Canada Cup 2012: DM MCZ Xian Takes Home AE & KOF13 Gold

UPDATED OCT 28 2012, 1400hrs: Early this morning, Singapore finally flew her flag for a competitive gaming win on the international stage. Ho Kun Xian, better known as DM MCZ Xian, won the country’s first major with his seizing of the Canada Cup 2012 Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition championship.

The 22 year old is a sponsored player and has played on many an international stage. However it was only this weekend that he finally hit his stride, beating the likes of Mago, Bonchan, and Fuudo, as well as Ricky Ortiz, to place first.

DM MCZ Xian dominated in the Top 16 in straight sets of 2 – 0, but his Grand Finals win did not come easy. Mago managed to reset the brackets by taking the first set, prompting Xian’s Team Desperation Move teammate Zhi Liang Chew, better known as DM MCZ Zhi, to call a time out for some quick coaching.

“It’s something I didn’t see when playing the game,” explained Xian, post-match, on the stream. “That really helped.”

The Gen player came back from that short break to beat Mago for the championship. Canada Cup’s AE is a first Major win for both Singapore and the character Gen.

“Gen is a mid tier character, but no one knows the matchup very well, so that gives me an advantage,” said Xian, of his decision to use the character. He had been playing Gen for about a year, having switched over from  Yun.

Xian’s win is especially significant for competitive gaming in Singapore, as it is the first time in recent years that a Singaporean player has placed first for such a notable game on the international stage. The country’s first Major win was by David ‘RealDeal’ Sim for Super Street Fighter II Turbo at last year’s Canada Cup. Singapore is on a roll with competitive fighting games, considering it was just in July that Jovian ‘Shen Chan’ Chan placed second for Soul Calibur V at the EVO Championship Series. Xian has also placed 13th in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and 4th in Persona 4 Arena.

Early this morning, our Singapore boy also placed first for King of Fighters XIII, beating players like Tokido and Justin Wong, and (yes!) Mago again.  Xian is also representing the Southeast Asian region in the internationally diverse 5v5 SSF4AE tournament: the SEA team has made their way to the winner’s bracket after a One Character Victory upset by newcomer to the stage, Singaporean Kaiser Sim. Kaiser is Xian’s teammate in Desperation Move.

UPDATE OCT 29 2012, 0715hrs: Team Southeast Asia has been knocked out of the 5v5 tournament by Team Korea, finishing at a respectable fourth place. The Southeast Asian roster, consisting of Desperation Move-Mad Catz Xian, Kaiser, and Zhi, and Avermedia’s Gamerbee, and HumanBomb, managed to beat Canada 1, but were knocked to the loser’s bracket by USA 2. The subsequent match with Team Korea saw Mad Catz and Western Wolves’ INFILTRATION putting the SEA team to rest.