Hi guys, our guests for Episode 25 of the Don’t be a Scrub Podcast are none other than the recently formed Team Drop Bears, consisting of ToXy, Somniac (Xavier Nardella) and Carnage (Hakan Dorter). All three guys have been top players in the Melbourne scene for a long time, and now that they have joined forces they have really been doing well in the Melbourne tournament results in the last few weeks. I wanted to do a really quick pre-BAM interview to talk about the event, and I figured since Xavier is the reigning BAM champion for AE, Mike also being a former BAM champ having won Marvel two years ago and H being the runner-up for the very first BAM that the trio would be great guests for a short pre-BAM special (Well 30 minutes being quite short by the usual DBAS standards).

My co-host this episode is none other than Jesus Gabneto Ferrada, much thanks to Gab, and also much thanks to H (Carnage) for some great comedy pictures. We talk about the forming of Team Drop Bears, predictions and training for BAM, and we also discuss fighting games and the FGC in general. I hope you guys enjoy the episode and I also hope I see you guys at BAM. I’ll be running around doing stuff as usual, come say hi anytime.

Please visit the BAM page, or like the CouchWarriors Facebook page for updates, announcements and more. And remember pre-registration for BAM closes in 5 days!

You can find Toxy at @DB_Toxy, Carnage at DB_Carnage and at his Facebook page. You can find Somniac at @DB_Somniac and his Facebook page. Also, you can show some support to their team by visiting the Team Drop Bears page.

Don’t be a Scrub Podcast Episode 25: Team Drop Bears pre-BAM quickie

For Direct Download, right click this link above and “save as”

As always you can listen to the podcast above, or simply read the transcript below. Or you can do both simultaneously, like reading a narrated e-book.

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Don’t be a Scrub Podcast Episode 25: Team Drop Bears pre-BAM quickie!

ToXy: Is there any Sagat talk?

Gab: There is.

T: (Laughs.)

Muttons: There is one…

Carnage: It’s banned!

T: (Laughs!)

C: You sure you have enough memory for that?!

(Everyone laughs.)

M: Okay.

1: So Team Drop Bears. How were you guys formed?

C….Mike?

Somniac: Mike?

T: Um, I was sponsored by Drop Bear and then Nathan came up to me, the owner of Drop Bear and he asked me to recommend two players and I recommended these guys. So. They’re good players…

C: Yeah at OHN, Mike just started to introduce us to Nathan. Me and Somniac just started chatting to him. And we sounded um…

We liked what he had to offer and he was real enthusiastic about getting into the fighting game community.

M: Right, right.

S: I also made sure to ask his expectations of us.

M: And what did he say?

S: Ah, the content that we wanted to put out? Well he wants us to be very content driven. So once we get our streaming gear we can start putting out some media.

M: So he’s more concerned about the content you put out rather than results or anything like that.

C: Yup, yup.

S: That’s not really how sponsors get noticed, not tournament results.

G: With this sponsorship stuff that ties in with your twitter activity as well yeah?

S: Yes.

G: You’re fairly active on it and report on the results…

S: I was active before that though.

G: But now you’re reporting on Drop Bear results and the latest and that. Which is good!

S: Yeah. I had the Facebook page a while ago, but I wasn’t officially sponsored. But then a few people noticed- and they made their own Facebook pages.

M: (Laughs.)

S: Heh. Yeaah.

M: So who has the most likes on their Facebook page? Who’s the champion?

C: Somniac!

M: Somniac? Okay.

C: He makes the best comedy photos. (Laughs.)

S&M: (Laughs.)

C: He reports more scores hahaha.

S: (Laughs.)

M: So what are your individual roles in the team? So Mike is to win, Xavier is to come up with theory…

S, T. C: What?!? (Laughs.)

M: And H is to come up with comedy… (Laughs.)

C: (Laughs) I’m to pick their slack.

Um…

S: (Laughs.) We’re all equals in the team. We’re not relegated to roles.

