Tekken254 Season Three review

The Tekken254 Circuit came to a close a few weekends ago. The finals held at the Junction Mall saw AlphaPlay| Mickey being crowned season 3 champ after taking down Simba Ultimate player DarkTempest in a one sided final. Mickey has cemented himself as the best player in the Kenyan region and has not shown any sign of slowing down anytime soon.

The Circuit saw major changes to its format with increased Qualifiers that run from January and ended in July to capping the premier division to only 24 players and introducing an amateur division that has helped many new players have ease of entry plus gain extra knowledge from the senior players that have played since 2017 tournament. The Tekken254 Circuit organizers are set to make few changes to the circuit that will be communicated later. Partnering with Ace Apparels, we take a look back at this year’s Qualifier Tournaments.

QUALIFIERS

Qualifier One

  • AlphaPlay |Mickey
  • Simba Ultimate| DarkTempest
  • MoM| Frost

Qualifier Two

  • AlphaPlay| Mickey
  • WTCH|DVK
  • MoM| Frost

Qualifier Three

  • AlphaPlay| Mickey
  • MoM| Frost
  • WTCH|DVK

Qualifier Four

  • AlphaPlay| Mickey
  • MoM| Frost
  • WTCH|DVK

Qualifier Five

  • AlphaPlay| Mickey
  • MoM| Frost
  • Furious Monkey

Qualifier Six

  • AlphaPlay| Mickey
  • WTCH| DVK
  • MoM| Frost

The Circuit qualifiers were heavily dominated and bodied by the trio of Mickey, Frost and DVK who are all signed to different organizations basing their operations in the developing Esports scene in Nairobi.

The circuit qualifiers were aimed at creating a highly competitive series that had players compete for a top16 finish by the end of the July. The qualifiers also helped many players increase practice and share a lot of mechanics of the game with each other.

CIRCUIT FINALS

After Q6, all roads went to the Junction Mall for the Circuit Finals where surprise performances were witnessed from DarkTempest storming the finals, DVK finishing 9th place, RobbyM$ great performance and not forgetting Masters of Mayhem player Frost.

The circuit finals had AlphaPlay organization player Mickey “obviously” take the season three championship after handing Simba Ultimate player DarkTempest a beating in the final. Masters of Mayhem finished third place.

All eyes are currently on the TWT African expansion tournament set to be held in Cape Town next month. We wish all the Kenyan players set to fly down south all the best. Victory awaits you.

TEKKEN254 COMMUNITY

From Ace Pro Gaming and Tekken254, we would like to say thank you to the whole Kenyan Tekken community, creating your time to come for tournaments, practice you put up, THANK YOU.

Details about the 2020 season will be availed soon as registration open. Follow us on social media for updates.

After six qualifiers, it all comes down to the finals this Saturday.

Season Three of the Tekken254 Circuit comes to an end this weekend with the top-ranked 16 players from the Seasons Qualifier. Season Three kicked off in January this year with a new format of play that saw 6 Qualifier tournaments played with participants fighting for the top 16 slots.

After 6 tournaments this year, Michael “Mickey” Muhoro finished at pole position with Nick Fury closing down this year’s finalists finishing at 16th place. The finals will be played in a double-elimination format.

Tekken254 Circuit Finals Fixtures

  • DVK v. RobbyM$
  • MoM|Frost v. T-Vets|Nick Fury
  • SU|DarkTempest v. T-Vets|Poker Face
  • Xstar v. Priest
  • Mickey v. Vega
  • Tony v. Stanley Styler
  • T-Vets|Battousai v. Overhaul|In4red
  • Furious Monkey v. Proto-G

The Tekken254 Finals will be staged at the PSG LAN Party set to be held this coming Saturday at The Junction, Nairobi.

DOWN TO THE FINAL 16

The Tekken254 Circuit season three came to a close this past weekend with
Qualifier 6 staged at K1 KlubHouse. The Qualifier saw Mickey win the grand final besting DVK in the grand final.

The tournament also marked the end of the circuit qualifiers that have run from January in a 6 part series and ended this month. The circuit format set up a 16 slot final tournament dubbed the Savanna Majors that will see the best 16 players go at each other in the Circuit finals.

After 6 Qualifiers, the following below have qualified for Kenya’s Tekken Circuit Finals.

  1. Mickey
  2. DVK
  3. MoM|Frost
  4. SU|DarkTempest
  5. Xstar
  6. Pri3st
  7. Tony
  8. Furious Monkey
  9. Lord Vega
  10. OverHaul|In4red
  11. RobbyM$
  12. T-Vets|Nick Fury
  13. T-Vets|Battousai
  14. Stanley Styler
  15. T-Vets|PokerFace
  16. RMP|Shoryuken

Season Three saw great improvement from many players competing, notably Furious Monkey who finished 5th with (30-18 SW-L record). Improving from 12th place in season two to finishing 5th this season shows a really good improvement. Furious Monkey is joined by Masters of Mayhem player Frost who finished 2nd place with 135points. Frost has reached the grand final on three occasions (Qualifiers 3, 4 and 5).

