Knee Post-EVO 2022 Victory Stream Translation

https://vod.afreecatv.com/player/90800632 - 3.5 hours translated of a 4.5 hour stream...

Apparently Knee got enough in donations to surpass his EVO winnings within 26 minutes of him turning on the stream LOL

**On Super Akouma vs Khan**
- Pakistan has so many good akuma players that he expected this sort of built-in akuma MU edge
- His impression was that Super Akouma had improved a LOT; didn't expect him to go toe-to-toe to THIS extent vs Khan, who was known as a top Geese player even before COVID
- Super Akouma fell apart in game 2, though, as evidenced by the failed punish on geese dp+1 after crouching
On why Arslan probably stopped playing Kazumi
- Knee: Kazumi ate a lot of nerfs...so it's hard...
Chanel: The biggest nerf was to her homing move (b+2), honestly, for Kazumi.
Knee: No- More than the homing move - the nerf to the reach of her jab and d/f+1 were the biggest [nerfs].
Chanel: ...Just say it was the homing move [for my sake]...!

*Game 2 Round 3*
> super akouma DFLIPs and goes over khan geese who's doing jab d/f+1
- Knee: Even back then, those geese players used to do this - what the Pakistani players do is when akuma jumps and whiffs over them, they immediately do crouch jab into special

*Game 2 Round 4*
> khan does 2,f+1~qcf+1; not punished by super akouma
- Chanel: you can do DP to punish that, since [Akuma's] reach is a bit short...
> super akouma fails to do the k2ro/crazydongpal wall splat into WR3 crouch jab reset
- Knee: K2RO is currently still a bit better at knowing when you're able to do that reset [than Super Akouma]...
- Knee: If you watch matches like these, it becomes clear that there's no [proper], complete solution to the metered/2D character MUs.

*Game 3*
> viewer: Knee, from your perspective, is there a big difference between Korean Geese players and Pakistani Geese players?
- Knee: The difference between Korea and Pakistan is...Is there one, I wonder? At first, Meo-il was pretty aggressive [like how they are] as well...But do you know what Meo-il said while watching them? "YOU guys try playing against Knee day in, day out - I doubt you'll be able to maintain that [sort of playstyle]..." *laughs*
> viewer: Why does Khan do so many grabs?
- Knee: Because Geese's grab [game] is good! I use it a lot as well...It's hard to tech.
> viewer: If you had faced Super Akouma, which character would you have picked?
- Knee: What - I mean, then I'd just go with Feng.
> Knee compliments Khan for the whiffed Akuma sweep into dash 2 punish during round 3
- Knee: When KOF had finished up and Tekken's top 8 was just starting, the fact that these two characters were fighting was a bit...disappointing for me. It was supposed to be TEKKEN, but man...
> Chanel jokingly chastising Knee for complaining about 2D charas as per usual (Chanel is harsh on bad play but not as much over dumb characters and vice versa for Knee)
> End of round 3, Khan seemingly whiff punishes Super Akouma f+3
- Knee: This is...This looks like a whiff punish, right? But the truth of the matter is, Super Akouma actually did a power crush right after this. So honestly, if he had just held back, he would have blocked Khan's move but he just HAD to do the power crush [and got hit], so...
- Chanel: And so [Khan] was aiming for that. He was ALREADY aiming to make the f+3 whiff and then hit the power crush after. So Super Akouma's idea wasn't bad, but the better option would have been to just block...Since he was WAY too minus [there]...

**On Knee vs Meo-il**
> General talk about how Meo-il wanted the Koreans to be split so they would be facing different nations instead of just fighting amongst themselves; Chanel points out that if he had beat Meo-il, it would have been a Chanel-Knee match in Winner's Semis.
- Knee: And so [Meo-il said,] "Hyung-nim, why are WE playing in ATL [here]?" *laughs*
(TLN: ATL = AfreecaTV Tekken League, the regularly scheduled Korean Tekken tourney/league circuit that lasts for weeks; Meo-il vs Knee is a common sight in top 8 these days)
> Complaints from Chanel and Knee about how these TWT points mean NOTHING because once they all reach the TWT finals they all have to go through the same thing so the ranking is meaningless lol
- Knee: The amazing thing about Meo-il was that he got all the way top 8 despite it being his first time at EVO.
- Knee: Honestly, I feel a bit sorry for him, but - *laughs* if he hadn't run into me [in top 8], he could have gone further.
> viewer: Meo-il went to Vegas [just] to play at ATL and then come back ;___;
- Knee: That's what I'm saying - in the last-...Starting from top 192 or so? He just kept facing Koreans and...*laughs* Meo-il [should have] faced foreigners, but...
> matches skipped because it was the same content as almost every ATL knee vs meo-il set

**On Jeondding vs Rangchu**
- Knee: Honestly, though...I didn't think that Jeondding would play the mirror...I was like, wouldn't he play Eddy or something? But...the two just went [for the mirror].
*Skipped*

**On Arslan vs Pinya**
> Knee and Chanel being confused over "Losers Eighths"
> Chanel finding the fact that Arslan would come up to Knee all shyly and tap his shoulder to get his attention very cute (a contrast to his Twitter warrior presence)
- Knee: If you take a look at this...See, against Master Raven, Zafina CAN do OK vs Raven, but...See how at first, Pinya is getting in very confidently against Zafina.
- Knee: Yeah - he's very confident and doing very well. He's playing the same as he always does.
- Knee: But...from round 2 onwards...he started to [sit back] and eat a lot of attacks...
> Chanel making a quick comment about how Pinya became timid

*Game 1 Round 4*
- Knee: Yeah, Arslan just drove him into a corner here.
> Chanel freezes at ~51 sec after Arslan does 1,3(blocked)~SCR
- Chanel: See this? Once Zafina does this and goes into stance, the opponent can just use crouch jab. But you see how he's not able to provide an answer for this.
- Knee: Because he became afraid.
- Chanel: [Arslan] gave him TWO chances. Look at this *points to the same thing happening with 46 sec left in the round*
- Knee: You can also block the low and launch.
- Chanel: So he's not providing an answer for this. But Cuddle Core provided the answer every time. This is why [Pinya] lost. That's why Arslan got all excited and started to use it like it was an [airtight] string or something.
> 36s in
- Knee: You know, this [d/b+2] elbow...Because there's a followup, Koreans don't tend to press buttons after [the elbow]. But look at Arslan here - he's ALWAYS doing a crouch jab or a d/f+1 and just...
- Knee: Because Arslan played this way...I think Pinya got the impression that [his] mindgames/RPS wouldn't work on Arslan.