M: Well take the 3v3 that you guys just won, for example. Did you cover each other’s weaknesses with your strengths, or you know, coaching…

S: Well…

C: I think we’re just three different spectrums of players. That’s pretty much it.

So Somniac is extremely…defensive.

T & S: (Laughs.)

C: Well actually Somniac’s more medium now! Half and half. Mike’s extremely defensive.

M: (Laughs.)

C: I’m just a wild card. So if all else fails just put me in and I might win.

S: Mike is secure rushdown.

C: Secure rushdown.

S: And I’m secure defense. And H is…

C: I’m secure offense.

S: Chaotic attack!

M: Chaotic attack! (Laughs.)

C: I’m secure two-choice! HAHA.

T: (Laughs) You’re unsecure!

C: Unsecure two-choice.

S: When each of us starts to get out of balance, you know, we bring it back.

M: Ah. So if you’re too defensive, insert H. When you’re too offensive insert…

S: Even though he (Carnage) tells me to defend.

M: Oho really?!?!

How ironic is that.

C: He does…I tell him to do what you do best. Heheh.

2: M: Okay so Xavier, I know you’re very opinionated about AE.

What is your current opinion on the state of Arcade Edition?

S: Ah. Air Fighter IV?

M: Air fighter IV?

S: Heheh yeah.

M: Can you elaborate?

S: All the top tiers have air priority moves or some sort of gamble that they can do in the air. And the traditional footsie-based characters don’t really benefit much. It’s more so the vortex characters.

M: Right, so you dislike the fact that you have to have an air move to dominate in this game, basically.

S: Well you get too much reward.

M: Right. Well what about you Mike? You don’t really play AE that much right?

T: (Blinks slowly and puts a hand to the side of his face without saying anything.)

S: (Laughs.)

C: (whispers) no. Say no.

M: Any comments to make? Any comments to make on…

T: Sorry?

It’s a beautiful game.

M: It’s a beautiful game? Ok.

S: Ahahahaha!

G: Isn’t it a classic game?

T: Huh? It’s a classic [game] too.

S: It’s a classic game! It’s forever referred to as a classic game!

T: (Laughs.)

M: So give me your terminology. AE’s classic game right? What’s Marvel?

T: I dunno. Nothing, it’s Marvel.

C: Marvel: “Everyone Accepts.”

T: Marvel!

S: Broken game?

G: Marvel is “When’s Mahvel?” (Referring to my hoodie.)

M: And what’s xTekken?

S, T & C simultaneously: Babies’ game.

M: Why is that called babies’ game?

S: That’s what Heavy called it! (Laughs.)

C: I think he called it because I think of the chain combos…

S: Yeah heh. The chain combos that do no damage and they get phased out of the game…

Babies’ game. Hahahaha.

3: M: All three of you still play xTekken pretty seriously even though like a lot of the community, the Melbourne community has stopped playing it. Do you think the game deserves a second chance? What do you like about the game?

S: Yeah. It’s a fun game.

C: Yeah, I reckon if everyone at least gives it another chance and actually tries to learn it, then their skills in all other games will improve. So if they play AE and they only touch AE, if they play xTekken, their skills are gonna improve a lot. Their basics. Because xTekken’s an extremely footsie [-based] game.

G: Is it because when you stuff up and say lose a footsies battle there’s a lot more reward for it? So it’s not like, hey I have to be opened up three of four times to actually have something happen. It’s one opening, and bam, there’s half your life gone.

C: And you have to work for your wins. There’s no comeback factor here. If you’re low on life then you’ve really got to climb back up, rather than just sitting there focussing. Building Ultra. And you really have to think about bringing a second character in. It’s not just that you can raw tag, because you can get punished pretty bad by anyone from pretty much full screen.

So the moment you get hit, you have to start thinking about how you’re going to get your character?

M: Well what about Injustice? (To ToXy.) Like I know you won the first Injustice tournament right? What do you think of the game? Is it gonna last?

T: Not really.

M: Not really? Sideshow?

T: Yeah, sideshow.  Heh.

G: Sideshow game. (Laughs.)

