The Most Complicated Fighting Game Match I've Ever Commentated

streamed Mar. 25, 2024
Footage via Arc System Works:
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#FGC #Sajam #GGST #GuiltyGear

[@brad_soup]

As someone who has tried playing Asuka, it can't be overstated how hard it is to keep track of all this stuff *while also playing a fighting game*

[@matrix3509]

An MMA match but they are also playing Yugioh at the same time.

[@P0rk_Sinigang]

​@@matrix3509Someone get Ludwig on this.

[@carbide4458]

​@@matrix3509"You activated my trap card, SPIDER LOCK"

[@goose-gz2ik]

He’s not as difficult as Jack’O though

[@brad_soup]

@@goose-gz2ik Hard disagree

[@DoggyP00]

Asuka doing a 5 minute block string only to end up with less health than his opponent at the end of it is the weirdest thing as a viewer

[@shl6367]

Av Belial moment

[@hideharu-xiii8852]

Yeah this is literally Av Belial on a daily basis. Strangely enough, Carmine actually rarely has this happen in my viewing experience

[@imtx_xmti]

@@hideharu-xiii8852because he has insane mix and very high damage, so if you can get just one or two openings the opponent is just dead

[@Azmodeus87]

Mana draught, it kills even the best players.

[@MimebladeGMail]

This is why I prefer to drain my Tension over my Health. Positive Bonus can always get back that loss... Life loss can't come back.

[@TheAmberFang]

13:11 Sajam explaining this brought me back to bullshit being explained in early Yugioh: Giant Soldier of Stone stabbing the moon type of shit. I play this staff card and equip it to your Monster, and it manipulates gravity so that all of my cubes hit your lifepoints directly!

[@GrayD_Fox]

Then I pull pot of greed to gain 2 additional cards

[@forestskilbred9461]

Brilliant analysis, such a cool breakdown of this character. it's almost like it's going for a record for most in depth fighting game mechanic.

[@frankpennachio2901]

Just imaging trying to commentate that mirror match is melting my brain. I fully understood what you were explaining but in real time, it happens SO fucking fast! lol. Good stuff man. I couldn't do that shit.

[@blargh559]

5 minutes in to the video and I'm reminded why I'm more of a funny dolphin anchor go bonk kinda guy

[@arisonaicedout4357]

I was so happy we got that match - it's what I wanted since the character debuted. You did great navigating us through the madness!

[@lockheartmac]

This look so fucking cool, they way he plays sounds hard AF but so interesting.

[@kyunana2095]

We gotta have some eye trackers. Them eyes just gonna be scribbling across the screen.

[@BIZEB]

It feels like they are playing a legitimately different game.

[@andyboots_acta7838]

Ringe…you’re always amazing, but Ringe really impressed me with how well he kept up with you. Well done, boys

[@blazaybla22]

I feel like if they buffed the other decks I could easily watch a whole tournament of just Asuka vs Asuka. He’s not even the only GG character I feel this way about; it feels like ArcSys has transcended the concept of gimmick characters to create characters that - in this instance, literally - are just playing their own game. Like, you spend all this time learning all the static intricacies of a fighting game and then still wind up having to factor in RNG to almost the same extent as competitive Hearthstone or whatever - that’s crazy to me.

[@zeiphie]

This Asuka mirror makes me wish Arcsys would guess character their other notorious mage into Strive. I wanna see Asuka vs Nine... That shit would look WILD.

[@SonicKurosaki]

I can't believe the most complicated match you've ever commentated is a mirror match of the most complicated character in any fighting game

[@notimeforcreativenamesjust3034]

I wouldn't say *any* fighting game tbh

[@Mr.Faust3]

this mirror is utter chaos peppery splash would rather get zoned out then do asuka mirrors

[@21striver38]

Shadow wizard money gang

[@brycemiller831]

How do you even lab this character?

[@kaiyohte2033]

You know the character is wack when I had to stop watching mid-tourney to go watch a tutorial on what the hell this character does just to understand what's happening on-screen

[@ryukiiko]

I dont know whats going on but youre a nerd and im pretty sure im in love with you; whatever you say beautifully

[@arbyw.1889]

There's something truly inspired about putting one of the most complicated fighting game characters ever made into the "simplified" Guilty Gear.