*Game 2 Round 1*
> round @ 51 sec, arslan does zafina 1+2(blocked), immediately ducks under pinya's jab and punishes with WS1,2
- Knee: See how he got caught by the same thing as before?
> round @ 46 sec, zafina d/f+1,2,1 gets blocked, raven unable to punish with 4,1
- Knee: This was really a bit unlucky, to be honest - due to the distance created after [blocking] that move, raven 4,1 wasn't able to punish. But if he had done the i13 punish with d/b+2, it probably would have worked.
- Knee: Look at this - Arslan doesn't care about whether d/b+2,1 (the second part) will come or not and so- If you block d/b+2, it's -3, right? So he just KEEPS doing d/f+1.
- Knee: And so because [Pinya] can't use the d/b+2 mindgames, he can't even [start] using the backturned mindgames either, and so...Raven doesn't particularly have anything [else] she can do, you know? She needs to do backturn stance and start chipping away and stuff, but...

*Game 2 Round 2*
> 41 sec, raven d/b+2(blocked)~BT, arslan tries to do 1+2 vs raven BT d+4 right after
- Knee: Even after this one, look at that 1+2 coming out - jeez...This guy [Arslan] is...
- Chanel: He ignores the frame data.
- Knee: He's just IGNORING the frame data and [saying], "Well, the d/b+2,1 followup doesn't hurt anyways so..." He's just pressing buttons after d/b+2(blocked).
- Knee: But actually, the reason why that's not [necessarily] a good decision is that if [Pinya does the backturned] power crush, he'll always lose, you know? If Pinya does the power crush Arslan will always lose out, but Arslan is just deciding to always press buttons anyways...Is he trying to bait out the power crush, or...
> Knee pointing out that Arslan was clearly trying to calculate the range to make Raven RD whiff, even before the last ff+4 when the round was at 11~12 sec. No hesitation from Arslan.

*Game 2 Round 3*
> 49 sec - Pinya does blocked WS2 into b,B+2, Arslan CHs it with ff+3
- Knee: Stuff like this right now is really...obvious, honestly. The fact that he'll do b,B+2 counter after the blocked WS2 is obvious, so...*shakes head*
- Knee: Pinya should just have gone in and chipped away, but he only did that at the very beginning with the first round, then afterwards...

*After the set*
- Knee: So Arslan does play Master Raven himself as well - he plays the character as well, so...He knew at what timings he could press buttons and Pinya just died without being able to do anything.
- Knee: From Arslan's perspective, [mentally] it was already at a point where he didn't need to worry about blocking FC d/f+3+4 or whatever. "This guy's afraid - he can't use any of his moves," and so on, is what he's thinking, so...
> Goes to Game 2 Round 4, 39 sec -> Pinya does qcf+1(blocked),3+4~HAZ u -> Arslan immediately pokes with b+1+2 to end the round
- Knee: So if you look at this now - this is the EXACT same pattern Pinya used vs Jeondding. But Arslan reacts to it immediately.

**On Super Akouma vs Arslan**
- Knee: But this is honestly...These [Pakistani players] have too good of an understanding of the Akuma MU, so it's a bit difficult to use Akuma against them. On top of that, [he's playing] Zafina as well, so it's even more difficult [for Arslan's opponent].
*skipped*

- Knee: So - solutions to the MU aside, the Zafina MU is difficult for Akuma.

**On Knee vs Khan, Winners Finals**
- Knee: But, so- When I was first playing against Khan like this...I thought, "Oh, he's come prepared to some extent," because I got the feeling that his play was trying to match up [against what I was doing] to a degree. And it had been like, three years since I had last played against Khan as well, so...[Our playstyles] were a lot different from back then.
- Knee: [The reason he was prepared was] because before coming to EVO, these guys practiced a TON against the feng players [over in Pakistan].
- Knee: Because, actually, the feng player over there actually gave me a link to the youtube video of their ft7s with Khan and Atif...They grinded out [the MU] a LOT...Khan would play Marduk as well and change out characters...

*Game 1*
- Knee: So, honestly - I've played a lot against Meo-il...but I haven't played very much against Khan, right? So I have to read [his playstyle] while playing. Round by round.
- Knee: What [Khan] does well is - you see how he does a lot of jabs? But you see, metered characters have short recovery on their jabs, right? So what he likes to do a lot due to his playstyle is - just put out a lot of jabs and d/f+1s, bait me to press a button, and then when I do jab or 1,2, just make a hard read against that and do b+3,2 or 2 or whatever. So I was like, "Ah, so he plays like this..." "He likes to really bait out actions from people, huh?" Was what I thought.
> Round 1, 31 sec - Khan whiffs 1,1 and then puts out 2
- Knee: See? He's doing what I was talking about before, right?
- Knee: So when [Khan] has meter, he likes to put out jabs like this and then do 2 as a hard read, right? So if I had seen that 1,1 and just went "oh god" and did something, Khan would have avoided it and caught the move with the 2. But he did a LOT of this, so...I just stopped pressing buttons.
- Knee: So this is Geese's strength - when he has meter, he can just put out aggressive buttons like this (coming up close and doing b+3) and it doesn't matter. Because he can just recharge meter and do it all over again.
> Knee pointing out that if he had pressed jab or 1,2 into Khan's pattern, he would have eaten the b+3, but he did KNP 2 instead to avoid and punish it.
- Knee: This guy does this [pattern] a LOT.

*Game 2 Round 1*
> 28 sec, Khan hits CH 4
- Knee: Wow...So you see, this...Jeez, he was GOOD at using this move. Arslan got CHed by this move as well...
- Chanel: What were you thinking after getting hit by that CH 4?
- Knee: "Ah, this was a bad time to press buttons..."

*Game 2 Round 5*
- Knee: So Khan was VERY good/sharp about aiming for specific timings where he could use b+3 or 2.
> 40 sec
> Knee points out the same pattern of sorts - Khan does d/f+3, then immediately does SSL b+3,2 vs knee's jab
- Knee: So when you already have this sort of image of "I'm going to sidestep and then do b+3,2," you get this feel, right? So he did sidestep b+3, then saw [my] jab and did delay input 2 for the conversion [for the context hitconfirm]. He saw my jab and was like, "I caught you" and then converted.
- Chanel: So the knee was a prediction/read.
- Knee: Yeah, the knee was a read but then he hitconfirmed it into the b+3,2 followup.

