[Interview] Kaibutsu

[ohitsstef]

[div align=\\\"center\\\"]Kaibutsu aka Joshua
[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"http://i.imgur.com/TInsoTR.png\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"400\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"http://i.imgur.com/TInsoTR.png\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]


Age 28
Tetris Age 23
NES Tetris Era – when players rotate one way

High scores
40L - 38.77
Cultris 2 - 2:43.17 Survivor
Cultris 2 - 13 Max Combo
Cultris 2 - 59 James Clewett’s

Tournament standings
PS3 1v1 Tetris World Championship: Runner-up (Lost to Blink)
TTO2: Round of 128 (Lost to Hebo_MAI)
TTO3: Round of 64 (Lost to MicroBlizz)[/div]

How did you get into the Tetris scene and what Tetris games have you played?[/size]
My earliest Tetris memory was when I was 5 in 1990. I used to play NES Tetris. I just remember it was one of the NES games I had.  I thought I was quite decent for my age. Right off the bat, my greatest skill was keeping my stack flat. And with a memoryless randomizer, that's quite a feat to achieve. I also learned how to use both rotate buttons early on. I notice a lot of new Tetris players when they start out, they only rotate their pieces one way. I don't remember what my highest score was. I think the furthest level I went up to was level 21-22.

Then when I was in 2nd grade, or around 7, I used to play a lot of Gameboy Tetris with my friend after school. My friend and I had our own Gameboys, our own Tetris game, and we had a link cable (setting up 2-player Gameboy Tetris was such a pain). So this was the first time I played multiplayer Tetris. And even then, I was kicking my friend's ass.

Around 5th grade, I used to play a lot of Tetris/Dr. Mario for the SNES against my cousin.  It's probably my favorite retro Tetris game. I was actually better at Dr. Mario than I was at Tetris. My cousin was better than me at Marathon Tetris than I was, since he was able to move his pieces faster to the sides at the higher levels, but I was better than him at multiplayer Tetris.

Then when I was around 13, I played Tetris DX on the GameBoy Color. The controls were so much smoother than the Gameboy Tetris. I think this game was one of the first games to introduce Ultra and 40 lines mode. I remember my fastest time on 40 lines was on Level 9 Height 5 for a time of 1:13, which I thought was pretty good considering the very slow line clear delay and how fast and high up you were in the matrix.

In high school, I played Tetris Worlds for the Playstation 2. Honestly, this is probably the only Tetris game I’ve played that I didn’t like. The graphics were trippy. I didn’t like all the different variants. The multiplayer was bland. You can tell this game tried to go in a completely different direction from previous Tetris games, and I wasn’t ready to adapt to it.

In college, I played Tetris DS. Now, this is when my interest in Tetris grew at a higher level. This is the first guideline game. When I started playing this game, my rating was between 6000-6500. I was strictly a stick player; I only did Tetrises.  When I played against people in the 7000s, most of them, not surprisingly, were Japanese players. And they used to destroy me because all of them knew how to do T-spins, which was a new concept to me. So what my cousin (triple_lei) did was he rigged a camcorder and a tripod to record down on his Nintendo DS. And he would record these Japanese players, one of which was the legendary player TKI. So he would transfer the video onto his computer and we would study all the different T-spin setups these guys were doing. He used to draw all these different T-spin openers on graph paper and showed them to me. We would discuss things like, if we got an "I” piece in the beginning of the opening bag, we can do the TKI setup; if we got an SZ start, we can do the C-spin; if we got a “T” piece early, we can do the TKI DT Cannon. So my cousin uploaded on his Youtube account a lot of videos from Japanese players. He was the first to share these techniques to the Western world. I think he named his videos, “Totally Stolen Strats Vol. 1” or something. After studying how the Japanese played Tetris, the highest rating I achieved in Tetris DS was somewhere over 7500.