[@Budzabit]

Can *imagine* asuka in xrd? Would be a dictionary list of moves

[@percocetthirty]

strive players deluding theirselves into thinking asuka is one of the most complicated fg characters now

[@arbyw.1889]

@@percocetthirty lol

[@DrGamersEmporium]

​@@percocetthirtynot interested in arguing but what are some more complicated ones, so I can look up match footage to enjoi

[@Sorrelhas]

​@@DrGamersEmporiumI guess Menat VT2, Carl from Blazblue and characters from older games where the difficulty doesn't come from the character's kit, but from some bs glitch in the engine or whatever

[@TenchiKinjin]

I can't even imagine playing this character. My smooth brain would break trying to quickly figure out my cards and the correct play with them. Imagine you're trying to sacrifice 2 creatures for your Blue Eyes White Dragon and set Trap Hole but Gio just fuckin kicks you in the face.

[@Iwatoda_Dorm]

Probably one of the more knowledge check characters. You can get into the flow of loading, reloading if you give it time but where the _fun_ part comes in is trying to create a consistent flow with auto bookmark while also creating pressure all the while managing your cards.

[@eduardoserpa1682]

Deck 1 cards are almost interchangeable, so it gives you a pretty smooth ramp up towards Decks 2 and then 3, if you're willing to wait. He's insanely well-designed.

[@Flubbadon]

@@eduardoserpa1682 literally played Magic the Gathering, ramping up to play bigger cards, it’s wild.

[@Inojin67]

If the UI for his cards wasn't so goddamned tiny I'd give him a try (yeah you can rescale the UI, but tournaments won't let you do that)

[@syrelian]

@@Inojin67 Pre'sure most tournaments will actually let you ask for UI adjustments for accessibility

[@mad-dash6448]

So Asuka literally plays Yugioh 1. Health is a resource and the only LP that matters is the last one 2. He bricks

[@DuwoYGO]

yugioh mentioned. POG

[@plabcentral630]

But which move is access code talker and when is he branded?

[@mad-dash6448]

@@plabcentral630 you use staff and red orb wave as link material to create him

[@shucklecopter8271]

​@@plabcentral630none/never, asuka is clearly playing punk: -pays lp -best starter is emergency teleport -deck thins for constant generic draws -loses if going second :c

[@plabcentral630]

@@shucklecopter8271 is the end board pep + de fleur

[@idonthaveaname7769]

It might be easier to become a real wizard than it is to learn asuka

[@autumnwitchmaple]

as a real wizard, I'm kind of 50/50 on it. Learning to do magick in real life is not precisely complex, but it is not easy, either. Takes a lot of time and effort. Much like learning asuka, I guess.

[@monk3110]

@@autumnwitchmaplehow did you figure out that throwing bat guano and sulfur makes a fireball? (Sorry this a deep dungeons and dragons reference that’s always been kind of funny to me 😊)

[@autumnwitchmaple]

@@monk3110 you kind of half-discover, and half-decide. What do bat guano and sulfur *represent* in the mind of the caster? How does it relate to a fireball? What is the gathering of these ingredients in devotion to? What did it mean to the first wizard who wrote it down? What symbolism comes together to become so powerful it bends reality? The answer will be different for every wizard. For most, the answer will be: because some wizard 500 or 5,000 years ago thought it made sense, wrote it down, and thats all that survived the interim. For those wizards 5,000 years ago, with no books? Its just because it was what made the most sense in the moment they wrote the spell. Hope this helps!

[@Kibotsu.squiggle]

If I were playing Asuka I would simply side deck Ash Blossom just in case I have to play the mirror.

[@zanpakutoman4225]

Ash Blossom gets baited with the guard crush. Now take this big cube and eat this mix.

[@TheDeahon]

@@zanpakutoman4225I’d had my called by the grave the grave

[@FlyXcur]

It's a mirror you know exactly what's in their deck therefore Crossout Designator is mandatory

[@igkewg]

Gotta get that droll with that much cards draw

[@UncleMerlin]

​@@igkewg TD Colossus has been unbanned

[@Christian_Crab]

Can you believe auto import time used to be 10 seconds and auto mana regen uses to last 15 seconds and cubes used to be way faster with smaller hurtboxes? Crazy times.