*Game 3 Round 2*
- Knee: Ahh...It wasn't easy to play aggressive against him.
- Knee: Did you see that round-start SSL into 2? If I had done [round start] jab here I would have gotten caught by that.
- Knee: So if you see here, even if you just spend meter like that, you can build it back up - that's what's so good about Geese.
- Knee: Just do d/f+1,1 like he does here, then sidestep 2 etc. If it hits, then even better.
- Knee: His pattern (of whiffing jabs into doing the hard reads) is facilitated by the fact that [metered characters] have short-recovery jabs.

*Game 3 Round 4*
> 47 sec
- Knee: See how scary this is? He hits me with d/f+3. If I do b+4 here, he does backdash into 2 [like how he did here] and catches me. So you CAN'T stick buttons out.
> 19 sec, khan does b+3(blocked),2 and knee does feng 1+2 parry into combo
- Knee: So right now was- This - so 1+2 works [here], right? 1+2 works, but...I don't KEEP using 1+2. The reason why I [try] not to use 1+2 at all costs is - do you guys know what Geese players do? They know [b+3,2] will get parried by 1+2, right? So then they'll just do b+3 into PARRY. So even if I see the b+3 and do 1+2, I'll get caught by the parry, eat the 2,f+1 combo and lose 100 HP. So 1+2 isn't ALWAYS a good option. It's RPS.
- Knee: So it's intuition - this guy has 3 bars and there's no time left, so he HAS to just spend some of his meter [to not lose the game]. So when I get that sense [in my head], THEN I do 1+2.
> 11 sec, Khan does b+3(blocked) into b+3(hit)
- Knee: See how he ONLY does the b+3? And this [second b+3] I got hit by because I was trying to block a low.

*Game 4 Round 2*
> 44 sec, Khan does d/f+2(blocked), then backdashes into b+3,2 as Knee comes in
- Knee: Wow...You guys know what Pakistani players do well? It's this right here. It's minus [after blocked d/f+2], right? So I went in. And then- How do I say this? He presses a button just half a beat before I do. They're good at doing that. See, the d/f+1 came out (for feng). They do this really well.
- Knee: But Pakistani players GENERALLY play like this.
> 27 sec, RD far wallsplat into miss combo by Knee
- Chanel: You freaking- You should have just don-
- Knee: No, I mean, this was - the recovery, right? The recovery was- Geese was too low to- He was already splatted on the wall and I was JUST recovering and walking forward, so there was no way to him him properly.
- Chanel: You should just have done d+4!
- Knee: I should have gone closer up and used d+4, but I panicked so I did 1,2. But there was a chance that it probably wouldn't have comboed even if I had done the new d/f+4,3 screw. He could have gotten hit while slumping onto the ground (messing up hurtboxes). So the best option here was to do the b+1+2 shoulder into an OTG hit to kill.

*Game 4 Round 4*
> Knee generally showing how Khan keeps repeating the pattern of sticking something out, then immediately sidestepping and then doing a read-based move; he says that he kept doing this because all Knee would do is jab and 1,2 so Khan kept mixing in sidesteps.
> Knee explaining that his right wrist had just broken down after the tourney
- Knee: Geese's sidestep is good, so he can avoid jabs and stuff easily
> 36 sec, blocked geese d/f+2, knee moves a bit forward and then does d/f+1 that gets stuffed out by the "half-a-beat" earlier b+3 from Khan
- Knee: See this? It was the same as earlier. I got hit twice - this was the second time. So I became certain at this point - "OK, I'm not gonna play this game here".
- Knee: Everyone - you guys might think that since he's doing b+3 after blocked d/f+2, I can do something to CH that button...It's good to NOT do that. Yeah...The reason being, there are so many times during a tourney - where he could just do d/f+2 into nothing, d/f+2 into d+4, d/f+2 into parry, d/f+2 into jump...He could press buttons afterwards as well - so people do stuff like that, right? But just because you see this ONE instance of blocked d/f+2 into b+3, saying, "OK he's doing this so I'm going to just press a faster button and CH him" - it's better NOT to do that vs Geese. Because if you're pressing that button expecting a CH, and that gets avoided by a sidestep into 2 etc, then the game pretty much just goes to shit from there, so...It's best NOT to play that game. Just...NOT pressing buttons is the answer.
- Knee: [In these close-range situations], Geese has the advantage because he has a parry. Because of that parry, it's really disadvantageous for the opponent...

*Game 4 Round 5*
> 46 sec, Khan does blocked d/f+2 into duck vs Knee's jab
- Chanel: Now he's starting to duck!
- Knee: See that! It's better to NOT play this game. Blocked d/f+2 - I jabbed - look at him just crouch and go for the d+4. So how on Earth are you supposed to be able to grasp all of these options...
- Knee: But I was a bit lucky here - he should have taken the WS4 hit and then done the RPS with d+4 but he didn't...
- Knee: So ultimately, even Khan has a lot of habits that he keeps relying on. If you're just [casually] spectating you might not be able to observe it, but I was there playing and going, "Huh, he has a lot of [ingrained] habits..."
- Knee: He has a lot of habits, but those...They're habits, but they're not very bad habits. Even if you do them often out of habit, they're good moves, so you keep doing them.
> Knee pointing out that Khan repeatedly running up to him and pressing b+3 was Khan urging Knee to press 1+2 parry
- Knee: So he's like "Use it! Use the 1+2 against b+3,2!" But then I used it after his jab. (TLN: He explains later that usually the best option after a jab is another jab is why he went for the 1+2)