S: I’ve actually have been watching it and picking up on the terminology and stuff. I don’t mind watching it. Seems alright. But I’ve never actually played it.

M: Fair enough.

H, Why do you dislike Marvel so much?

G: Oh yeah!

C: Oh.

It’s too different to the old Marvel games. I like the old ones. Those ones you had to…Like X-Men vs. Street Fighter, you had to work for your win. Except when you get a really easy infinite then that’s a bit…broken but…

T: You had to work for your first hit. The rest of the game is done, but…

C: Yeah. You gotta work for your first hit. Yeah. So it’s a different spectrum of the game when you need to work hard.

T: One touch kill heheh. Worse than Marvel [3!] (Laughs.)

S: One touch, 200% kill.

C: That’s pretty much it! Just…just get off the stick.

S: Hahahahaha.

C: I never played Marvel vs. Capcom 2 but I really enjoyed watching it. Because that game you need to get a lot of hits in and…so much happens, like a lot of things happen really fast, but I think every person makes a specific decision at every split second. They’re not just jumping around and hitting each other like I think…

M: Like what Marvel 3 is.

C: But when Marvel 3…X-factor!

Comeback factor.

S: It actually benefits aggressive people though. As well.

M: Yeah that’s why I thought it’ll be up your alley, because you’re so aggressive and there’s Wolverine in this game…

C: Ah it benefits aggressive and defensive, because if someone just does a move, then you can just x-factor, dead.

You can just turtle them and wait for them to do a move.

Especially if you don’t have a mix-up team, you can just sit there; block something, X-factor. Comeback, character’s dead.

4: M: So out of the three of you guys two of you are former champions and H, I guess your turn is coming up so…

C: Fake!

M: Fake! (Laughs.)

S: (Laughs.)

C: Not real.

M: So do you have any predictions for the upcoming BAM? Who do you think will do well?

S: I think Humanbomb’s got a good chance of doing well in AE.

G: Just a good chance?

S: Yeah…I mean top 5 at EVO…

G: So you would say he’s the favourite.

C: He only made top 8 at EVO, that’s not like a big tournament or anything!

S: (Laughs.)

(With mock seriousness) I dunno, he might do alright. Yeah.

M: What about Marvel?

S: Ah…Marvel, as long as Queensland bring down some people it should be interesting.

C: Marvel changes every year!

M: That’s true, it does.

S: I don’t think Arnold is going to be coming. So…confirm yes or no?

M: I have no idea.

S: Yeah, apparently he said he wasn’t. So it’ll probably be between Baxter, ToXy, Antman, myself.

C: Sharp!

S: (Laughs.)

M: So are you feeling confident in repeating as BAM champion?

S: What, in AE?

M: In AE.

S: I play Bison…

C: HAHAH. But you won last time!

M: Yeah, you won last time right?

S: That’s because everyone else lost (laughs.)

C: (Laughs.)

M: You beat a vortex character last year!

S:…Uh, it’s just because Baz doesn’t understand [the matchup.]

M: Mike, any predictions?

T: Um.

I think, I’ll hope to win.

G: Marvel or AE?

T: I hope to win everything, of course. Always. I just think, I hope to win, so.

M: Who do see as your biggest threats?

T: Who’s my biggest threat? Ah there’s quite a few threats. I mean, I have to play good on the day to win, so. There’s you know, a few people who can win the tournament, it just depends on who’s good on the day. I have just a good a chance to win as anyone else to win BAM, so.

S: Yeah, you never know who’s gonna win a tournament.

M: That’s true.

T: Because tournaments are just like…you know, some day one guy will win and another time another guy [will win.] Especially for Marvel.

M: Yeah! Especially for Marvel.

T: (Laughs.)

C: Oh for me….um.

If Street Pussy doesn’t enter, then I think I might get top eight.

M: (Laughs.)

C: Um Marvel changes every year. If Arnold comes down he’ll get top 8. Mike I reckon will get top 8 or even take it out. But Queensland just change every year. So I dunno what to expect from them.