[@Zedzilliot]

Those were the days

[@blueeggs]

Tp

[@Christian_Crab]

@@blueeggs true!

[@luciddre4m]

3:44 "The cool thing about this character is that he has a lot of win conditions where you see him winning really hard, but he also has conditions where his hand is legit terrible and he just dies." ArcSys totally nailed the experience of playing a card game.

[@monk3110]

As all things should be. Characters with strong tools should have potent weaknesses

[@Ketania]

I have a thousand hours in this game and I felt smoke coming out of my head watching this live, Like I know how this character works pretty well but it's legit exhausting trying to keep up on 2 asukas at the same time, also I was so happy to see you commentate strive again it's by far my favorite FG and I love hearing you on the mic, this event was so god damn good, really hope for more to come for strive

[@alyosha2220]

at 20:20 Zando did a play here. He deliberately ran into the cubes, so that Gobou gains the least amount of burst as possible. This led to a huge combo next round.

[@hideharu-xiii8852]

The insane thing about Asuka is that it’s shockingly not the amount of cards to memorize that’s the hardest part, but it’s the fact you got to look and analyze what you got on the fly in a game where your health can get taken to the back of a shed with a shotgun. I’d love to meet Gobou and Zando to see how their minds work.

[@BlinJe]

I have switched to asuka.. I lose 20 matches to 1 vs my pals now 😂

[@VerbalLearning]

I know the general fighting game audience tends to hate or dislike zoners and therefore by extension Asuka but i personally find him really entertaining to watch just because he plays like a Marvel 3 team by himself when he gets going and the opponent barely gets to play if at all. The sheer amount of BS he puts on the screen just makes me laugh. I think it's the audacity of it all.

[@bustoo]

I hate zoners but for some reason Asuka feels different. Maybe because he actually needs a second to get going, or that you can hit the cubes. And you actually have to think to play him. Not like majority of other zoners that throw out attacks over and over and react to jump ins.

[@anghainguyen9951]

​@@bustoo well Guilty gear zoner are just rushdown in disguise. The momment they get a hit comfirm the gona jump in you face and stat do mix up...

[@xzalldon2475]

I can't believe that they put a Touhou Hisoutensoku character in Guilty Gear Strive in the first place.

[@finnmarr-heenan2397]

Why they did it with Phoenix in mvc3, morrigan in umvc3 , all the nu models in blazblue.

[@mrpaniniqc]

soku mentionned lets gooo

[@xzalldon2475]

​@finnmarr-heenan2397 I am more so talking about the touhou fighting game than the franchise itself. Asuka has very similar mechanics compared to that game like: - Deck Manipulation = Spellcard/Deck Building - Mana = Spirit Orbs All he needs is to be able to fly and dash through projectiles at the cost of Mana to basically be a third-party character

[@ursmarrings27]

For the hypothetical Jump Versus game by ArcSys, I’m very glad they got the idea down for how to execute a literal Yu-Gi-Oh character to play.

[@alterreb4775]

He's literally the perfect blueprint for universal mechanics in a Yugioh fighting game, it's not even a joke

[@joshireyn]

That asuka mirror was fire, but my favourite moment was in the pepperysplash vs apologyman match. When you said he needs to bait an anti air or whiff punish, and then he did just that, it was insane.

[@android19willpwn]

most authentic wizard dual you'll ever find in gaming outside of Magicka. Such a wild character. Also I like that round where Gobou was dominating basically the entire time and won with 1 HP left because he just kept chewing through it for mana.

[@user-et3xn2jm1u]

See if I was commentating this match I woulda said "One of these players is winning... they both played a card!... oooh but they might run out of mana, who's going to get the cube? It looks like one Asuka's life is lower -- nope, the other is lower now, he must have drained it somehow, but don't worry he's still blue" and so on.