Lord Vega has shown a decline in performance finishing 9th this season with his best being Qualifier 1 where he finished 4th. Simba Ultimate player DarkTempest finished overall 6th securing his slot for the Tekken254 Circuit Finals. Using Katarina Alves, DarkTempest comes in as a favourite contender for this season’s final.

We will have to wait a few weeks to see who will win the Tekken254 Circuit finals. Follow our social media pages for updates about the upcoming Circuit finals.

SIX QUALIFIERS IN THE BAG, MY NAME IS MICKEY

Michael “Mickey” Muhoro bags his 6th consecutive Qualifier after beating DVK in the final. Mickey cruised past Pool A with a 5-0 set win record.

Mickey has won all Qualifiers this season not dropping any set throughout the series. He finishes this season with maximum points (144pts) and books a sit-in Kenya’s fighting gaming event (Savanna Majors).

Mickey continues to dominate Kenya’s Tekken scene with 3 /3 seasons wins dropping only one set during the second Season to DVK in an event held at Kenya Cultural Centre.

With the Cape Town event set for September this year, we look forward to seeing the Kenyan flag flown high with Mickey being one of our representatives.

Congratulations Mickey

THREE SEASONS IN, STRUCTURED COMPETITION SYSTEM, STRONG COMMUNITY

The Tekken254 Circuit Qualifiers comes to a curtain close as we head towards Qualifier 6 of this season series. Organized by Tekken-Two-Five-Four and Ace Pro Gaming, the circuit has seen a rise in competitors from 19 competitors to the current 32 registered players who have once attended the structured competitive tournaments held in Nairobi.

Started in 2017, we held a tournament in one of Nairobi's most visited Gaming Lounges (Tric Gaming) where we held our very first tournament. The Tekken254 has later grown into one of the most connected and growing communities filled with discipline and hard work amongst its members. The community is slowly cementing competitive system as one of the strongest in the region.

The Circuit was birthed immediately after the Tric Gaming Tournament and it is currently closing on its third season. More players trickling in the community and staying competitive with efforts to welcome more as we continue our work to strengthen Esports and Digital Entertainment in Kenya.
The Circuit adopted a new format that sought to increase community members, increase competition but most importantly level up Tekken knowledge within the community.

The system saw two divisions split between Premier Division (24 players) and Challenger Division (open entry) with a pro-rel system. The tournaments were also spread out monthly with 6 Qualifiers in the circuit. As we move into our final qualifier, we would like to thank the Tekken254 Community members for their bond, hard work, commitment, and great Tekken play.

THANK YOU

THEY CAN, AND PROBABLY WILL TAKE OVER THE CAPE TOWN SHOWDOWN

The Tekken World Tour announced its expansion strategy to newer communities across the globe and the greatest news for Africa was the announcement of the Cape Town Showdown scheduled for September this year.

The tournament will see many African Tekken players converge in South Africa this year for a great eSport event in the region. The Tekken communities in Africa have been vibrant with many local tournaments organized in many parts of Africa.

With this, we want to focus on the Kenyan scene that has been vibrant with a strong community, well-organized tournaments and online presence. The Tekken 254 Circuit is currently in its third season, the season was restructured to have six Qualifiers and one major where 16 of the best 24 (Premier Division) will qualify for the Savanna Majors set for August.  The Circuit planned to get new members by launching a second tier called the Challenger Division which currently has 11 active members. The Circuit, with a Pro-Rel (promotion-relegation) format, will see the bottom four in the Premier Division play against the top four in the Challenger Division for spots in the Premier Division for Season Four.

The Circuit has given the community an avenue to practice and plays in monthly tournaments that have improved gameplay, character knowledge and confidence in tournaments. The community’s online groups have also been an avenue to discuss matchups, character moves, strength and this has improved the gameplay of many players.

Some of the Circuit’s players participated in an Online Cities Battle against players from Durban, South Africa in December 2018. In a first-to-two, five v. five takedown format, the Nairobi team managed to win 5-2 in both rounds.

DVK, AP | Mickey and XiT | QueenArrow have all shown an interest in taking part in this great fighting game event set for September. XiT Woundz, an eSport organization managing Sylvia “QueenArrow” Gathoni, has confirmed her participation. Will the Kenyan representatives manage Top 8 entry? Yes, they will.

Cape Town Showdown 7 will be held at the Radisson Red Cape Town on 7th-8th September this year.

ACE PRO GAMING SET TO LAUNCH AN APPAREL DIVISION.

