claimed to be such a thing. I am just a competent DOA Ayane player that has had many opportunities to play almost every known DOA player back in DOA4.

I'd like to share with you, my first experience at an offline gaming major event, SoCal Regionals (or SCR). Yes, it was indeed my first time attending an offline major. I've tried few times in the past to attend to some events when Dead or Alive 4 still somewhat had a scene in 2008 and 2009. But school (college) always prevented me from really going out anywhere since ITT-Tech is pretty strict with missing classes consecutively in a semester. And I was not about to take any chances of getting dropped from school and get myself put in debt with school loans. So, alas, I was basically restricted to DOA Online during that era, unfortunately. But that was in the past.

Dead or Alive 5 is here, and has been out for a few months now. I've had the game since the first week of it's release. However, since I've moved elsewhere, I no longer have a wired internet connection. And I live in a smaller place for now as well, so I can't always play DOA as much as I would like to. I have only played other people in DOA5 approximately 8 times within the past 3-4 months, which is not a lot at all. And I basically get to play the game at home once or twice a week as it is, and not for very long (1 to 2 hours tops, there has been only one occasion when I played the game for about 4 hours one night, but that's it). So I've been lacking a lot in practice.

So this is basically when SCR comes into play for me. I saw this is a great opportunity to get in as much practice and play time as possible for an entire weekend. I have one of my closest friends in the DOA community, Marc aka Vizierde to thank for helping me make it out to this event. I already knew that I would not make top anything at this event since I am still fairly rusty in this game. Even though I do post a lot of informative Ayane details alongside Xdest on FreeStepDodge, I hardly ever have opportunities to practice what I preach in a live crowd. So, trying to make top 8 (let alone top 4) wasn't my goal for the weekend. My goal was to play everyone as much as I can throughout the weekend so that I can get up to par in the game and work on things from there.

So to those of you hoping to see any amazing play from me on stream, sorry if I disappointed you. Do I wish that I could have done better in the tournament? Of course I do. I sincerely believe that if had been able to play DOA5 frequently since the first week of it's release, I'd be pretty damn good at the game (I would have still lost to Master regardless since he's definitely that much better than I am). And I would have had better confidence in myself when playing on that stage. I was pretty nervous. But it is what it is and I am not at all worried about that. There will be other tournaments I will try attending in the future and I will play a lot better now after having the chance to squeeze in 120+ matches with everyone this weekend.

Let's get more into detail about my weekend at this event though. About 3-4 weeks ago, I had offline casuals  in DOA5 with VincentRayne, Ikodomo and Snakz at Triple Crown. Which actually turned out to be a pretty fun night, as I always enjoy the opportunity of playing my favorite fighting game with other DOA players. This was the first time I met Ikodomo and Snakz, who turned out to be really cool and chill guys. This was my second time playing VincentRayne offline, he's also a pretty awesome guy as well. Turns out he and I actually have a lot in common after I got to know him better. Ikodomo later then asks me if I'm going to SCR. I told him I'm definitely looking into it and I really wanted to go.

Let's fast forward to last week, registration is taken care of, and I'm carpooling with my bro VincentRayne for the weekend. Tenren, who organized the DOA tournament (props and respect to him for this), reserved a motel room for players coming out to SCR for the weekend. We are driving out to Irvine and are staying at the Super Motel 8 for the weekend along with Tenren (and his cousin), Ikodomo (who also helped organized the DOA tournament), AddictivePower, Return of the Shadow (who also helped Tenren and Ikodomo with the tournament), CrimsonCJ, NykNyks, and Doug Nguyen. Yeah, that room was packed, haha. But it was really great meeting more FSD folk.

We also had three MvC3 players that NykNyks knew room with us as well. Everyone I roomed with we're really chill and all around great to be around. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better group of players to hang out with for the weekend. There was never a dull moment at all over the weekend.