After Tetris DS, I played Tetris Party Deluxe for the Wii and the NDS. A lot people hated this game. In terms of gameplay, I thought this game was better than what most people give it credit for. It was faster. The controls were smoother. The game rewarded all spins. What I didn’t like about this game: not many people were online; the matchmaking system was worse; and this game freaking introduced combos. For those who know me, I’m the biggest hater of combos.

I then transitioned into PS3 Tetris. This was the game that I started to get a little bit of recognition and where my obsession and competitiveness of Tetris began. I used to play this game all the time and I was already one of its best players. This is the first game where I can make new friends and we can voice chat in game or invite each other to a private game. The PS3 Team Battle is the best team mode I’ve played in any Tetris game. This was also the period of time where I started to meet several notable players from Harddrop, such as caffeine, Maserati, Blink, arf, and Johnny.

After PS3 Tetris, I then made my first transition to PC Tetris. I was so scared at first to play PC Tetris. My first impression when I joined Harddrop was that I thought all the members were of Blink’s level, that I had no business anywhere in this domain. I may have been a big fish in console and handheld Tetris, but I’m on the bottom of the totem pole in PC Tetris. First of all, I avoided PC Tetris like the plague. I never had the ability to play Tetris on a keyboard because I used a d-pad my whole life. When I first tried to use a keyboard, it felt like I had two left hands. Then a friend of mine from the PS3 told me that I can play on the PC using my PS3 controller.
So he showed me how to connect my PS3 controller to the PC and told me to download TOP.

So TOP was the first PC Tetris client I played on. I was so amazed of how fast these players were. I saw replays of them doing sub 30. And at this time, I barely could’ve subbed 50. But when I first played multiplayer on TOP, I actually did quite well for myself, especially against players who were so much faster than me. The only thing that I really had to adjust to was the speed of the game, which didn’t take me that long at all. I already had a good Tetris base, a conceptual framework of how to play the game. My skills were more polished than most of these players. I had good fundamentals. I think at this time, my average apm was anywhere between 50-65. I remember playing TOP so much, that in the first month, I played over 10,000 games.

After TOP, I moved over to Tetris Friends. This is where I met most of my friends and/or foes I have played over the years. I hate the lag and the community can be a bit trollish sometimes. But overall, it’s a nice Tetris client to play on.

Then, I played a little bit of Tetris Battle. Unfortunately, I was one of the poor suckers who paid to have maximum tuning. I thought TB was alright if you have full customization. I didn’t have any Facebook friends to play with, so it got boring playing against a bunch of strangers.

Next, I played some Nullpomino and Nullpomino League. Nullpo has the best controls. The interface wasn’t user friendly. I think Nullpo is the best for single player modes, particularly 40 lines and Dig Challenge. However, since I’m mostly into multiplayer and there aren’t many people online, I don’t play Nullpo that much.

So this year, I started to play Cultris 2. During the first few weeks, I’d rage quit a lot. It was like learning a whole new Tetris game from scratch. I had so much trouble getting used to the DAS, especially with a controller. It felt so slippery. None of my strengths I had in guideline transferred over well except for my downstacking. But after watching virulent streamed so much Cultris 2 on Harddrop, I learned so much about the game. I like to use this analogy regarding guideline Tetris and Cultris 2. In guideline Tetris, you always want “to keep your room clean.” In C2, you always want “to clean your room”. In other words, in C2, you are never going to have a clean stack. Your job is to make the room as clean as possible while garbage is being poured in and put your pieces at an acceptable place. In guideline, you have more control of how your room looks like, so your job is to be as organized as possible and put the pieces where they fit best or put them in the most optimal position. So after a few months of non-stop C2 practice, I finally became a competent player.

Finally, I briefly touched upon a few games after C2. I played Blockbox once. It’s not a game I would regularly play. There aren’t many players who play, and the players who do play are just too good for me. I played some of Misa’s AI bot. I quit after getting destroyed by the Lvl 7 bot. I played the Japanese Playstation 2 Tetris game called New Century Tetris. I think this game is my most ideal game in terms of garbage distribution and attack. T-spins are ridiculously OP in this game. They don’t send straight garbage like Tetrises do.

