Name - TylerLantern (YouTube - TylerLantern)
Age - 28
Fighting Out Of - Atlanta, GA
Character(s) of Choice - Reptile, Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Nightwolf
Major Accomplishments - Top 16 at MLG Raleigh
It’s the combofiend
himself. Hello TylerLantern, how are you doing?
I am doing great. Just practicing as much as I
can for MLG Dallas.
How is your training
for MLG Dallas coming along?
It is coming along fine. I have been working
on a few match ups that I have had trouble with in the past, and I feel like I
am getting very comfortable with them. I have also been training with a couple
of characters that I have not really used in tournaments before. Maybe we will
see who they are at MLG Dallas; depending on if I feel like I need to pull them
out or not.
How many tournaments
have you attended for Mortal Kombat?
I have attended many offline tournaments, but
only 2 majors, 1 being Final Round, and the other being MLG Raleigh. To be
honest, the local tournaments, like Battle & Brew in Atlanta is where I
have really learned to control tournament nerves and concentrate on going for
the win.
MLG Raleigh was your
most notable tournament, how do you feel you performed at the tournament?
MLG Raleigh was great, I feel like I played
very well in most of my matches, especially with it only being my 2nd major
MK9 tournament. After it was over, I felt like there were things that needed to
worked on and addressed as far as match ups go, but for the most part, I was
happy with my performance.
You defeated some
tough opponents in losers bracket. How did this affect your confidence as a
tournament player?
The one thing I can say about the matches I
had in the losers bracket at MLG Raleigh, is that I go into every match knowing
in my head that I am going to win. You really cannot have any doubts in your
mind. You can’t think, "Wow, this is a tough match up, I might not win
this one". You have to go into it with the mindset that you are going to
take the win no matter what match up and no matter who you are playing. It is
all about confidence, and I had 110% confidence as I climbed the losers bracket
at MLG Raleigh.
Talk about your set
with KH Cat. Is Kabal a tough matchup for you personally? What do you think the
Reptile/Kabal matchup is number-wise?
Cat is an amazing Kabal player, plus Showtime
is one of his best friends, so he knows the Reptile match up very well. I, on
the other hand, did not have very much Kabal match up experience at the time.
We have 1 Kabal player here in Atlanta, and that is L0rd of the FLY, and while
he has an amazing Kabal, most of the time when we play, I play his Skarlet and
not his Kabal. As far as the match up numbers go for Kabal vs Reptile, I think
it is 6-4 in Kabal’s favor.
One of the biggest upsets of the tournament was your 3-1 victory over KevoDaMan. Since it wasn’t streamed, give us a rundown of what took place. Which characters did he use and how were you able to come away with the victory?
Going into the match, Kevo used Kabal. I had
played Cat a few hours earlier, and I remembered my mistakes against him, and I
tried my best to not make the same mistakes against Kevo. The first match, Kevo
won, even though it was very close. At this point, I made myself calm down and
relax. I knew if I could get the momentum going in my direction, I would not
lose the set. I wanted Kevo to be afraid of my Reptile, and I knew the only way
that was going to happen was to calm down and get the upper hand. The second
match was again, Kabal vs Reptile. This time, I played the smartest I had ever
played in the Kabal match up, and won the match without him taking a round.
I could tell he was a bit frustrated as he
went back to the character select screen and chose Kung Lao. I knew if I was
going to win the set, I had to make him doubt himself. Going into the Kung Lao
vs Reptile match up, I was D4ing every chance I got, and I kept him right where
I wanted him for the entire match, taking the win against his Lao. At this
point, I could tell he did not know where to go character wise. He picked
Sonya, and I instantly knew I was going to win. I know the Sonya match up very
well. Two Atlanta players, Clint The Beast and Smarrgasm have mained Sonya in
the past, so it was an easy victory in that match. I turned around after winning,
and was surprised when it seemed like everyone had taken their eyes off the
stream match and was watching mine and Kevo’s match. I just wish someone had
recorded that set. I would love to go back and watch it.
Talk about your 3-2
loss to Crazy Dominican. Was it as close as the score would have us believe?
It was very close in my mind. One match, I
even got a Flawless, which had my confidence very high. I know CD is an amazing
player, and I have a lot of respect for him, so going into it, I was a little
bit nervous, but when I took the first match, and then in the second match
started it off with a Flawless, any bit of nervousness that I had going into
the match was gone. In the end, he just out played me was the better player
that day, that is all there is to it. He deserved the win for sure, but that
isn’t to say it could have gone either way in my opinion.