*After the set*
- Chanel: You know, if someone saw this, they might say that Knee had a smooth victory here, but that is AB~~~SOLUTELY not the case. What was smooth about it? His [path to] victory was incredibly dangerous.
- Knee: Yeah...Didn't almost all of the games vs Khan go to the final round?
- Chanel: Of course! It wasn't smooth at all...
- Knee: Do you know what popped up in my head as I was playing him? Just because I picked Feng doesn't mean that Feng has an advantageous MU vs Geese. That's absolutely not the case. It's just that, from Geese's perspective...
> Interrupted here by donation into Knee going to the bathroom
- Chanel: The way he won was incredibly risky...It's just that the score was 3-1, but all of the rounds were back-and-forth. Also, it's a good thing that he won 3-1. If he had won vs Khan in the sort of "smooth" manner that people had depicted it as, he would have gotten RANSACKED during grand finals, for sure. That person [Knee] has a way of becoming complacent after winning...You guys might not know, but I'm [always] with him, right? He becomes a little - complacent. And then he gets run over. 100%.
- Chanel: And then everyone would be all over Twitter going on about how he lost to Pakistan, DC Inside would be on fire, etc...And he would be sulky and not eating his meals, and it would have been a mess. Yeah...it was good that he won.
> Chanel talking about how when Knee is mad, Chanel asks him whether he wants to have a meal together and Knee will just send him an emote of someone going into a trashcan and shutting the lid close and then afterwards Knee won't even talk for a few days (essentially calling himself trash). That's how much he...hates losing.
- Knee (returning from the bathroom): Who likes losing?
- Chanel: Hyung, I'm OK when I lose to you, though...
- Knee: Oh, really? I feel the same.
- Knee: Who likes losing? So [as I was saying]...Feng is absolutely not advantageous in the Feng-Geese MU. All of the games were five full rounds.
> viewer: So one would say it's about even?
- Knee: No - rather than being even...It's more like - Geese now has a few problems that have appeared that he has to take care of, from his perspective. 1+2, stuff like that.
- Knee: For Geese, it's just that he has a few more problems that have to be on his mind, and...when I use 1+2, I could get caught by the parry as well, so...it's kinda all like that. That's about the extent of it.
- Knee: So for example, vs characters that don't have a parry or whatever, Geese can just USE b+3,2, but vs Feng he has to worry about 1+2 - that's about it.

**On Jeondding vs Arslan**
> Chanel generally talking about how his heart hurt to watch this set because Eddy isn't that bad of a pick vs Zafina but he lost in the end due to Arslan Zafina's movement
> Knee agrees that Eddy is probably a better pick in the MU than Julia
> Pointing out some disappointing/bad plays by Jeondding such as ff+4(blocked) into HSP 1 power crush whiff that got punished and not punishing zafina d+3 whiff with d/f+3+4 in Game 1 Round 1
- Knee: Because I mean - Arslan didn't even know what the frames were for Eddy b+2,3,3 on block...Arslan actually came up to Jeondding afterwards to ask him what the frames were on that.
(TLN: b+2,3,3, AKA "+5" is an infamous eddy string popular in the korean tekken scene now due to Daddyking popularizing it.)
> Talking about how Arslan did ff+3~SCR 2,2(blocked) and then when Jeondding went to punish it with 1,2, Eddy's jabs were too short in addition to Jeondding doing an extra backdash after the ff+3 and so the 1,2 was whiff punished by Zafina d/f+2 (it's a pattern more than an actual reactive whiff punish; do the long-range SCR 2,2 then immediately d/f+2)
> Jeondding does d+4 hit into RA (blocked)
- Chanel: Rage Art is com- Jesus...this guy...
- Knee: So if you do stuff like this that's RIDICULOUSLY obvious, honestly, losing is inevitable...
> Other mistakes pointed out by Chanel: WS1,3(blocked)~RLX can get floated by Zafina d/f+1, Jeondding not properly floating Zafina WR4 low on block, etc
- Chanel: Just LOOK at the way he's playing...
- Knee: Stuff like this is...very disappointing, yeah...
- Chanel: It's not that Eddy sucks, it's that THIS guy made a lot of mistakes!
- Knee: When we saw him playing, he seemed a bit nervous.
> Also points out that Jeondding was getting caught by stuff like d+3 hit into MNT stance mid launcher which he usually doesn't get hit with; Chanel steadily becoming angrier with each mistake Jeondding makes
- Chanel: If Jeondding had made it to grand finals, hyung, your victory would not have been guaranteed. How are you going to block his mixups when he's playing like a crazy person like that?
- Knee: But he didn't make it up the bracket, so what could he do?
- Chanel: You're right...*shakes his head*
> Talking about how when Jeondding was up vs Meo-il, he just went in and confidently batted away, but vs Arslan he played super conservatively and died - much like Knee's first time meeting Arslan. All he did was play safe and do b+2,3 but Arslan never crouched, so...
> Talking about Jeondding's struggle to pick Julia or Eddy for Game 2
- Knee: He worried a lot over it, but [Arslan] is better at the Julia MU than one might think, so...It was evident from the matches vs Rangchu.
- Chanel: There's a good Julia player in Pakistan.

*Game 2 Round 1*
- Knee: The attacks that Jeondding is doing, these...You CAN'T think of it as facing Arslan. You know that thought [in your head], right? "Oh he blocks way too well," it's better to not have those thoughts.
> More talk about how Arslan had no idea how to deal with Eddy b+2,3,3 during the set; disappointment with regards to his spring kick wakeup that was punished by d/f+2 and not knowing that MNT 1,3 on block is 0 == tries to do jab exchange and loses
- Knee: So Jeondding asked me afterwards, "Hyung, why do we both get hit here?!" And I said, "It's 0 on block," and he went, "Ahh..."
- Chanel: That guy doesn't even know his OWN character's frames, so not knowing Zafina's frame data is obvious.
> Dolphin jokes in chat - Jeondding took an IQ test months(years?) ago on stream and ended up with sub-human IQ
> Talks about how Jeondding just kept using SS4 low which is a relatively easy to block low at least for Knee and that Jeondding should have mixed up his lows
- Knee: From my perspective, all Jeondding needed to do was just run up and chip away and then do d/f+2, then it might have been doable. But he did really none of that.
> Knee and Chanel talking about how Arslan doesn't know Eddy very well either

*At the end of the set*
> viewer: Mr. Knee, this is a bit separate from the matches at hand, but what do you think is the most important thing that tekken players need to have in order to become good at tekken?
- Knee: What's the most important thing in order to become good at Tekken? The most important thing is that you like Tekken.

