CEO Side Bracket Sets the Tone for +R at Frosty Faustings

CEO featured explosive brackets for a wide variety of fighting games. From MK11 to Guilty Gear Strive to Street Fighter V, action and upsets were common. While the main games drew most of the public attention, there were plenty of dynamic side tournaments as well. One such event was OmegaTomHanks’ side event for Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R. 

After receiving a surprise rollback update last year, +R has seen somewhat of a renaissance. While the clear perk of the update was opening the door for similar rollback additions, like the recent updates for BBTag and BlazBlue Central Fiction, the update also helped introduce the modern FGC to one of the most dynamic Guilty Gear titles ever made. The rollback injection was followed by an update that gave the retro Gear game one of the best training modes of all fighting games, helping to lock in the influx of new players.

This side bracket, run by Florida’s OmegaTomHanks, had some big shoes to fill. This was one of the first, if not THE first, big in-person tournaments for +R since its resurgence last year. CEO was also the last major event before Frosty Faustings, which is typically the biggest Guilty Gear tournament of any given year. The event lived up to the hype, featuring powerhouse players such as Woocash, Foo, Hotashi, and Frosty Faustings founder ElvenShadow. 

I won +R at CEO without losing a single game. GGs everyone. See you at Frosty!

— ElvenShadow (@elvenshadowmike) December 5, 2021

The turnout for +R was more than OmegaTomHanks could have expected. “It was the biggest turnout for a side game at CEO besides Melty Blood: Type Lumina,” said OTH when asked about the tournament. “We capped the 64-player bracket and had people on an informal waitlist as well.” Of course, as OmegaTomHanks acknowledges, the rollback patch had a lot to do with the surge in popularity the game has seen. “This would have been unthinkable without the rollback patch.”

As for results, they very much proved that ElvenShadow is still the most dominant force in the US. Despite having to fight through Foo’s powerful Potemkin and Woocash’s ever-so-aggravating tag team of Baiken and Anji, ElvenShadow was able to win the tournament without dropping a single game. Of course, alongside the staples you expect from a +R tournament, there was some new blood as well. One standout was JunBear, who was seeded 40th but finished 4th with some very impressive Ky Kiske play. 

The MVP of +R at CEO was def @JunBear93 in my eyes. Was seeded 40th but finished 4th, with big wins over Pandabetic and Hotashi.

Very impressive Ky gameplay, keep it up! Hope to see you in bracket in ’22.

— OmegaTomHanksFL (@OmegaTomHanksFL) December 5, 2021

When asked if he had advice for newcomers preparing to fight at Frosty Faustings, OmegaTomHanks had this to say: “I would say to just come prepared and don’t overthink it, tourney nerves are a real thing but you can learn to mitigate it. If you think it will help bring headphones, I often do. There is also nothing wrong with taking a quick break after a loss in tournament at character select. Lastly, if you are trying to prepare for offline PS3 tournaments, you should know that PC has 2 frames less input delay than PS3. So if you want to match the tournament environment, I would recommend setting input delay to 2 online on PC.”

 

Filled with outplays, action, and now some incredible cutting-edge features, it seems like Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R is here to stay. If you want to learn about the game, TopTier highly recommends the Guilty Bits series on YouTube, which features some quick-but-deep character overviews. 

Full bracket from CEO can be found here.