In a bid to further expand its reach into the Kenyan market, Ace Pro is set to launch an Apparel Division called “Ace Apparels” to steer professionalism in the Esports and wider sports market. The new division signals Ace Pro expansion looking to professionalize and uniform Esports and other sports players in Kenya.

Ace Apparels is set to launch at a later date in the fall of this year targeting Esports (competitive video gamers), Leisure market (Athle-Leisure), sports disciplines and other markets that we will announce later. “The expansion signals a different investment that seeks to create a self-sustaining and self-reliant e-Lig University Series and Tekken254 Circuit,” says Fanuel O. O

The apparel division is looking to tap into the local Kenyan series of tournaments held in the city by dressing various players and professionalizing the industry. Ace Apparels also wants to expand business models for various Esport organizations operating in Kenya.

Ace Pro Gaming will also launch its original content as part of its plans in growing the local industry. More info will be released soon.

THE CHECK | XIT WOUNDZ OWNER CODY.M TAKES US INSIDE THE WORLD OF ESPORTS BUSINESS, EXISTING MARKETS & TEKKEN254

XiT Woundz has operated in Kenya for close to a year now participating in Kenya’s premier FGC series called Tekken254 run and organized by Tekken Two Five Four and Ace Pro Gaming. The circuit currently is on its third season and going into the third qualifier this coming weekend before heading for the April break.

XiT Woundz has expanded its operation globally tapping into various Esports markets. The Esport organization is represented by Catholic University of  Eastern Africa law student Sylvia Gathoni Wahome who goes by the name of QueenArrow.

Ace Pro Gaming connected with XiT Woundz owner Cody M to bring you the interview below:

APG: Tell us a brief history of XiT Woundz Esport Organization

Cody M: Good afternoon Ace Pro Gaming! It is a pleasure to be speaking to everyone here today and I hope everyone is having a wonderful day wherever they are in the world. To begin, XiT Woundz was originally formed as a Halo 2 team at MLG (Major League Gaming) Las Vegas Nevada 2005 by the brothers nicknamed Bonfire and ItWasLuck. The team yielded an incredible presence in both Halo 2 and Halo 3, earning over 40,000 USD in tournament prizing and were a constant Top 8/Top 16 team during their initial reign. Their time as a team came to an end around 2009 with MLG Columbus being their final event. In 2017, I was approached by an old business partner about reforming the brand in the competitive eSports circuit. I was working as an eSports journalist at the time but decided this was an excellent opportunity to build something of my own and continue a legacy.

After discussing terms with ItWasLuck, an agreement was met that continuing the XiT Woundz legacy would indeed come to fruition. In 2018, we kicked off the brand’s re-emergence in January and since then seek to build upon the brand’s legacy and carry the traditions the old team set before us.

APG: XiT Woundz has players from various eSports markets (countries). If you do not mind answering, why expand to these markets?

CM: Excellent question! As most of the audience out there may know, the U.S.A. is the eSports hub and world market. This simply means that most high-end competitive circuits will almost always do business in the United States simply because we have the prime locations and biggest prize pools. Considering how established we are as a country in competitive gaming, this also comes with the territory that we hold the largest eSports organizations market in the world, with multiple organizations being based in various states throughout the country.

Other countries such as Mexico, Baltic Europe, South America and even Africa are just now starting to catch on to the eSports market and infrastructure we have out here in the west. This means that local talent can be found all over the globe. When looking to establish our presence as an organization, we wanted to find markets that would fit our brand’s image and showcase what is possible in the world. After doing about two months of research, I found different African establishments that presented the development of a competitive eSports circuit and gaming culture and from there we found the TEKKEN 254 circuit in Kenya and the rest is history.

I love signing underdog players and talent. It’s important to give players across the world a chance to compete at the highest level. When we found QueenArrow we knew this would be one of the greatest player acquisitions we will ever do, it’s been a wonderful experience.

APG: Does the organization have plans to expand its player base in the current markets you are present in? Do you have plans to expand into different countries (markets)?

CM: XiT Woundz always has plans to expand our operations to other countries. Like any expansion plan however, it all boils down to logistics and cost effectiveness. We currently feature players in USA, Canada, Venezuela, Kenya and Germany and we even had a Dota 2 team in Cambodia last year. To say the organization is everywhere would almost be an understatement. I would like to say we are absolutely looking to head to Europe and Japan as our next major expansion for 2020 but first we need to further establish our presence and build our local market community and that means further establishing our presence in the state of New Jersey as that’s our home turf.

Now, as for what games we are seeking to get invested into, well I’ll let time do the telling when we get there!

APG: Which of the existing markets does the XiT Woundz organization find easy to manage players?

CM: It’s always tough to answer what is the easiest player base to work with. Of course, if it’s based on logistics/traveling then our United States players are the easiest to figure out plans for. However, I would have to say that so far, we have been able to get everyone involved in tournaments on a global scale effectively! And for that I have my amazing staff to thank for.