**On Khan vs Arslan**
> Knee pointing out how disappointing the top 8 bracket was since they had all the Koreans fight each other while the Pakistanis only really ended up having their first match in Losers Finals
- Chanel: Oh! So THAT'S why Arslan asked to shift around the brackets. He asked them to change it around and they obliged.
> Slow realization sets in
> Arslan asked them to shift the brackets because initially Arslan would have met up earlier in the bracket vs Knee, or so they were told
> viewer: Why didn't many Japanese players make it to top 8...?
- Knee: Because everyone is good now. Nobi got kncoked out by Arslan. Gen lost to Khan, then Infested.
> Donation message: In Nobi's post-EVO stream, he said that the tourney was difficult because there were no Akuma users in Japan [to practice against] and went, "I have no choice but to play Akuma for myself" and started to practice Akuma while hating it lololol
- Knee: Ahh...But I mean, how many years has the game been out...and until when are you going to be able to use [that excuse]? If there are no Akuma players, he's just going to have to make Yuu or Take play Akuma and then make do.
- Chanel: So apparently word amongst the Japanese players is - there are no pro-level zafina players [in Japan], so...
- Knee: Then just - [grow Zafina players] within the team. Just do that and then play within the team. That's what we do...
- Chanel: They say that Korea does well against Zafina because of Chanel...that's what they say, OK?! *slaps Knee's shoulder for any morsel of approval* (TLN: Chanel...)
- Knee: *snorts* What do they do, then? Do they just not practice [the MU]? If there's nothing, you have to make up SOMETHING and practice...

*Game 1 Round 1*
> Knee complimenting Khan again on his excellent use of geese 4
- Knee: If there were THREE of them [in the Yamasa team], they could have just practiced with each other...
- Chanel: That's why Gen's been playing Zafina recently...Whereas in Korea we play too MUCH Zafina, what with me and Infested...
> Arslan does ff+3(blocked), then d/b+1+2 slow low vs Khan 1,1
> Chanel and Knee both pointing out that this is just a result of the two players knowing each other too well
- Chanel: No, Khan was definitely going to win from how it looked.
- Knee: So when I was waiting in the waiting room, though, I was prepping for Arslan because it looked like his momentum and presence was stronger [going into the set], and- He's good at beating 2d metered characters, you know...Since these two probably played each other every day. So I was thinking, "I have to beat Arslan," but then Chanel came up and said, "I think Khan is going to come up to grand finals."
- Knee: I said, "Really? Why?" To which Chanel said, "Take a look." And so...
- Chanel: ...No, I was saying even BEFORE the top 8, before we went to sleep the day before, that Khan would beat Arslan.
- Knee: So actually, before heading off to EVO, we did a - what you would call a rite *laughs*
> Chanel briefly commenting on the rite, but essentially praying for good luck; probably led by Chanel, the shaman
- Knee: And what Chanel said at the time was, "I honestly don't see Arslan [winning] this EVO..." And so I said, "Why?" And he said, "Do you think he could make it all the way up to grand finals this time around...?" And I had no idea where he was coming from.
- Knee: And so I repeated to him, "Do you REALLY not see him making it all the way this EVO...?" And he said yes -
- Knee: And THEN during top 192 I saw Arslan losing to shadow20z six rounds straight and went "jeez..." (in awe of Chanel's predictions) "Arslan could lose like THAT?" But then he made it into top 8 anyways and I went, "man, as expected, Arslan is Arslan." So Chanel took Khan very seriously.
- Chanel: I took Khan and Meo-il very seriously.

*Game 1 Round 3*
- Knee: Look at how Khan plays. His playstyle has everything you need to win [against Arslan].
- Knee: You saw how against JP/KR players, he went in super confidently and just put out buttons, right? There might be something there due to them being familiar with each other, but [here] Khan never presses buttons from further out. He gets up real close and only uses jab, d/f+1, and small lows. See how he's just moving forward? Then Arslan can't block the mix after [properly] either.
> 21 sec, Arslan against the wall; Khan does jab jab then dash backdash
- Knee: What's super scary about this part is that he does jab jab, then he acts like he's going to go in and then backs off. You know what he's waiting for? He's waiting for a d/f+1 [whiff] so that he can then hit that with geese 2 or whatever.
> 13 sec, Arslan goes for zafina 1,3 and Khan immediately goes for geese 2 and hits Arslan
- Knee: Now see...! This is because they know each other too well...The reason why Arslan got hit with geese 2 after doing 1,3(blocked) was because Khan ignored the frames; Arslan was trying to do SCR 2 after the blocked 1,3 and Khan just hit him out of it with geese 2 beforehand

*Game 1 Round 4*.
> 50 sec, zafina d+3 hit into khan presses ws4 anyways
- Knee: So one of the things I don't understand here is - after Khan gets hit with d+3, he ALWAYS went for the WS4 afterwards. I don't get this at all - why is he doing this??
> donation message: If Arslan had gone to grand finals, would you still have picked feng??
- Knee: Yes! I would have picked feng.
> Talks about how Arslan constantly kept trying to fuzzy low parry during the pressure and eventually ended up eating a geese 2 into full combo for his troubles
> 28 sec, balcony break into combo ender for Khan and he runs forward but stops short before getting to zafina
- Chanel: Did you see that?
- Knee: What, that he stopped before getting to zafina?
- Chanel: Yeah, do you know why he did that?
- Knee: Yeah, because there's a way to beat that run-up.
- Chanel: ...Man, try just NOT knowing something for once, will you? I want to try sounding smart as well.
- Knee: It was obvious just from looking at it.

*Game 2 Round 1*
- Knee: So all of the people who lost to Arslan so far have never fought close-up. They always stay at a safe range and try to chip away with safe moves - but Pakistani players always play super close up to each other. So if you want to beat Arslan, you HAVE to get in there and start chipping away.

*Game 2 Round 2*
> 44-45 sec, zafina 1,4(blocked)~TRT 3~u and Khan immediately sidesteps to the left, makes TRT 3 whiff, then punishes with 2,f+1 - Chanel and Knee both marvel at the display
- Chanel: Look at this, he did SUPER well.
- Knee: Yeah, he knows how to beat it.
> Chanel leaves
- Knee: The way Shadow20z and Khan both beat Arslan are similar.

> viewer: Do they change the brackets if you ask for it? Is it in the rules?
- Knee: Before the brackets are finalized, if you ask for it, they would change it for you.