And AE, yeah, I reckon Humanbomb will have a good chance. Depends if who else comes. Phero I reckon will get top 8. I’m interested to see how Genki will do this year as well. Because he won OHN. And I reckon…yeah. Hopefully I can get top 8 again heh. Maybe not.

M: Well do you guys have any particular exhibition matches you wanna see…who do you think will be a good fight for Bomb?

C: Hmm…

M: Like a lot of people say you, H!

C: Could be…heheh.

S: I think that’s better saved for the tournament.

G: But that are a lot of matches that won’t happen in the tournament, that’s the thing.

S: Well eventually if you’re planning to win, you’ll probably have to play anyone.

G: True.

C: Ah, who else.

I wanna see Mike play Bomb again. It’s been a long time since that [happened.]

M: Would you be down for that?

T: I’m not going to money match him. I mean, he plays…he plays the game.

C: But as an exhibition match, or just, I look forward to them playing in the tournament. That would be an interesting match to watch.

G: When was the last time you played him?

M: BAM 2011?

C: Daigo was down, was it? Umm…

S: APAC?

T: It was probably two years at BAM or something.

S: There was team tournament I think, where Mike beat him.

T: That was Shadowloo, I played him after, I played him at BAM.

M: That was Shadowloo  [Showdown] 1 right?

T: It was one of the BAMs, it was at least two years ago.

G: That would’ve been BAM 2010?

M: Yeah, possibly.

5: M: So okay, out of the three of you…

Who is the peacemaker?

C: Somniac.

M: Somniac’s the peacemaker? Who’s the ladies’ man?

C:…Somniac?

S: Hahahaha!

M: Somniac? (Laughs.)

C: And Mike behind the scenes- ladies’ man.

M: Behind the scenes ladies’ man?

T: (Laughs.)

M: Who’s the troublemaker?

S: H.

M: H? (Laughs.)

C: I’m innocent!

G: Hey you skipped one! Who’s the flower child?

S: What does that even mean?

M: It means like a pretty, you know sort of…

G: What’s with this question Muttons?

S: Isn’t that someone who carries a ring for a marriage? That’s got nothing to do with it.

G: No no no flower child is like a slang term for a hippie.

S: Flower child?

C: I dunno, Somniac puts product in his hair. That’s the closest thing, haha.

M: So Somniac as well. So it’s three out four, Somniac.

T: (Laughs.)

S: How’s that even a hippie! Hippies don’t put product in their hair!

M: (Laughs.)

C: Somniac wins everything, Somniac wears a ring. There’s your hippie there.

S: I wear two rings.

C: Double hippie then.

S: That doesn’t even make sense!

4- M: Okay next question is…

Sagat.

Discuss.

C: Ohhhhohoho.

S: Saget.

T: Saget. (Laughs.)

C: He needs his stand light kick back…

T: Glitch! (Laughs.)

C: He needs at least 250 damage on his uppercut.

M& T: (Laughs.)

G: At least.

C: At least.

S: Despite Bonchan beating Daigo and Xiaohai (at the recent Topanga). Yeah.

M: Yeah!

C: Fake.

G: (Laughs.)

C: Fake!

S: That’s a reverse question, what do you think? Daigo lost. Ryu. Went down to Sagat.

M: Oh I haven’t watched it, but I think they’re really close, him and Bonchan, so it can go either way.

G: This is when you’re supposed to say Daigo doesn’t play anymore. (Laughs.)

M: (Laughs.)

S: Yeah, Daigo doesn’t care about winning. He just wants to be hype.

M: Yeah.

….Such a soiler! (Referring to Xavier.)

10:24

S: (Laughs.)

C: They need to remove the Sagat glitch as well in the corner. That was a glitch, it wasn’t intended to (can’t control himself)-hahahaha! (Slaps hands together.)

It was accidental programming!

S: Ah look, I actually think Sagat is fine as a character. In that people will complain.

You know why?

C: Oooooohhhhhh. Do you know what you’ve just done? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’VE JUST DONE?