APG: With the TEKKN 254 Circuit running its third season, what is your brand involvement with Sylvia Wahome like from management point of view?

CM: Sylvia is a diamond in the rough, a true fighter at heart. We are continuing to assess her abilities as a player during her run in the TEKKEN 254 Circuit Season 3 tournaments. What’s awesome is that all our players from Canada and Germany have been able to give her some of the most incredible advice from improving her game step by step, so in this case her training since last year has been almost all Canadian. With the TWT (Tekken World Tour) circuit we would love to see her get a top placing at a serious major; however, everything comes with time and as we move forward, we will continue to help her grow and develop her skills at a higher level so she will be more tournament ready.

APG: With the expansion of the Tekken World Tour, will we see Sylvia take part in the African leg to be staged in Cape Town, South Africa?

CM: We would love to see QueenArrow in South Africa for the TWT event later this year! However, that will be completely up to her, if she feels she is ready.

APG: Still on the TWT Cape Town leg, how best would you love the Tekken World Tour format to be for other existing players who cannot attend the various events in the schedule?

CM: With the introduction of the Dojo series, this gives players an incredible amount of motivation to attend their local weekly series to earn TWT points. The best part is, all the organizers must do is apply online via the website and wait for a response. Outside of the Dojo system, I would love to see an official TWT major in Kenya as I feel they have a city to host it and a solid developing tournament infrastructure to showcase to the world. I can also see countries like Ghana, Vietnam, Denmark and various others get a shot to host a major soon.

I would love to see more countries get the chance to showcase their communities and top players to the entire world! Build the foundation now and bring the TWT to an even greater podium in years to come!

APG: What is your take on the growth of eSports globally?

CM: Esports, or as I still call it, competitive gaming, is a longstanding tradition of gamers across the globe with all nationalities and religions to come together and compete at the highest level possible. In the early years of the 2000s, who would have thought everything would grow to an exponential level that we see today; it’s absolutely mind-boggling to me. However, it still has a lot of problems that need to be corrected; player unions should become a thing for players to feel comfortable in their contracts and have re-assurance that the organizations won’t screw them over as we have seen here in the States an alarming amount of times. With this also being said, the alarming potential factor that many large tournaments may eventually become more monopolized and invitational only is a great concern for the FGC entirely.

It’s hard to say where exactly everything will go for the future, but since entering the industry back in 2004, I can safely forecast what will end up happening and I hope and wish that all players and organizations out there take great care now to prepare themselves for even greater hurdles we have yet to see from a business standpoint. Other than that, however, I think competitive gaming nowadays is a beautiful thing as it truly brings gamers together from all walks of life and for that factor alone, I can be grateful for.

XiT Woundz owner Cody M. continued to thank all eSport players in Kenya, TEKKEN 254, Davy Kamanzi (TEKKEN 254 president) and Pro Series Gaming.

THE CHECK | TEAM ALPHA ORGANIZATION DISPLACES HORIZON FROM THE TOP

A bad performance by Joel and Yobra slowed down the Horizon organization quest to dominate the e-Lig standings after weekend two. Joel who finished fourth at the weekend opener tourney bagging him 21 points did not even qualify for the top two spots. Joel placed in conference D for weekend two had a rough day playing in a conference that had Yardie (KU), donuts (JKUAT), and Kamal (Strathmore), Bari Maina and Steve. Joel finished 5th in this conference and secured 17th-20th playoff position that only earned him 7points.

On the other side, Team Alpha players, GeeMajid and Kamal had a great day during weekend two steering the organization to sit top of the standings. GeeMajid reached the final where he lost and only bagged himself 23 points, while Kamal finished 5th.

The e-Lig University series moves into its third and final tournament run for the pilot season and will be back for season one. The e-Lig sought to create organizations and teams based on franchising University sides to compete against each other. The series was also seeking to tap into the many competitive FIFA communities existing in various institutions.

The third tournament of the series will be on March 16th 2019 and at a venue we will communicate.

ON THE FOCUS |AMANDA LIGHTS UP THE ALL-LADIES DIVISION WITH CLEAN FINISHES TO WIN WEEKEND TWO.

The new entrant into the All-Ladies Division Amanda lit up the division this past weekend with great play and clinical finishes. Amanda qualified for the final after a splendid play during the pools.

In the absence of Tuts, we might have missed a great matchup between her and Amanda because they both almost have a similar style of play execution. Amanda beat Bree and drew against Tamara. The final saw Tamara and Amanda face off in a match that ended 1-0 in favour of Amanda. Due to playing only one tourney, Amanda sits bottom of the table with 6 points. Tamara leads with 10 points, Bree(8 points), Tuts (6points).