The next Tetris game I look forward to playing is Puyo Puyo Tetris for the PS3 set out to release in 2014. I’ll only play it casually though. I don’t want to get too serious into Tetris again. In fact, I’m more interested in the Puyo Puyo part of the game than I am the Tetris part. It’ll give me something else to learn and be obsessed with.

How was your experience at the Classic Tetris World Championship?
It was the 2011 Classic Tetris World Championship held in California at USC. The tournament focused mostly on NES Tetris. There were also a PS3 Tetris tournament for both 1v1 and a team battle section. I only participated in the PS3 tourney. I was very determined to win. Before the tournament was announced, I played PS3 Tetris for 4-8 hours a day since it was released. When I found out about the tournament, I trained for 8-10 hours a day. The month leading up to the tournament was probably the most fun I ever had, because all these great players were starting to emerge. I remembered the first time I played against Blink. I already knew about his reputation. So I was very nervous when I played against him. I think the first set we played, he won 15-8 or something. Then, he told me that I was a good player. He was already committed to arf to be his partner in the team battle section. But after playing against me, Blink said that he wanted me to be his partner instead. So Blink tried to get out his partnership with arf, but arf made Blink commit to him. So arf kind of cock blocked me (I have no hard feelings for arf, btw). I would’ve done the same thing. So I sought after the next best American PS3 Tetris player, which was Johnny. But he didn’t have the money to travel to Cali. So I had to settle for caffaine (jk, I love you, caff).

So I was projected to be the runner-up in the PS3 1v1 tournament, and caffeine and I were projected to be the runner-ups in the team battle section. At the tournament, I met for the first time some of the NES Tetris masters (Harry Hong, Jonas Neubauer, Ben Mullen, and Alex Kerr), as well as some popular harddrop members (Blink, caffeine, chopin, and arf). When I first met Blink, my first impression was “biggest in aura, shortest in appearance.”

I had several hours to qualify for the PS3 1v1 tournament. In order to qualify, you have to be the top 8 players to clear 40 lines the fastest. I ended up 5th place with a time of 0:55. Caffeine was tied for 1st with 0:50. Blink was 3rd with 0:53. I didn’t care about my seeding, as long as I avoided Blink’s bracket.

When the qualifiers were over, we started the PS3 team battle tournament. Caffeine and I first played my cousin (triple_lei) and chopin. We beat them 4-0. Then we had to play Blink and arf. Our best hope against Blink and arf was for caffeine and I to do simultaneous perfect clears and top them out. However, this was a very risky strategy, because in team battle, you only have 1 preview. We got very lucky with this strategy in our first matchup, but not so much against them. In the end, Blink and arf out-APM’ed us and we lost 4-1. Blink and arf advanced to the finals and ultimately won against Kitaru and cubixcreature, I believe, 4-0.

After the PS3 team battle preliminaries were over, we simultaneously had the head-to-head NES Tetris and PS3 Tetris matches going on. I won in my first match against someone I didn’t know, 4-2. In the semi-finals, I defeated caffeine, 4-1. And in the finals, I lost to Blink, 1-4. But in my sole win against Blink, I made the most epic comeback. Someone uploaded that game in particular, and now it’s on my Youtube channel. So yay, me! Blink wasn’t undefeated in his run to the top.

Overall, my experience of that tournament was very positive. I had a lot of fun. It was a pleasure and honor to meet such great Tetris players. The only disappointment I had of that day was I went home empty-handed. Blink won $1,500. Arf won $500. Caffeine won a free Tetris Link. I think Chopin won something free. I only have a Tetris VIP badge that was given to all qualified participants.

Since you don’t like combos do you think combos should be weakened or taken out completely?
I spent most of my time learning guideline Tetris on Tetris DS and PS3 Tetris, both of which did not reward combos. So my strategy has been setting up a T-spin opener and hitting constant back-to-backs. And this has remained my strategy today. If I wanted to send messier garbage, I would spam doubles, triples and T-spin singles. When I downstack, I try to avoid doing singles as much as possible since that’s the most inefficient move in a non-combo game.