*Game 3 Round 3*
> Knee complimenting Khan's level of focus for being able to punish zafina b+1 on block which is -14 but the punish timing is difficult.
> 25 sec, Khan gets hit with a jab and then low parries the low after
- Knee: Wow...But I think from this point onward, his playstyle seemed to just be such that he would try and low parry every time he got hit with something. I think that was his habit.
> Knee noting that he tries to low parry a lot and again, marveling over how Khan hits those Geese CH 4s
> Knee noting that if you don't get zafina out of her stance, she'll mix you to death so using a fireball to get her out of her stance is the best option, as Khan keeps doing
> Also notes that Khan never puts out an aggressive/pre-emptive b+3 here vs Arslan unlike how he would do it vs non-Pakistani players
> Knee continues to compliment Khan on his masterful ability to use movement to lure people to do certain things so that then Khan can make the read and hit them with b+3,2 or 2,f+1 right hand (e.g.: Game 3 Round 4, 19 sec left)
- Knee: So when you're playing against Pakistani players...It's better to fight at close-range. You have to do it.
- Knee: So if you look at how these guys play - when they're further away, they just do jabs and movement, safe stuff, and when they get closer up, they aim for a lot of counterhit moves (moves that are good on CH). They'll only use those moves at that range. So you have to fight up close and if you're further away, you shouldn't press buttons.

*Game 4 Round 2*
> Knee attributes the sidestep right into punish at 20 sec to the fact that Geese's sidestep is very good

*Game 4 Round 3*
- Knee: The thing is, though - if you do a close-range, timing-based fight like this, Geese is inevitably advantageous. This is because once he has meter, the aggressor sort of HAS to back off a bit, right? So in terms of timings and so on, Geese will end up becoming slightly faster [than the opponent]. Especially since Geese has the parry and all.

**Grand Finals: Knee vs Khan**
*Game 1 Round 2*
- Knee: So if you see stuff like this, before in the tournament I managed to even punish stuff like whiffed 1,1s with jab string punishes - but on that day, I only managed to get three hours of sleep, so...There were some smaller whiff punishes that I missed.

*Game 1 Round 3*
> 40 sec - Knee uses feng f+4, Khan immediately crouches underneath and does WS3 + guaranteed OTG grab
- Knee: So I used f+4 here once, right? After I used this and immediately got hit for it, I went, "Alright, I'm not playing this game, then. I'm not going to do it, because he's already predicting all of it."

> Knee continues to talk about the geese b+3,2 vs the feng 1+2 parry RPS; also so far most of khan's b+3 hits that have not been against jab whiffs were due to knee crouching or sidestepping at inopportune times. Also points out that Khan keeps trying to low parry after getting HIT by moves
> viewer: Is trying to low parry after getting hit a decent strategy??
- Knee: Rather than it being 'a decent strategy', it's a way of dealing with the feng MU. Feng has a lot of lows [in his core moveset], so feng also uses them a lot.

*Game 1 Round 4*
> (17 sec left) Knee mentions how  Khan's jabs keep pushing him back and because he was near the wall, he took an unnecessary risk after doing feng b+4(blocked) which is -9 and sidestepped, and that was why he got caught by the b+3.
- Knee: So what I thought after I lost this game was that - I wasn't sure if it was because he had just beaten Arslan to get here or whatever, but his sense/intuition was still alive. His low parries and so on were more on point than they were during Winners Finals. So I was kind of like, "I can't get overwhelmed [by his playstyle], or else..." So I just picked the map real quickly and started up the next game.
- Knee: I think in these situations, you can't think about it [too much]. You have to quickly [move on]. You can't give yourself time to think.

*Game 2 Round 1*
> round @ 57 sec
- Knee: You see? This is what [Pakistani players] do well. You can't punish them, but they're minus, right? But you can't just press a button due to the parry, right? Since you can't press buttons due to the parry, you dash forward to try and mix up their timings. But in response, [Pakistani players] will guard for a bit and then suddenly hit you first. With stuff like geese d/f+2 or 4 or b+3,2. So when facing Pakistani players, it's best not to play this sort of timing-based game where you're trying to dash forward and put out a move around ~20 frames in or so to mix them up. They're specialists in this area. They'll only use those moves in THAT specific range. But then on reaction [when the opponent dashes in] they'll try to attack earlier on.
- Knee: See how he ducks after the blocked geese d/f+2? It's best not to play that game. The reason why is that these guys are already specialists in this sort of playstyle; they have a bunch of experience in this area and for me - trying to win by messing up the opponent's timing and counterhitting them - I hadn't prepared this sort of playstyle, so...It's better to just ignore this sort of game [completely]. You know when you're taking a quiz, right? You answer what you know and pass on the questions that you don't know, and you keep passing until you hit on a question that you do, right? It's like that...If in this sort of fight, the opponent seems better than I am at it, I will just throw it away [and ignore it].
- Knee: Because there are plenty of other ways that I can play out the match. There are a bunch of ways to play out the match, but being stubborn and trying to aim for timing-based counterhits would be...*shakes head* that could be the wrong decision. There are other ways to win.
> round @ 28 sec
- Knee: So this movement - if you look at it - is the same as what he did to Arslan earlier. He'll just dash-dash-dash forward and then back out and do this. You see?
> 25 sec left, khan gets hit with a jab, then low parries feng d+2
- Knee: So here- After I just lost, I thought, "Alright then, this guy is ALWAYS going to try and low parry after getting hit - OK...!"

*Game 2 Round 2*
> 27 sec, Khan gets hit with jab, then low parries d/b+3
- Knee: Jab. Low parry. Right. But the reason why I did THIS was- Look: last time, I did jab(hit) into d+2, right? D+2 is around 20f startup, but d/b+3 is 16f. So since there's around a 4f difference in startup between the two, I needed to know for sure - whether he was doing a fuzzy guard, whether he was literally just crouching and raw low parrying...But since there was a 4f difference and he STILL low parried it - it was just a certainty. This person would JUST do the low parry 100%. So then afterwards (TLN: 18 sec left in the round) I did jab into d/f+3. This is 18f startup, right? 18f. Right...
- Knee: And so he got hit, right?

*Game 2 Round 3*
- Knee: And so afterwards, I kept doing jab(hit) into qcf+1+2 headbutt as well.
> 28 sec left
- Knee: So let's look at this. Jab. I did jab here. Headbutt against low parry. So he blocks the headbutt then fuzzies and gets hit with 1,2 while transitioning to holding back.
- Knee: He had three bars here so I had to be careful, but I guess he was super frustrated because he decided to just go ahead and use d+4.