Who I was especially shocked at finally meeting in person though, was NykNyks (ImNykkoWordUp back in DOA4 days). A lot of you should definitely know who he is, if you don't, go shoot yourself in the crotch. He's a really amazing Lei Fang player. This is a guy who I've had many matches, first to 5, and first to 10 endurance matches with back in DOA4. He's one of the players I met through one of my DOA mentors, Satisfaktion, years ago.  He is one of the few reasons why I was even up to par in DOA4 in the first place because he would always be down for playing with me. I've got nothing but respect for this guy, and finally meeting him and learning he's chill as hell just made things all the better. Props to him for making top 3 in DOA5 at SCR as well. He definitely deserves it.

Let's continue. First night before the tournament, we decide to kick things off with a bit of DOA casuals. I think Tenren was streaming our casuals as well but the stream was pretty laggy since he was using the motel's internet. Most of us actually stayed up the entire night just chilling and playing games, including myself. Only AddictivePower and NykNyks we're the only two who actually slept the first night, haha. Day 1 of SCR, the Student Hall was packed with hundreds of participants for onsite registration and online registration badges. Took quite awhile but things finally got started. My group and I got into the auditorium and began the first round of Day 1 pools on the stream setup.

My first match was against my roomie, AddictivePower, why plays Genfu. Now, I have a lot of experience in the Ayane vs Genfu match up. But with me being nervous and rusty, I played quite poorly during that match. Not to say that Addictive isn't good, because he's pretty good, he'd be even better if he gets his fundamentals down more. I won that match 2-1, but I am full aware that I didn't perform well enough when I wish I did.

My second round match was with Master, which was the last match being streamed that day. I got blown up, haha. A quick 2-0 for him. I totally wasn't ready to face a top player, especially not in my gaming condition. And I don't know how to fight Hayabusa in DOA5 either. But it's cool, I finally got to meet Master in person which was pretty awesome. I was kind of surprised he knew who I was from the forums. He's a pretty chill guy for sure. I met Dr.Dogg as well, I'm not sure if he remembers meeting me though, heh. I met Black Mamba as well, even though I actually didn't say anything to him. Return of the Shadow said that Mamba is actually really chill though. So I kind of regret not saying what's up to him. There's always next time though, I suppose.

So, we continued Day 1 pools off stream, I forget who my opponent in loser's bracket was. But it was a pretty quick 2-0 for me. Then I fought Mystik in loser's bracket. I seriously should have won that set against her 2-0, I was about to take the first match of the set but then someone else's controller had turned on the Xbox we we're playing on, which paused our match and caused us to reset everything. I lost 1-2 to Mystik, which I got pretty upset about because I really shouldn't have lost that set at all. That would have been a 2-0 as well if that controller malfunction didn't happen. I wasn't even upset over the fact that I got eliminated, I was upset because of who I lost to. But I was really exhausted that day and I was already playing pretty bad as it is. I got over it after awhile, wasn't going to allow this to ruin my weekend.

Oh, that's right, the group and I met Shun's Fury and Lokki at SCR as well. Shun is actually pretty chill in person, and to answer a question; yes he is not really good in DOA. Lokki on the other hand, plays a decent Sarah but his Ayane really isn't any good. He tries to force a lot of online tactics (like whiffing 11P > 11K for example). He barely kept up with my rusty Ayane. It went 5-1 my favor, I didn't say anything to him after winning though, neither did he. I just shook his hand after we played and that was that. I think after awhile of him being at SCR he changed his attitude a bit. He wasn't acting so cocky after awhile and just chilled with the rest of us. Same with Shun. The two of them talk a lot of smack online but they aren't so bad in person.

