I am pretty hype that PR Balrog just tweeted KI will be his main game besides SFV in 2016. So who else already jumped the train?
Tokido
JWong (he said the chance for him to play KI at EVO are 75%)
What do you think?
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I think this is pretty great, with some minor caveats.
The great stuff:
- Having these career pro fighting game players picking up KI means they’ll bring their talent and experience to bear on developing competitive play, which (together with those who have already been playing the game) means the game gets blown further open in less time, and everyone else playing the game is incentivized to lift their game, too. This means not only do we stand to learn some cool stuff we can lab up and apply in our own play, but high-level tournament matches stand to get deeper, more interesting and more clutch, too.
- These guys have followings. Them getting into the game is going to encourage a bunch of players (nfi how many) to give it a shot, catch streams and generally engage with the community. Who knows, maybe we’ll get another @Infilament out of this?
- More people playing KI is just awesome in its own right.
Caveats:
- Talk of pro players picking up a game tends to be followed by a lot of ■■■■-talking about how they’re going to stomp the existing competitive scene, or how they’re going to get their asses beat because this is our game and we’re self-conscious like that, or just general obsessive goss about what is still just some talented dudes who want to play a video game and do well for themselves. Casual ■■■■-talking can be fun, but don’t be ■■■■■■■■, k guys?
- That said, I hope these players have had some lead-time with season 2 before jumping into season 3 with plans of making a run at Evo. KI is a matchup-intensive game with a highly diverse roster, and it didn’t seem like the announcement of the community fund last year came soon enough for any FGC pros on the outside to prepare since the top 16 at Evo were pretty much people who were already competing in KI beforehand. This seems like it should be less of a problem this year, though, since the signs that things were going to happen with KI this year were around long in advance.
But yeah, it’s awesome to hear the game is being played by more pros.
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The more the merrier, this is always good for the game and community: more players, more sponsors and so on. Maybe next EVO, it’ll be a Sunday main stage game. However, I think that just jumping into KI right now isn’t going to be easy. The game’s changed so much since JWong’s S1 showing that I don’t think they can dethrone Rico, Sleep and all the top 8 caliber players who’ve been playing all along. At least not this year.
Well, I’m glad that PR Balrog is coming back! Nice to see pros comeback after a hiatus. Hopefully more people play this so KI can be stacked for EVO one day!
Season 3 is going to be a lot of fun, and it’s nice to see they’re coming along for the ride 
The real pros are on this board. My heroes!
Aww. Thanks! 
If we ever meet, the handshake will shake the heavens!
What will happen if Bojima & I handshake each other:
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I’m excited to see PR Balrog jump back in. His Orchid was really good when he was playing S1 KI.
Edit: Also JWong is my favorite FGC streamer. I’d be curious if he goes to another character other than Wulf. It seems that Kim Wu may be an ideal character for his play style.
My impression is that PR Balrog got into a rut and overextended himself in 2014. He claimed that competing in too many different games brought him undone. He seemed to chill out a lot in 2015 when he refocused on USFIV, and the payoff was a top 8 placing at Evo.
No idea how two games is going to go for him this year. I’d tend to believe that it isn’t strictly true that multiple games brings a player undone, but we’ll see how it turns out for him in a few months I guess.
Oh, I remember him making a few unflattering comments that made me think, “oh, no wonder you didn’t do so hot in KI, I guess.” Things like doing DPs all the time being okay because you can just combo break the punish if you’re wrong, which would then translate over to become a bad habit in SFIV – when even in season 1 the expected punish was probably up above 25% for having your DP baited.
But there’s no use holding the dude to his ■■■■-talking. Sometimes people go away, find out what it is in them that’s making them underperform and ■■■■on everything, and then come back with a positive attitude and make some good changes. That’s what I want to see, even of those people I lynch on these forums for persisting with far more heinous bullshit.
Hes a fighting game pro not a celebrity as such. The likes of Maximilian i guess can be labelled as such but MOST pros only pickup a game to make money from it (or consider if they will or not). Few fans really pick up a game just because there fave player does.
Either way its good to see Season 3 bringing back players to the game, hope a few stick around to play it at EVO.