[@Chaos2Frozen]

"He manipulates the gravity of the cubes." bruh

[@UselessBot]

that is what he does

[@walkingglasses6264]

THE GRAVITY 🗣️🗣️🔥

[@megatenshi]

I love that despite having an absurd ceiling and rediculous complexity to master, Asuka is also really well designed to be pretty player-friendly. His inputs are quick and snappy, everything is organized well, and the card images are pretty well designed to at least tell you their general use at a glance(ie cubes, teleports, buffs, etc are all distinct, even if identifying a specific card takes a moment.) Not my kind of character, but I think he was really well done, and it was sad that his launch got a bit overshadowed at the time.

[@cycy8699]

overshadowed by wut?

[@acaracaraorange7685]

​@@cycy8699probably Street Fighter 6 releasing

[@MenaceLendil]

Yeah i tried him a bit and he was suprisingly playable. Having the shortcuts helps a lot. Not easy to be good at, but throwing some cubes at friends isn't that hard.

[@Ukyoprime]

You will never convince me that this Asuka design isn't an escaped BlazBlue character.

[@axis8396]

It's a lot like 9 with the spell combinations but they said "but what if card game, and multiple decks, and a resource?" Definitely a character that wouldn't be too far out of place in BB tbh

[@YouCanCallMeIz]

I know the Nine comparison is obvious, but I think he's moreso along the lines of Mu where you have to be doing way more set-up than anyone else at any given time for slightly more/less reward depending on who you're fighting.

[@Ukyoprime]

The difference in my mind between GG and BB is that GG places the emphasis on global mechanics, and characters tend to have 0-1 extra UI elements worth of gimmicks. BB places its emphasis on each character being their own whole-ass minigame unique to them, with 1-3 special UI elements. Asuka is hardcore in the latter camp, WAY more so than any other character in Strive.

[@Voicelet]

I can see why Gobou thinks Asuka is the best character. Asuka's ceiling is so high that he surpasses even the S tier, but to get there you'd have to be at Gobou's or Zando's level plus more (imo, utilizing all decks and card counting to capitalize on the situation.) But until some amazing prodigy shows up, that height won't be reached, and consistency will win most of the time.

[@DRaGZ141]

I didn't understand until you said Exodia, now I understand the full heart of their cards.

[@yaboy804]

I’ll just keep playing Ky thanks lmao

[@alexandersze49]

We are blessed by such a talented fg commentator to be able to give in-depth matchup/character/player analysis on a wide variety of games. And entertaining to watch, I think that’s the true top tier

[@Hac-dieu]

Asuka is a guy in MMA fight with a duel disc strapped to his arm.

[@GrayD_Fox]

How the hell did the creators come up with this system and get it to work

[@AJAlkaline]

Wizard fighting against an evenly matched Asuka is probably my favorite experience in fighting games.

[@quarterscarlet]

I’m surprised how much u were able to catch, Sajam, whenever an asuka was on play. The fact u were able to see players skipping auto draw and mana regen by accident for a split second during mulligan was crazy.

[@leemcgee5164]

New season of Yu-Gi-Oh looks tight

[@nkirmath8621]

Playing asuka has to be one of the most stressful things I ever decided to do, I used to play mtg with friends when I was younger so when asuka dropped I couldn't help but feel like he's like a card type from that tcg series and was immediately motivated to learn him.

[@latch_official]

this matchup is so funny when im potemkin because rocket pack jump goes through cubes the entire time its active

[@SaltiestSalem]

It can get exhausting playing Asuka because of how much time I spend just watching my hand rather than focusing on what's going on lol

[@edavidbruce]

My tekken-pilled brain itched when he said “Asuka” and “complicated” within two sentences.

[@Kool212]

Complicated doesn't mean hardest to play.

[@jahimalnar7978]

My KoF brain fritzes every time I hear "King" and "Grappler" referring to the same character

[@Mene0]

@Kool212 I think he means that Asuka in Tekken isn't complicated.

[@PsychicJaguar19]

Tekken being a hard game doesn't invalidate the difficulty of other characters/games.

[@sosman747]

@@PsychicJaguar19 You didn't understand a thing he said lmao

[@FortunePayback]

I wanted to play this character when he came out so much...and then I booted him up in practice. Couldn't figure him out, went to watch the breakdown video so to learn, and I just stopped there. This character is crazy and I give mad respect to anyone who put in the work to play him. I love this game and have a ton of fun, but I just don't have the time to learn everything about Askua's mechanics, let alone get good at it.

