#darkmavid

(With David Hayter on left)

Name: David Mark

Handle(s): Dark Mavid

Current City and State: West Jordan, Utah (Formerly Charlotte, NC)

Games You Play: Blazblue Central Fiction

Match Highlight:

Tell us about yourself. How did you get your start into fighting games?

When I was about 7 or so, my brother got a game called Rival Schools for the PS1 and I really liked the pacing of that kind of game. 

A few years later, I found myself a copy of Bloody Roar 3 and was able to play a character that reminded me of Dante from Devil May Cry (Xion the Unborn). 

After an extremely long hiatus, I found Blazblue Calamity Trigger and messed around with it on PSP (Playstation Portable), and finally found some people a few years later to actually play the game with, which brought me back into the series and genre with Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend. 

In your game of choice, which character(s) do you play and why specifically those characters?

“It doesn’t matter the game, I only fuck with characters that got that ninja shit” - Sasuke Uchiha. 

But no, I really like high mobility characters. I’ve always been one that favored movement over damage in all types of things. It’s especially good for me if the character has counters and deep mixups, as well as high execution. 

I like having to work for my style.

What is your approach to the way you play your game? What do you tend to go for and what do you tend to look for in your opponents?

“How many bullshit ideas can I get away with?”

That is to say, I like doing a lot of things that either don’t look like they should work or things that make people wonder “how do I block that???”  

I also just like doing things that makes the crowd get excited. I’m still not 100% sure what exactly I go for in a match, but I know I tend to look at how my opponent adapts to my setups and pressure so I know how to change it the next time I try. 

Whether or not I actually do change it up is a completely different story.

I like doing things like this. And making combos like this. 

What are some of the things that you that you liked about the North Carolina FGC when you were here? What are some things you wish could change? What about your current fighting game scene?

From my time in NC, I really liked how the anime community stuck together and just like, enjoyed playing games with people. There wasn’t any dickriding, no exclusion, no one that made people roll their eyes when they showed up to events, none of that.  I loved the Charlotte anime scene - as small as it was.  

That’s not to say there isn’t anything I’d change about the NC FGC. No, no, there’s a lot, actually, but that’s all mostly on personal levels with people I haven’t spoken to in over 2 years, so it’s really not my place to even mention anything. 

I haven’t been in Utah for very long, but I do love how the entire FGC here isn’t afraid to cross the streams. That is to say, Tekken players also play anime and are proud of it, and there’s even a cross between with Smash players. That is, Smash events and FGC events happen in the same room at the same time, encouraging broadening horizons and crushing stigmas.

The only thing I would want to change is that I’ve been told that there’s plenty of good Blazblue players out here, but none of them show up anymore or they dropped the game for BBTag. I wish I could make those players show up and enter locals again, but I’m about a year too late for that, sadly.

What is the match you remember the most and what made it so memorable?

It’s a series of matches, really, and none of them my own. The casual matches between Prototype (now known as Zonk) and IAmSimba at UNCC (The University of North Carolina at Charlotte) in USF4 (Ultra Street Fighter 4) were some of the most entertaining matches I have ever seen. 

I was confident in my thought that if USF4 had lasted another few years, Zonk could have easily gone pro - and watching his performances in V, I’m still seeing that potential. The guy plays at a level I honestly don’t see a lot of in NC and he’ll always have my respect for that because honestly, it’s so damn fun to watch.

Finally, any advice for any of the newer players looking to join their local scene?

It doesn’t matter what your skill level is; come out to your locals and meet some people, shake some hands, play some casuals. That being said, don’t be deterred from entering a bracket if you lost a lot in casuals. Enter for the fun and the experience of it. If you really enjoy your game, even losses can help you grow as a player. Trust me on this.