*Game 2 Round 4*
> start of round khan does sidestep left into 2,f+1 etc
- Knee: I think the fact that he does sidestep into geese 2 at the start of the round is...Of course, there's a part of it where he's doing it because he has the meter - but I think he was aiming for this a lot because he was facing feng. But the good thing for me was - he didn't max mode cancel, so...
- Knee: After he hit me once with 2,f+3, he backdashed and put out geese 2. But since I didn't press buttons into that, he just came up to me and hit me THREE TIMES with geese d/f+3. But ultimately, it was just to lure me into the geese 2 that he even tried to hit me three times with d/f+3.
> round @ 53 seconds, knee does feng d/b+4
- Knee: I meant to do a dash d+4, but I had a misinput. But look at this - he was just trying to do low parries repeatedly during that part and got hit for it (since he continued to hold down-forward). He never planned to block [low] from the start.
> 25 sec left, Khan gets hit with jab, does delay 4
- Knee: See - they get hit with jab, and then they do a timing-based move like with that 4. So these guys - when it's a close-range, timing-based fight, they tend to just put out buttons first. That's what I've found.
> 4 sec left, knee sidesteps right vs geese SS3 and punishes with a single jab, then backs off
- Knee: So if you look here as well - [I saw that] something whiffed, right? Something whiffed. Honestly, if I had done 1,2,2, he would have died. He would have died if I had done 1,2,2, but I had no certainty. Somehow- If I had reacted slowly and done 1,2 and he ducked, I could have gotten hit. So I just did a jab and backed off.
> Knee explaining that doing the jab and backing off and putting Khan in an unwinnable situation had a higher percentage of success than guessing for the 1,2,2 and potentially getting ducked and punished or doing jab into additional buttons - another example of "the many ways to win a game"

*Game 3 Round 1*
- Knee: Unlike how it was three years ago, I wasn't very nervous or anything like that while I was playing. My condition wasn't too bad either. I only slept for three hours, but I didn't really think to myself that I was sleepy or anything.

*Game 3 Round 2*
> Round @ 57 sec; knee avoids geese d/f+2 with b+3+4 KNP, then does d/f+1(hit), then dashes forward while Khan does an early 4(hit)
- Knee: See how he does it right away after the d/f+2? So the Korean style is...we dash forward a lot in order to mess up timings and then attack, but THAT'S why we keep getting counterhit [by the Pakistani players]. Those attacks won't work on them. Once you get in close-range, they just...strike [first].
> 29 sec left - jab into jab gets hit by feng 1+2 parry; another example of how the "safest" option after a jab is another jab, so that's what knee aimed to punish and that's why Khan kept getting hit by feng 1+2.
> 8 sec left
- Knee: When I do stuff like jab into b+3+4 KNP, honestly, it's just - my hands just does it automatically. Rather than thinking [precisely] about it or whatever, there's this just- sense of danger, so I just did b+3+4. Then I saw that something whiffed, and I punished.
- Knee: And from this point, the game is already over. I can just hold back and the game is over.

*Game 3 Round 3*
> round @ 43 sec, knee does 1,2(hit) to put khan into rage, then dashes forward for a delayed attack which gets CHed by khan's geese 4
- Knee: So look - this is what I keep saying. This is what you shouldn't do vs Pakistani players: if you dash forward to mess up their timing, you get counterhit.
- Knee: But honestly, at first, the reason why people lose against Pakistani players is stuff like this. This style of play (dash forward delay attack) works a lot in KR/JP, you see? This method of offense. Because Korea has used this playstyle so much, and top players have kept using this playstyle, so the people who have watched and learned from them use the same playstyle. So to KR/JP players, this is such an obvious process in the mindgames, but Pakistani players will NOT allow that step to even happen. They go, "Oh, you came up close to me? I'm going to press a counterhit button." But they make sure that it's a button that poses no risk to them even if it gets blocked.
- Knee: And so I got hit here.
- Every region has their own mindgames.

*Game 3 Round 4*
- Knee: So watch this. Start of round, jab(hit) into d/f+3 gets blocked, right? But then I do it again a bit later (round @ 50 seconds) - but there's a difference, there's a detail that's different. I dashed slightly and then did d/f+3.
- Knee: So then...Since I dashed slightly into d/f+3 - you know their style, right? The timing-based fights? So he actually pressed a button there. If you listen to the sound, you can hear a button coming out [from geese].
> round @ 43 sec, Khan gets hit by a jab, attempts, b+3,2, gets hit again
- Knee: So look at this - even as they're getting bashed around, they're still pressing b+3,2. I hit him with jab, but then he pressed b+3,2 [anyways].
> round @ 35 sec, Khan does d/f+2(blocked) into b+3,2, gets second part parried by feng 1+2
- Knee: See, here as well, right? He's minus after the blocked d/f+2, but then he blocks for a tiny bit and then immediately does b+3,2.
> round @ 30 sec
- Knee: So after this geese SS3 hit, he's pretty plus - he's at +5 or +6 or something. So when geese does d/f+1 here, feng u/f+2 should avoid it, since you can avoid geese d/f+1 by sidestepping to the left.

*Game 4 Round 1*
> Round @ 53 sec, geese does d+2(hit) then does d+4(blocked)
- Knee: I just did a backdash crouch here, but he ended up using d+4...
> Round @ 49 sec, knee does ...W! 1+4 b+1 which whiffs
- Knee: Do you guys know why I used this? The reason why I used this was because...doing this - the 1+4 b+1, gives you 1 more damage than using 2,4,1 at the wall. But b+1 probably didn't hit because feng was diagonally facing the wall.

*Game 4 Round 2*
> Round @ 52 sec, Khan runs up, d/f+2(blocked), then gets hit by a jab
- Knee: See this? Due to the "minus frames" RPS that they play, I pressed jab after the d/f+2. They got hit - this means they were pressing a button. He's pressing b+3. Right?
- Knee: But even at THIS stage, he was just trying to low parry like crazy...*laughs*
> Round @ 24 sec, knee does backturn into mid, gets punished
- Knee: Man...I thought he'd duck because of the backturn grab, but he just stood there...