T: Ohohohoho!

C: The SRK forums will just…

S: Because not every character is meant to be top tier. Like in design.

M & C simultaneously:  But Sagat’s meant to be top tier!

S: He was top tier!

C: He’s got one eye! What else does he have to live for!

M: (Laughs.)

S: How can he be top tier, he’s only got one eye…peripheral vision…

C: He’s the most damaged in the game, as in…he already one eye and he’s got a scar!

M: (Laughs.)

C: No one else has been damaged like…

S: He’s disabled! (Laughs.)

C: Yeah! He’s pretty much a handicapped character. The least you can give him is like…

A parking spot or something.

S: (Laughs.) A parking spot!!! His corner! (Laughs.)

C: Yeah his parking spot is the corner. There’s a Sagat setup in the corner as well after a back throw. If Sagat’s been cornered, you just throw them away.

And then…(whistles twice), jump back two times. Fireball. It’s actually unblockable.

M: Hahahahahah!

S: There’s actually a funny setup that Bonchan in Topanga. Forward throw in the corner, whiff light uppercut and then jump in. And it’s actually a set up!

M: (Laughs.)

C: SHA-ARP.

S: So he gets to whiff an uppercut and then jump in!

M: Too sharp.

C: Oh. My. God. He gets to build meter on a setup!!

S: (Laughs.) It looks so funny.

M: Ah man, that’s hilarious.

What would HeavyWeapons say if he was here now.

S: ….He would hate us.

(Laughs.)

C: Hahahaha! He’ll say, nao, Sagat’s soft!

M: So how many bad matchups does Sagat have?

C: …How many characters are in the game?

M: (Laughs.)

S: Hahahahahah. Why are we trolling Sagat!! This is…

G: It’s a question!

C: It’s not Sagat, it’s Saget.

M: Alright, alright moving on.

6- Funniest moment from last year’s BAM. Well, any BAM.

C: Did Sol drop a combo…

S: No that was…

M: That was two years ago!

S: Was there any funny moments at BAM?

T: Ah…not really.

C: Funny moments…

M: Not really? Favourite moments from BAM?

G: Maybe Ali vs. Testi?

S: When I won? That was pretty favourite…moment

C: Hahah.

M: So when you won that was your favourite moment?

S: (Laughs.)

C: Yeah that’s my favourite moment, when Somniac won I was like, holy crap Bison won!

G: Hey it’s funniest moment not favourite.

M: Funniest or favourite, whatever.

C: They were supposed to run that comedy game tournament but they never did.

G: Nah, ran out of time.

C: That would’ve been funny.

G: I will chip one in, since I’m here.

Testi taking a pause on Ali.

S: Ah yeah.

C: Oh right.

G: Just to see how salty Ali got.

C: Ohoho!

M: And he won the sportsmanship award, that was my favourite part of BAM. Hahaha.

C: Oh yeah. What a jerk.

G: He actually did it to me as well!

S: Actually one of my funniest moments  was when Hoppa won the gimmicks award.

T: That was not BAM, that was CouchWarriors [ranbat.]

S: Was it?

T: That was CouchWarriors, it was just a regular CouchWarriors [ranbat] at the end of the year.

M: But that was pretty funny, I have to admit. (Laughs.)

C: Ohhh. Ali beating Heavy.

S: Ohhh!!! Why are we- (cuts himself off)

M: Ali beat Heavy?

C: Yeah. There was…

S: That’s not funny!

C: It’s not funny, it’s just…

S: It’s not funny, it’s not funny…(Laughs.)

G: It’s a bad matchup.

C: It’s a bad matchup!

M: Akuma is a bad matchup.

S: It is.

C: It was a sad moment.

S: But Heavy still managed to get through into top eight.

C: No he did well, he did very well. Just…that was very hard to watch…it was painful to watch.

M: (Laughs.)

7- What do you like about the FGC? (To ToXy.)

C: He likes me.

S: (Laughs.)

T: I like playing games, I like playing fighting games.

M: Just like playing games, it’s just the games for you right?