How long have you been
creating combo videos for YouTube?
I have been doing combo videos for MK since
MKvsDC. Even though a lot of people don’t like MKvsDC, I love it.
What got you into
doing something as innovative as creating inconceivably impressive combo videos
for Mortal Kombat?
It is actually funny how it started. I played
MKvsDC online, and a guy recorded himself beating me using the Superman infinite,
and he posted the video on YouTube and sent me hate mail on PSN. The next day,
I went out and bought a video capture device and recorded him and posted it
lol. After that, I started recording myself beating the MKvsDC Kombo Challenges
without making any mistakes, and I got great feedback from people saying it
really helped them beat the Kombo Challenge by watching my video. So, I thought
it would help people get better at the game if they saw high damage combos on
YouTube and could learn them and use them in real matches. After doing a couple
of videos, I started trying harder combos, and higher damage combos. Before too
long, it seemed like people really liked seeing combos they never thought were
possible, so I kept doing it. I knew most players could read between the lines
of insane combos and at least learn something from them. It has always been
about entertaining, but more so, helping the community learn from my videos,
even if they learn something small from the video, that is my purpose in doing
what I do as far as combo videos go. Back when I started, Check was the only
name in making combo videos that I can remember, but now, we have a lot of
amazing combo artists, and I think it’s so cool we have so many talented combo
artists coming together on a forum to help others with the game.
Is Mortal Kombat the
only game that you are interested in doing this for?
I have ventured into other games in the past,
such SF4 and MvC3, but it has mostly always been about MK. When Injustice is
released, I will definitely 100% be making combo videos for that game as well.
How much time do you
spend discovering these intricate combos?
In the past, I spent a lot more time doing it
than I do now. Like when MK9 was released, pretty much any free time I would
have, it would be in Training Mode trying something that seemed like it would
never work, but I knew I could get something out of it. Now, I spend more time
training than I do trying to discover combos, but that does not mean you will
not see combo videos from me anymore. I plan on doing many more combo videos in
the future.
Do you think you have
any sort of advantage over your opponents considering how educated you are in
the art of combos?
When it comes to a real match, you don’t
always see intricate or highly developed combos, but knowing what the
characters can and can’t do combo wise is definitely a plus. I feel like I can
usually tell when a combo is going to be dropped, and I try to take advantage
of that.
Have you ever considered some sort of combo
collaboration video with GamerBlake90?
Actually, yes, me and Blake have talked many
times about doing a combo video collaboration. Something like a Reptile/Sonya
collab video would be insane. To be honest, I think any time two combo artists
get together for a collab video is amazing. We have seen this with the TYMCP2
that I took part in a few months ago, and Tony-T and Check showed us amazing
stuff with their collab video also. All of us combo artists love what we do,
and we are all doing the same thing, so when 2 of us get together and make a
video, its always a great outcome.
Will you be continuing your combo videos when
‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’ releases next year?
As mentioned above, YES! I am very excited to
do combo videos for Injustice.
Is Injustice a game
that you are excited for? What specifically about the game has you interested?
I am indeed very excited for Injustice. What
has peaked my interest about this game, first and foremost is that it features
DC Universe characters. Growing up, I was a huge fan of DC and Marvel comics. I
even have tattoos of DC character logos like Green Lantern, Sinestro, Batman,
etc. I will always be a fan of these characters, even though I have not read the
comics since I was about 10 years old. Besides that, the game itself looks
amazing. The combo system has me very hyped to play it. The idea that NRS is
taking on an all DC 2d fighter…That is all I needed to hear and I was instantly
hooked.
How long have you
mained Reptile? What is it about the character that keeps you loyal?
I started off using Reptile in MK9 because he
has always been my favorite MK character. In MK1, my favorite was Sub Zero, but
as soon as I found out there was a green ninja at the bottom of The Pit that
you could fight, Reptile became my favorite. I was a kid, and already a huge
fan of Green Lantern and Green Arrow, so now there was a GREEN ninja in Mortal
Kombat. Instantly my favorite and has been ever since. Even if he was a terrible
character, I would still use him as at least a pocket character.
Do you believe you are
one of the top Reptile players in the Mortal Kombat community?