[@jeremiahsayainprophet678]

Shadow Wizard Money Gang “We love casting spells…”

[@nkirmath8621]

Gobou just believes in the heart of the cards

[@megapussi]

"So like your best cards are the ones that give you free mana and give you free draw" oh so its like every card game to have ever existed, I get it

[@eduardoserpa1682]

This whole tournament was a treat, but seeing my character played at this level always gets me so hyped.

[@leekotvfilms5236]

It’s like you playing rock paper scissors with yourself While you’re in the middle of a fight with another person And yall both on acid😂

[@fortidogi8620]

every round start in this set is a comedy sketch i s2g

[@like17badgers]

I know Yugioh claims to be the fighting game of card games... but these guys are out here playing some Magic some down dirty, Canadian Highlander, I've got like 100 cards and my win condition is to draw a bunch and end the game with my two card combo.

[@dewpliss]

this match was so cool to watch

[@therealgunksucker]

asuka main here commenting that there is a rebel contingent of hipster deck 2 users who try and focus on stagger pressure and mixups and honestly it works almost as well

[@therealgunksucker]

thank you so much also for explaining this character in sort of an "outsider's perspective here's-why-he's-so-cool" type of way instead of a didactic guide way or a maldful tier list video way

[@eduardoserpa1682]

Good usage of decks 1 and 2 might be the key to endure long tournaments with Asuka. You need a lot less awareness and execution to navigate those hands just from how interchangeable most cards are, and they still give you Sol levels of frame advantage to work with. And then you bring out deck 3 against people that are hard to open up.

[@acaracaraorange7685]

I picked him up recently & was hoping this was the case since he clearly has a lot of flexibility

[@therealgunksucker]

@@eduardoserpa1682yeah the main benefit is that all of the overhead and low spells are good in neutral because you can't break them which really gives stability to his worst matchups like sin and testament

[@BudewFan_]

I love the idea of a group of dark evil fucked up wizards who just teleport around and punch you in the face rather than throwing cubes

[@fezthedracky8468]

Watching the PepperySlash vs Zando match made me hate Asuka, I saw him just playing a shit ton of cubes and that was really all I could see to it. This video has opened my eyes to how insanely fast Zando actually was that set, mad respect for anyone who plays this char competently

[@Milos.33]

Amazing thumbnail lmao

[@SkewtLilbttm]

With this guy's insanely good card capabilities I'm surprised Tom Cruise hasn't kidnapped him and made a break for Vegas those sweet, sweet stacks o' cash.

[@somethinganything9170]

I wish Asukas decks were more balanced and/or that each had one of the special cards (autorefill, mana regen, gravity staff) so that his gameplay wasn't so linear and they had to adjust their decks depending on the situation

[@jellophant9716]

I feel like no matter what people will always "metadeck". Users make the character linear, and asuka already has so many options.

[@collin9871]

two wizzards scraping through the dirt and mud, coolest ditto of all time bar NONEEEE

[@minhly7814]

0:07 He was about to title drop not even 10 seconds into the vid

[@stevedaguy9639]

This character has the vibe of a man who dreams of hosting a podcast on the moon

[@gomelo6787]

People told me to start playing strive with simpler characters like Sol or Ky to learn the fundamentals I started this game with Asuka...

[@bustoo]

I wonder if they are paying attention to both the decks or just their own. I know when i play i think i have good awareness and even vs someone like nago i stop paying attention to their meter. Cant fathom being aware of both decks and the enemy at the sametime.

[@Rose-85]

feels so weird learning about this character as a yugioh player

[@DANCERcow]

Bro got a taste of what commentating a Yu-Gi-Oh match is like lol

[@BaronSterling]

Now I know I may get some flak for saying Asuka needs buffs, but I would genuinely like to see his Test Case 2 buffed specifically, just so that we can see some more variety in playstyles in his playerbase. As it is, TC2's card and mana management spells are just outright awful and drag the entire deck down into being unviable - in contrast to TC3 where the management cards are the best cards across all 3 decks. I'd start by making Instant Mana Recovery not consume the rest of your hand for more mana - just have it give a consistent amount of mana without the unnecessary and cripling downside of annihilating your other major resource.

[@SurgingStormGG]

Watching sajam analysis on his commentary for this makes me want to play the game and commentate it again.

[@AchedSphinx]

this was the match up i was looking forward to in the group stages. it's unfortunate we didn't get more of it for top 8. asuka vs asuka is insane and great job commentating it.

[@unconsistentone5385]

dude this character is literally Yugioh, you practice by playing test hands like combos in Yugioh. and much like Yugioh you can create an extremely 1 sided 1 turn non-interaction based on ur combos and kill the opponent but then you could also brick

[@Scuddi]

asuka plays phantom dust.

[@basalt8151]

I wish anybody else I know plays phantom dust

[@calfriedman6981]

13:05 this bit is sick. some real anime/wizard/anime wizard shit

[@respectfulremastersbymetal8336]

Literally none of this made any sort of sense to me. I guess I'm officially old. *Cries in 90s fighters

[@tripexplosion5763]

this is what MTG players imagine when they play

[@Em_484]

jp haters are not ready for this one

[@Regis_Philbin]

You are such a pro its actually insane, this was a treat to watch

[@cycy8699]

asuka's only intended matchup was versus himself

[@SpicyChedderJack]

I feel like that one video of danny devito going "I get it now" after hearing this explanation of Asuka

[@GrayD_Fox]

I Wonder if he meant to wall break to get the positive meter gain to redo his hand but Zando was too fast to attack

[@alangator4744]

I had a hard time playing Hero in Smash Ultimate. My brain can’t even imagine how much it would fry if I ever tried to play Asuka

[@aceDOZA]

Instructions unclear. Picks Sol Bad guy to unga instead

[@twixtwix2915]

Sandi really had to wait is turn…the yugioh influence is heavy 😂

[@AAAAnca]

Play Yu Gi Oh but both players take turns at the same time

[@abrittishpanfish6269]

This autoplayed when I wasn't looking and thought this was gonna be a tekken clip

[@absolute0pygmy]

I always enjoy playing against Asuka, I onetrick I-No and it's a been a fairly even matchup for me on F10. But you really do see a lot of player expression with his kit, so on top of that it's a unique experience every time. Watching this mirror is just eye opening and explains a lot of what happens in these games :D

[@ThatLuckyBear]

I believe you that you understand what's happening on screen but I'm trying my best and I have no idea what's happening.

[@connerallen934]

man this mirror is so interesting it makes me think that the mirror match would be good as the game on it's own and if there were GGST Asuka only tourneys I think that would still be an interesting and fun game / meta. Also makes me think of some developer making a full fighting game based off this kind of character. Like the roster is all different kinds of decks you choose to play with. Lots of potential here

[@yupjuliansje]

My friend was like "hey i got asuka, wanna play" i was like, sure at least it isn't happy chaos. Out of 20 matches i got 1 win, 15 of them i died due to chip damage, and 4 of them were actual wins. I do not want to play the game when i actually have to play a different game when the opponent is asuka

[@lucasthehuman]

That was such a nice breakdown of the match. I barely have any experience with Asuka, but your explanations made ao much sense, and also made the match really exciting to watch.

[@monk3110]

I was worried that one test case would just be the good one. I just got the game yesterday after playing at my brothers just to play asuka but I am pretty versed in fighting games and so far I think case test 2 has a place in set play for someone you just can’t keep off you. His squares can be swatted by normals and very big normals can snipe through while he’s spelling 😊

[@conradmurraytv]

most asukas refer to auto-import + regen as the exodia combo lol

[@Christian_Crab]

6:38 cubestun

[@hollowknight4630]

I played asuka before I kinda quit strive and I’ll stand by that he’s one of the coolest characters in any fighting game…but it does suck that he’s super cheap. As well I understand the mechanics of this character unlike a lot of people and I still struggled to follow this set absolutely amazing

[@oliviawallace3636]

JOHN SILVER AS ASUKA ITS PEAK