G: Do you find that there’s more people to play against now? Like with more games coming out, more people interested, you know.

S: Back when SFIV first came out, it was probably the most amount of people.

C: That was insane. I’ve never seen so many Street Fighter players.

S: And arcades were like huge back then. You used to be able to go to the arcade and play all day and there’s always people there. No matter which one you went to.

They’ve kind of died off now. Because the owners have left the arcades or the arcades are not well-maintained.

C: Yeah. Poor Box Hill.

Six machines!

S: Box Hill used to be the best place for me at least. That’s where I came up from.

C: When the original Box Hill tournaments, that’s when Mike originally started running them, we’d get thirty people easy. Every time. It was awesome. And then the once a month CouchWarriors those were big as well.

S: There used to sixty, seventy people at CouchWarriors.

M: Mm. Just for SFIV. The good old days.

S: Yeah.

G: That was at the [Abbotsford] convent?

M: Ah yeah, convent.

G: Yeah.

C: Where everyone kept getting married.

S: (Laughs.)

I run into people and they’re all married and they don’t have time to come out.

M: Yeah, yeah.

S: All of the SFIV people are the older generation, I think the Marvel people are more young.

M: Yeah the new players are more young, twenty-somethings. All the old guys are…

S: It’s sort of…since we’re all a bit older, the DB guys…

We’ve been around for some time, we’ve been in different scenes.

C: Washed-up veterans.

S: Yeah, washed-up veterans! Heh.

ToXy’s been around for the longest. And he knows how the gaming was back then. But there was always tournaments where you could get people. And even 3^rd Strike there used to be big tournaments or something like that.

But we never really focussed on the amount, it’s more like; this is so many people, this is fun.

So for me probably coming out and competing against people and seeing people face to face and just playing fighting games together.

That’s what I like.

And the comedy that goes along with it.

M: So you like the comedy right? Yeah that’s my favourite part.

C: (Laughs.) Mootens loves the comedy!

M: (Laughs.)

C: Yeah it’s grown so much, changed a lot as well. Like when me and Mike first started just playing online. We didn’t really think anyone played outside of online. Maybe a couple would go to the arcade.

Then I started to go to Bluehouse, eventually I met Mike and Mole (aka Naruga). And then just started growing from there.

And then once SFIV came out, my god. It just exploded.

M: Why don’t you tell us the story of how you met Mike and Somniac and formed this beautiful…beautiful relationship.

S: (Snickers.)

C: Haha!

S: We actually know each other for a long time! (Laughs.)

C: Yeah. I think I never met Mike in person, I used to play X-Men vs. Street Fighter with him online. And then like two years later I eventually met him just before AE came out.

But Somniac I used to play Initial D with.

M: Ahh!

S: Racing game.

C: Like non-stop and…I hated him so much.

S: (Laughs.)

C: He had such a dirty…

S: Everyone else that played Initial D had the concept of you both sit down and you battle each other right? But then you just let each other just race?

M: Right.

S: And I was like, I’m not as fast as these guys, because these guys play all the time so I’m going to get in front, and they’ll have to get past me. Right?

C: He was just a wall. Like, I don’t care if I do this turn crappier than you, as long as I’m still in front and I’ll keep swerving…

M: (Laughs.)

S: I would actually open it up a little bit so that people would try to get through, and then I cut them off, and then they ended up not being able to get back.

M: So you were Bison in Initial D. You were a wall.

T: Heheh.

C: He was disgusting!

S: People would just counterpick all day!

C: That’s the mentality of certain players, you can see them transition to different games…

M: (Laughs.)

S: Hey I play to win. It’s a racing game.

C: Disgusting just does. Heheh.

M: Disgusting is forever, right.

C: I played flashy in that game.

S: (Laughs.)

C: I only played the wet stages! It was good, that game was awesome.

And then yeah, I met ToXy and the mole after playing a couple years with them online. And then Somniac started playing AE. And just…

S: Back then it was Vanilla.

C: He played…Abel!