When you think of the phrase "Top Reptile
Player", the names that instantly come to mind are THTB, Showtime, Chris
G, etc. With that being said, if I am a "Top Reptile Player" or not
is not really something I can decide. It is to be decided by those I play
against. What I will say is, I don’t know any other Reptile who has beaten Pig
of the Hut once, much less twice in a tournament, or a Reptile that has beaten
Kevo at a tournament besides mine.
Let’s talk about MLG
Dallas, how are you feeling heading into the weekend?
I feel pretty good about it. As said above, I
have been training pretty hard, and am ready. I just wish the weekend was
already here, I am ready NOW!
What are some of your
goals that you would like to accomplish before the weekend is finished?
I want what anyone else wants. Top 8. I don’t
want to settle for anything less. I am not going to sit here with ego and say,
"Yeah I will be in Top 8 FOR SURE!". I definitely have that attitude
when it comes to my confidence, but there is no ego here. You don’t ever win
with ego. You win with hard training and confidence.
Would you label
yourself as ‘underrated’ going into MLG Dallas? What do you have say to anyone
who is writing you off as a potential threat?
I think I have been underrated for a while,
but it is understandable, I had not really been to any majors besides Final
Round when I went to MLG Raleigh, and any accomplishments I made by winning
local Battle & Brews were just shrugged off by some with the mind set of
"Yeah, he won, but that is just a local". By saying that, not only
are you underrating me, but you are underrating the Atlanta Mortal Kombat
scene, which has some of the greatest players I have ever played. I think it
surprised a lot of people when I got Top 16 at MLG Raleigh. Anyone who goes
into a match with me thinking it will be an easy win is going to regret it.
That is what Kevo did, and he got beat.
Is there anyone in
particular that you would like to get some games in with this weekend? Is there
anyone that you are eager to play in the tournament?
Honestly, there are SOOO many people I want to
get games in with. I want to finally play GamerBlake90 offline. I have known
this guy for almost 4 years and have never actually met the guy in person.
Besides him, it is too many people to name. Lets just say, I am down for money
matches and casuals ALL weekend with whoever wants to play. Also, I would love
to get casuals against Cat, just to see where I stand against his Kabal now. As
far as the tournament itself goes, I am ready for whoever I am put up against.
What do you think of
Madzin (Winner of the MLG Dallas Online Tournament hosted by Pig of the Hut)
coming to MLG Dallas all the way from Germany? Do you see him turning some
heads at MLG Dallas?
This guy is a beast. Coming all the from
Germany shows dedication. In the first online tournament, I was the only person
to even come close to beating him, and in the 2nd redo tournament, I put him in
losers bracket, and later eliminated him. In these matches, we both had to deal
with lag delay, so playing him offline will be great. There has been a lot of
speculation as to how Madzin will do at MLG Dallas, and to be honest, I think
he will cause some upsets for sure.
Are you planning on
attending any tournaments for Mortal Kombat after MLG Dallas? If so, which ones
would you like to attend?
I will be attending as many MK majors as
possible, but which ones I will be attending is yet to be seen. All I can say,
if I am able to be there, I WILL be there.
Do you think Mortal
Kombat has a legitimate chance of making the EVO 2013 lineup? If so, would you
make an effort to attend the tournament?
I really wanted to make it to EVO 2012, but my
business would not allow me to leave at the time. I hated not being able to go,
because I LOVE Vegas, and Mortal Kombat + Vegas would be a dream come true. I
really hope MK9 makes the EVO 2013 line up. If it does, I will do whatever I
can to make it.
Who do you foresee
making top 8 at MLG Dallas?
This is hard to say. We have so many beasts
coming to this tournament, predicting a Top 8 is tough. Names we could see in
Top 8 are Pig, CDjr, REO, Maxter, Showtime, Blake, PL, Cat…Too many people to
name. Expect to see some of the KH guys in Top 8, they are really showing out
in this tournament as far as numbers go. One thing I can say is Pig = 1st
Place.
It’s been great to
talk to you, is there anything that I did not mention in this interview that
you would like to? Any final words of hype or shout-outs?
I think you covered pretty much everything.
Shout outs to all of ATL MK crew, you guys are the reason this game is so hype
to me. Big thanks to you CRUM! Your interviews are always a pleasure to read,
and I thank you taking the time interview me. Final words…Watch out Dallas, I
am playing to WIN.
Thanks for the time
Tyler, I wish you the best of luck at MLG Dallas and I hope to speak with you
again in the future.
Follow me on Twitter @NRC_CRUM for more interviews and coverage of MLG Dallas.
Video credit to to TSTLP2 on YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment