“Momentum:” How Mental Strength Decided CEO 2023's Guilty Gear Strive Grand Finals
As a fan of the Fighting game Community (FGC), but certainly not a member, I speak for the casuals watching that mechanical skill and execution is the main trait of pro play that’s focused on by viewers. When I watch someone like Diago or SonicFox, the main difference I see between them and me is just how fast and accurate their inputs are. Even if you give me an hour in training mode, I’m lucky if I can land a 10-hit combo, so professional fighting game players have always looked as far removed from me in the game as LeBron James’ on the court. The reason I bring up James here is because he, and other “traditional” athletes, are a good demonstration that FGC players need to have more than just the physical coordination and muscle memory to succeed: they need to have their mental game be just as polished and competitive as their gameplay. It’s the mental game that I want to focus on today, because CEO 2023 (one of the biggest FGC events of the year) just ended this Sunday and it showcased more than 2,000 players across more than a dozen titles. Across the weekend, there are plenty of examples where the mental strength of one player overpowered another, but I can’t think of a better example to highlight just HOW IMPORTANT this trait is to winning than the Grand Finals of Guilty Gear Strive (GGS). I knew I would be writing this article after the first match ended, because of ONE moment that I caught, knowing it was going to be my favorite moment of the entire weekend.
“Momentum” is a term that gets thrown out a lot by commentary during FGC streams, the idea that when a player gets in the groove and starts firing at 100%, they can’t be stopped. Hearing momentum pushed for years as an important element of the game, however, doesn’t mean that it always translates to something we can pick up from home. This GGS Grand Finals from Sunday, that was a great example of how momentum works in practice. Let’s talk about TNS MFCR for a moment. Coming out of Winner’s Finals, MFCR was looking good. Real good. A local player with crowd support, he hadn't lost a single game during his Top 8 run, which by itself is already crazy enough to be worth writing on, and was in a dominant position going into Grand Finals. This was clearly the person to beat to win this tournament…until he had to wait about half an hour for said finals to start. While he had the advantage of having no losses going into finals, he had to sit around as Loser’s Semifinals and the Loser’s Finals went on before he got to play again. So here’s MFCR, a young man playing at his best, who now has to try and relax and not burn himself out, while not letting that momentum he’s built go away. A tough juggling act for anyone, but especially someone at the top of one of the year's biggest tournaments.
During MFCR’s mental juggling off-stage, on stream we get to see the hero of our story today: Eddventure, an unsponsored player with significantly less pro experience than most of the rest of Top 8, was starting the day on the loser’s side. Edd kept fighting, however, and while MFCR was in the back, he managed to win Loser’s Semifinals and won the Loser’s Finals with a strong 3-0. Proxy, one of the commentators for the event, noted how Eddventure had actually been improving in each set of Top 8, going from a 3-2 win to start the day to that 3-0 in Loser’s Finals. Proxy even said “when a snowball like that starts to roll…it’s hard to stop,” but you could still tell they were talking about him as the underdog going in. Bringing his own momentum to this Grand Finals, Edd looked hype as Hell to be on that stage, and it was hard to not want to cheer for the guy just because of the enthusiasm bleeding out of him.
Going into the match, all commentary could talk about was the momentum on the side of MFCR, how he hadn’t lost a single game that day, how unstoppable he looked. Game 1 was a sweaty-looking set, going to a round 3 with all of them being close; but one consistently was that whenever the camera cut to the players, MFCR looked calm and composed while Edd looked excited, smiling with his head bobbing up and down. Then came the ending, one of those situations where both guys could’ve won the game about five different times. A hit away from death in the final round, Eddventure was able to make a comeback no one expected, with commentary calling it “highway robbery.” As the camera cut back to the players themselves, you saw Edd even happier and bouncier than before. MFCR, on the other hand, looked obviously upset, shaking his head in confusion. This is where the mental aspect of being a competitor is so important, especially after games like that where a freak accident decides the winner because of how much they can affect your headspace. Both men had the same reaction of “I can’t believe that just happened,” but in two totally different ways, with Edd getting fired up and MFCR losing a bit of his confidence.
It was that exact moment, the faces of the two players, where I said out loud (because I’m weird and do commentary while watching FGC events alone), “This guy is either about to get mad and bounce back, or Eddventure is gonna carry this.” Game 2 was a lightning-quick 2-0 for Edd, followed up by winning Game 3 for the reset. Now Eddventure has won 6 straight games in the last 20 minutes, and MFCR has gone from undefeated on the winner’s side to being on the wrong end of an 0-3. Worse than that, you could see the fight was already drained out of MFCR. Commentary even noted as the second set began that he couldn’t stop shaking his head in disbelief. “He plays his best when he’s playing confidently, he feels like he’s on the ropes,” was the line we heard as Game 4 began, with comparisons to how excited and energetic Edd’s body language was. The rest of Grand Finals followed this trend, with MFCR fighting back but never being able to get his momentum back against, and Eddventure decisively win the tournament, 6-0 against his formerly unbeatable opponent. All together, both sets were some of the fastest we saw in all of GGS Top 8. The closing moments of the match told the same story as the video game itself, with Edd throwing himself around the ring in celebration while MFCR quickly and quietly left the stage as fast as he could.
Momentum, letting your positive energy and your win-streak continue, having the confidence to keep playing your best round after round. CEO 2023, Both players walked into the Grand Finals for Guilty Gear Strive, but then we all saw a textbook example of why being a top-level competitor isn’t just about coordination and physical execution. No, on Sunday, we saw that it was the mental strength of Eddventure that let him come out ahead, while MFCR let his energy fade after a tough, close loss in Game 1. So for all my fellow FGC n00bs out there, the next time you watch a tournament, pay attention to the players themselves, the facial expressions and how they react between rounds. It can be difficult for casual viewers to see the specific option-selects or how certain buttons beat others, but anyone watching on Twitch can notice when one player is smiling after a win as the other shakes their head sadly. And the next time you hear commentary talk about “momentum,” pay attention. It might be what decides the winner of the next Grand Finals.
A huge congratulations to Eddventure, MFCR, and everyone else who played at CEO this last weekend. And a big thank you to everyone reading this. Do you have a great story where a set was won from the mental game and not the gameplay? Do me a favor and tell me all about it in the comments below.