S: Abel was…you know why I picked Bison in the first place?

M: Because you hated the Zangief matchup.

S: Yeah. Abel vs. Zangief was retarded.

M: I know. Heheheh.

S: I just picked Bison because he could teleport. But…

It was like, oh yeah you wanna close to me with your grabs? I’ll just teleport over there.

C: Haha!

M: What do you guys dislike about the FGC? Or maybe our Melbourne community?

(C, T & S look around at each other silently.)

M: It’s your chance to burn…let loose the flames of bitterment….

S: (Suppresses sound in his throat.)

C: Uh…I think it’s gotten a bit smaller.

S: I think there’s a definite…

C: AE’s starting to die. Feels like it.

S: AE’s falling off and people aren’t really giving other games a chance. They’re kinda like AE or nothing. And then they’re not coming out to support the game in any way, so. The game is getting smaller, the scene is getting smaller.

C: Purists. AE purists! (Laughs.)

S: And then they just become online players. That’s all, and then they… Well hopefully they will still come out to the major tournaments at least.

C: Yeah a lot of them come out to the major tournaments. But like…

M: True.

C: But Friday nights and stuff, most of them just play at Bluehouse? Probably like Baz, Rodney.

M: Jeff.

C: Jeff and them.

M: Ki-Lok.

C: There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s where they prefer to play. But it would be good to just play everyone, in one place. And it’s only good because when we eventually see them in a tournament, you’re like , wow this is someone I haven’t played in a long time. Puts you on your toes.

But when you play someone like…if I end up playing these guys or Phero or Sol, you still know what to expect, you already have a game plan? Whereas the other guys, you know, you don’t know how much they would improve in the last how many months you’ve seen them.

S: Yeah.

8- M: Okay Xavier, you have this saying that you always tell me.

“Phoenix punishes you for playing bad characters, but Vergil punishes you for playing Marvel.”

Can you elaborate on this statement?

S: Because Vergil wins every matchup in Marvel.

M: So your first mistake is when you don’t pick Vergil?

S: Yes. (Laughs.)

C: (Laughs.)

M: Fair enough, that was pretty easy.

G: But you don’t use Vergil!

M: Yeah!

S: I make mistakes!

Everybody: (Laughs.)

G: But you said before you played to win! (Laughs.) You’re contradicting yourself.

S: Reasonable amount of winning. (Laughs.)

C & M: Reasonable amount of winning?! (Laughs.)

G: Listen, that’s the Muttons special. That’s sandbagging.

M: Ohh what the!?

C: He wants to win while soiling the…

S: No I actually enjoy winning with a character that shouldn’t win.

G: That’s sandbagging!

S: And beating the character that’s meant to be the higher tier with the one that’s not considered that great but is still considered to have the potential?

M: Right, right.

S: Yeah then eventually there’s isn’t any potential left. And I guess that’s when you start to regret your decisions. (Laughs.)

9- M: And something else that you’ve told me is that the reason why Nathan liked you guys for Team Drop Bears is ‘cause you are multi-game winners, right? You guys are good in multiple games?

I guess you two (ToXy and Somniac) more than H, not to blow up H but…

C: (Laughs.) I’m soft!

S: (Laughs.) What are you doing H?

C: Any game that’s week  1 I’ll win. And then other than that…

S: Hahahaha.

M: (Laughs.)

But yeah do you have any advice for…as you said this scene is full of a lot of purists. They don’t wanna touch anything else other than AE. How do you play so many games at such a high level?

S: Because the more games you get to play and understand, the easier you can transition into other games. Because you can get a grasp of the fighting game system. And you don’t have to rely on…ah. It’s like SFIV. I need to do uppercut, I need to do focus.

So many people want to play a different game, and then they’re like, oh there’s no focus? This game is arse.

C: Or no comeback factor?

S: Yeah, no comeback factor, I can’t Ultra everything. I just have to lose! Why? You know?