*Game 4 Round 3*
> viewer: So why didn't you use b+1?
- Knee: Why didn't I use b+1? Was there...a reason to use b+1? When I was playing against him, there weren't any particular timings where I could use b+1, though...?
> Round @ 48 sec
- Knee: Jab hit. Headbutt. See? He crouched, and then went immediately for WS3 which got countered.
> Round @ 33 sec, Knee gets hit by geese b+3,2
- Knee: Here I didn't do 1+2 - I actually did the b+1+3/b+2+4 parries here, but apparently they didn't come out (misinput)...
> 18 sec left, Khan gets hit by feng SS4 low
- Knee: Oh yeah, I was aiming for this. So I would move around a lot, and then do a slight sidestep, and if the opponent CAME IN during the sidestep, I would press 4 to do SS4 no matter what. That's how it works. So I was watching him and he came in, so I pressed 4.
- Knee: That low is 20f startup, so it's hard to react to and block. You have to almost predict it.

*Game 4 Round 4*
> Round @ 55 sec, Khan gets hit by jab and then low parries feng d/b+3
- Knee: So at this point as well, honestly, I just used d/b+3 because I wanted to see to WHAT extent he would [keep] low parrying. But he KEPT low parrying, so I was like, "Jeez...This is a bit much..."
- Knee: It's not a good idea to be stubborn.
> Round @ 43 sec, Khan gets the b+3 hit but hesitates on converting it due to failed hitconfirm
- Knee: So this is the good thing about playing feng [in this MU]. Even if geese hits the b+3, he - *laughs* - he's a bit afraid of getting hit by the 1+2 parry, so he can't use the b+3,2 followup. So that's the good part.

*Game 4 Round 5*
> Round @ 58 sec, Khan does b+3(blocked),2 max mode cancel into d/f+1, Knee sidesteps it to the right without pressing buttons the entire time
- Knee: So here - [when people say,] "Can't you just press 1+2 parry or b+1+3/b+2+4 parry against the b+3,2?" I mean I CAN do it, but -
- Knee: It's best not to keep playing games of chance, everyone. JUST BLOCKING is good as well, and all I need to do here is not get hit - and I can just let him waste his meter. I can just WAIT until his max mode runs out.
- Knee: See? It ended with no harm to me. But should I have needlessly- If I hit 1+2 there, it's nice, but...it's not like that was the DEFINITE answer [to the situation].
- Knee: Not pressing buttons is also an answer everyone. There are multiple answers.
> Round @ 50 sec, geese whiffs and back is turned towards feng, feng punishes with 1,2,2
- Knee: Man - if my condition was a bit better, I would have punished this with hopkick, but - I apparently wasn't able to do that. I punished it with 1,2,2.
> Round @ 44 sec - Khan hits Knee with a jab, then Knee low parries geese d+2
- Knee: I low parried after getting hit with a jab as well. *smirks*
> Round @ 34 sec, knee whiffs feng 1,3 and Khan punishes with geese 1,1,2
- Knee: I was honestly really lucky here, see? I should have gotten punished with geese 2,f+1. I should have gotten hit with it, but Khan was scared as well, so he could only punish it with 1,1,2.
> Knee points out another 1,3 whiff at 25 sec left that was big and should have been punished better but again was only punished by geese 1,1,2
- Knee: So at this point, when I looked at his gauge, he had two bars. But with this much HP - when they're coming at you and there's no time, you tend to want to press buttons, right? You can't press buttons in this situation. Because at this point, I already didn't believe that I was the one at a disadvantage. (TLN: And so he felt ok about backing off)
- Knee: So I didn't press anything, and even AFTER I got hit by this d/f+3, I was like, "I'm fine."
- Knee: But then he whiffed that d+2 [at long range], right? From my perspective, this was a trap. There was no REASON for him to use d+2 at that range.
> Khan whiffs d+2 again
- Knee: Right? I mean, of course he could have used it to try and chip away at my HP - but this feels a bit iffy, right? He explicitly used THIS move at THIS range? Technically, I could have gone in for an attack here, right? He whiffed d+2 and I could have gone in with a d/b+3 or something. But something felt fishy.
- Knee: So I [dash] jab here and he IMMEDIATELY goes for WS1,f+1 into max mode. Look at this. If I had used 1,2 here, I would have 100% been counterhit by the WS1 and lost. But I only used the one jab, so I didn't get counterhit.
- Knee: But at this point...I honestly wasn't watching the timer. I wasn't watching the timer, but- Even though I had my headset on, the crowd was - counting down the time, so I could HEAR them. So as the crowd was shouting, "EIGHT! SEVEN!" I looked at the time. And so at this point, if each person had about this much HP, [Khan] has no time, right? Was what I was thinking. And so...
> 6 sec left
- Knee: So the u/f+3 avoids the SS3, right? So in order to make a comeback, he needs to use moves that do a BIT more damage. But doing d+4 in this situation is a bit of a risky proposition, right? Because if it gets blocked, the game is over. So this geese SS3 - it has good damage, the frame advantage on hit is good, and if it counterhits, he wins the game. So he picked that. And so I just used u/f+2.
> 5 sec left
- Knee: So I thought he was gonna come in no matter what (because there was no time) and just pressed zoning 1,3, but he got hit. But the moment he got hit, I thought to myself, "This game is over."
- Knee: So I just back off here. And there was zero reason to lose here.
- Knee: So if you think about it - after he got hit by u/f+2, if he pretended to be a crazy person and pressed d+4, I would have lost, honestly (TLN: CH d+4 vs 1,3).
- Knee: But there was no time, so I thought he would just rush in and so I put out a 1,3 - and it hit.

**After Winning EVO**
- Knee: Man...*laughs* Honestly, the thoughts that came to my head after winning were...There was honestly nothing but, "Wow! I won!" in my head...

> Really liked Rip's commentary at the end about how Knee FINALLY won EVO after all of these years
> Recounts all of his 2nd places and below in previous years at EVO and non-attendance, as well as the fact that it had been six years of Tekken 7 already (and without an EVO)
> Chanel tried to climb upstage but was barred
> In terms of just the US EVO, it had been nine years since his last EVO victory

**Bonus stuff during victory celebration**
> People couldn't pronounce Meo-il's name properly, so sumi (the announcer on stage) had to pronounce it properly for them

================ End of translation ==============

The rest of the stream is him just soaking up more donations and browsing through VODs of other people playing during the tournament (e.g.: Shadow20z vs Arslan Ash). He did more analyses on those but only translating his commentary on his EVO top 8 run here.

For questions in EN/JP/KR, message https://www.reddit.com/user/genericremix/.

TLN: I wonder if Kobore-san will bother translating this one as well on the JP side? Probably not - it's not as exciting as the Sodam rant was and it's pretty long-winded...