After Day 1 pools we're over, the group and I all stopped for dinner on the way back to the motel, and just chilled for the night. Day 2 of SCR, we had breakfast, then headed off for Day 2 pools. This is the day I was able to get in loads of practice because there we're more people willing to play that day. Met a player named Keylay, a Kasumi player from FreeStepDodge. Pretty nice guy. Had plenty of practice with NykNyks, Return of the Shadow Ikodomo, Shun's Fury, and Master. And a few random folk as well. All of the matches I played this day brought me up to par. Got really good at side stepping on reaction, holding things on reaction, punishing on reaction, better spacing, good whiff punishment. Ikodomo challenged me to a first to 10, we didn't get to finish it though because Top 4 finals we're about to begin. We'll finish it up one day, though. His Jann Lee, Hitomi and Genfu are really good. Return of the Shadow is also a really good Lisa player, he's also very good with Tina and Hitomi as well. Playing solid players always gets me pumped up.

Top 4 finals we're pretty hyped, NykNyks did really well. Just getting into Top 4 is a great accomplishment. That is what I'll aim for at the next tournament I attend, now that I'm playing so well. After spectating Top 4, the group and I packed up the equipment and went out to celebrate NykNyk's accomplishment. Went back to the motel, and ran a second tournament. One that I ended up winning, later that night, Master and Vanessa came by our room to hang out with us. That was awesome. The two of them are so down to earth, just like the rest of the group are. We ended up running another tournament when they came by. We played a tag tournament with Random Character Select. Now, even though I don't like Tag in DOA, it was actually a lot of fun. After the tournament, Master and Vanessa took off for the night and the rest of just hung out, playing games, eating munchies, drinking (I don't drink) and crashing hard, haha. Was such a fun night.

The next morning, we all got up and got ready to head back to SCR so that Top 8 could collect their winnings. Turns out Master was actually staying at the same motel we we're staying, since he came by to say what's up and give farewells, the guy is really chill. Then we hung out for about another hour before parting ways. I kind of wanted to stay another day but all of us had things we needed to do, so yeah.

This was an incredible weekend, as I was able to fulfill my goal like I wanted to. Which was to get in a lot of practice with everyone, that helped me out so much. I've made new friends with everyone, and I got to know the folks in my group a lot better. I had a great time at the event. I've got new friendships and nothing but respect for everyone I met this weekend. Even Shun and Lokki for the simple fact that they came to the event to play everyone as well. Hopefully, DOA5 will get accepted into NoCal Regionals somehow, as I'd really like to go out there for DOA and prove my worth this time. If not, then there are always other events too.

I'd like to share a few words with those of you who feel a bit off about going to offline events. Whether or not you think (or believe) you won't do so well in a tournament, you should still go anyway. To support our game and to support the community. Go for the experience, as you can always learn a lot from other players you play offline and you can improve your own skill much better in an offline environment. You may get nervous (everyone does), but that's normal. It's a great experience meeting other players at events and you'll more than likely have a good time hanging out with everyone. If you don't have the funds to make it out to events, that's always understandable, trust me when I say I know what that's like. And you are not obligated to make it out to every single event either. Just try to make it to the events you can make it out to. Plan ahead for it, talk to people that plan on attending an event you're going to as well. People will help out with things such as carpooling if they are able to.

There we're plenty of random players that made it out to SCR for DOA. Whether they we're good or not, they still came out to support the game, I mean, we even had a player from Canada come out for DOA. If we want to see DOA5 at more major events like SCR, we need more players coming to play our game. I promise you that you will have a good time meeting and playing everyone offline in person. Don't feel discouraged about playing anyone or losing, it's all part of the experience.

I'd like to give shout outs to NykNyks, Ikodomo, VincentRayne, Return of the Shadow, Doug Nguyen, Tenren, CrimsonCJ, AddictivePower, Keylay, Snakz Master, Vanessa, Black Mamba, Dr.Dogg and everyone else I met this weekend for coming out to SCR and being chill folks.

With that said, I'd like to say that this will conclude my first gaming blog. I will be practicing a lot more now that I am motivated to do so. And I will actually aim for Top 8 and higher at the next event I attend. This is HajinShinobi, signing out.

*Ninja vanishes*