C: It comes down to the person in the end. Like, if they have fundamentals. It all comes down to how quickly they can pick up the game. If they can break down all the mechanics quickly, they can make the transition quite easily. If someone sort of gets a game, and does well using a couple of gimmicks and stuff, then they’ll be a one game person.

S: Yeah. I think it’s important to play multiple games, because you get multiple skills. Even Darkstalkers is a game that’s fully aggressive and I still like playing it because I get to do mixups and all sorts of stuff that I don’t get to do in SFIV.

C: Same goes with like picking up different characters. You get to cover your bad areas. If you take yourself out of your comfort zone…

M: It makes you stronger.

C: It makes you stronger, you have to cover all your areas.

S: Yeah. That’s one thing that people would always say about me, I could never play a different character other than Bison?

But in other games I play other characters/

10- M: So how are you guys personally preparing or training for BAM?

T: I’m just playing….I don’t think about it that much. I just play.

M: Do you bother to watch your potential opponent’s videos , anything?

T: No…

M: Just practice your own stuff?

T: Yeah.

G: Just grind out the matchups and that?

T: I just…I just play. I get better from playing.

S: ToXy’s the prodigy. (Laughs.)

T: Well I watch the streams for Marvel, mostly for entertainment, but sometimes I watch the players who use my team, I can learn some new tricks from them.

G: New tricks. Disgusting setups.

S: I always watch all the American majors and particularly watch people play my characters. Even though ToXy says they’re sandbag characters, to skip [on the tier list.] (Laughs.)

But when I find new stuff I put it into my gameplay.

11- M: Alright. Second last question, what do you guys have in plan for Team Drop Bears in the future?

C: Streams? A lot more content….Youtube videos…hopefully some comedy videos…Just a bit of everything you know?

We want to try being just like a unique team. Just get the name out there. It’ll be great just to make Australia more aware of Team Drop Bears, or even get more games into our team, that’ll be great.

M: So are you gonna kick Mole outta his house and make a Drop Bears FGTV house?

C: Yeah we’re gonna kick Mole out of his house. We’re freeloaders! (Laughs.)

S: (Laughs.)

It would be good…

M: (Laughs) It would be good?

S: …But I think he owns the place, so. But yeah I think the sponsorship is a good opportunity to have another avenue to get players out into areas where they might not be noticed. I don’t plan to just do Drop Bear only streams or whatever, I wanna bring in people that I know of that are good players and play against them. And show other people that they’re good players. I need to interview them and stuff like that. Like Daichi, Heavy, and James Muzztekk and all those guys?

I think if we show the fun that we’re having as players, people can see kind of community we are.

Where we’re not always yelling “kill him.”

M: (Laughs.)

S: Yeah I rarely say that phrase.

12- Shoutouts, where can we find you on social media.

S: Shoutouts to our team, Drop Bears, and Nathan the manager. And also James Williams who’s also the team manager now I believe.

C: And the rest of the guys. The LoL boys. Fifa.

S: Yeah. The LoL team, the Fifa team.

Crispy James.

M: Have you guys met them or?

S: Uh, not really yet.

C: Only met Nathan so far.

T: Met Nathan at OHN.

M: Ah okay, fair enough.

C: Hopefully he can come down for BAM, that’ll be good.

S: Yeah. You can follow us on twitter. I’m DB_Somniac. And…

C: We’ve got Team Drop Bears, and then there’s also LoL Team Drop Bears who post up their stream? So that’s a separate page . Facebook, and also twitter, I’ve got DB_Carnage, Somniac’s got DB_Somniac, and ToXy’s got Michael Guida.

S: Michael Guida.

T: Heh.

M: Yes.

C: Michael Guida. And we’ve got the Team Drop Bears page on both of them. Also, shoutouts to Avermedia, Squid Grip, EIZO and GUNNAROptiks. Thanks for sponsoring us as well.

M: Alright thanks very much guys.

C: Thank you.

S: Thank you.

Mutton’s note: Shoutouts to the Dogface show, the original inspiration for the Don’t be a Scrub Podcast. Sadly the show is no longer on Youtube, but will live forever in my heart and in my hard drive 🙂