When I first played TOP, a lot of Korean or Taiwanese players would spam 3w or 4w. It used to annoy the hell out of me. The biggest offender was iljain. So I thought my only strategy against combos was to do combos myself. So I added middle 4w to my arsenal, but I rarely use it. So my counters now against a combo-er is to do at least 3 early T-spin doubles (14 lines) or a nicely timed perfect clear if they are side combo-ing, and hopefully, I can survive whatever combo they pull out. I usually give an opponent one free game where they successfully combo me. If they do it to me again, I usually just leave.

I don’t think combos should be taken out completely. It adds a different element to the game. I do like the concept of garbage blocking, and a skilled combo downstack is very satisfying. I just oppose combo starters. It puts so much pressure on me to not misdrop and send as much early lines as possible. And the games aren’t really fun. It’s an all-or-nothing kind of strategy. And I notice people who rely on combos generally don’t have a strong midgame. So if I do survive their initial combo, they pretty much suck. Should combos be weakened then? I don’t know, maybe. If it was up to me, combos shouldn’t be rewarded for the first 20-30 seconds of the game.

What's your take on Cultris II then? It depends a lot on combo openers as well as combo downstacking.
I love C2. I don't mind the combos in C2 because that's the most viable way to play. It's completely different from a game like TF. The combos in C2 are timer based, not consecutive based. And the randomizer in C2 is not 7-bag and there is no hold, so it not like you can do a traditional 3w or 4w in C2. It takes more skill to pull off a high combo in C2 than it does in TF.  Besides, I think of C2 as more of a downstacking game than a comboing game.

What would your dream tetris game be like?
For starters, it would be free. It would have the full customization and all single-player modes of Nullpomino. It would have the user-friendliness and community as large as Tetris Friends. Obviously, there wouldn’t be lag and there would be no ads. And there would be no cap of the amount of friends you can add. It would have the ELO rating system of TOP, so people can identify how good a player is rather than a ranking system. It would have the social features of Cultris, like no filtering in chats (you still have the option to block or ignore someone), unlimited spectators, unlimited players in FFA (fractional garbage system used, no target system). I think it would be cool to have an in-game voice feature like in Tetris Splash or PS3 Tetris. You can make private rooms. You can make rooms with no spectators. You can play with items or maps.

In terms of gameplay, perfect clears should be better than sending 10 lines of clean garbage, perhaps 4 or 5 lines of messy garbage. T-spin minis should send 1 line and count for back-to-backs. Back-to-backs should be better than they are now, either change the garbage hole for B2B or add an additional garbage hole. T-spin triples should not be 6 lines of clean garbage, perhaps 4 lines of clean garbage and 2 lines change of garbage hole on top of the 4 lines. Tetrises, T-spin doubles, combos, 7-bag, SRS, holds, multiple previews are fine.

I would also like to see better online team modes. I loved the PS3 team battle mode because it’s very unique. But the problem was that you send solid garbage lines and it becomes a APM war, so downstacking isn’t as important. The team modes for Tetris Friends, TOP, and Nullpo are kind of boring after awhile. The team with the best player usually wins. I like the team system of Cultris 2 a lot. There are no limits to how many players are on a team, and you get to pick and switch teams easily.

If you hadn’t played Tetris, what do you think your life would be like now? Would you have played other games?
I can’t accurately speculate how my life would’ve turned out if I never played Tetris. I probably would’ve played Tetris at least once since it’s one of the most widely played video games in history. Now, if I never took it seriously, I still would be playing a lot of video games. I don’t think I would’ve committed to one particular game, or be as competitive or as good in any other game. I played some fighting games like Street Fighter and Tekken. I loved playing Final Fantasy. I was into the Yu-Gi-Oh! games for awhile. My friend and I used to play Contra a lot. I played the first few Resident Evil games. Then, I became a wuss because it got too scary for me.

The best thing for me if I never played Tetris is that I would have a more productive life. It frightens me thinking about how much I played Tetris in the past few years alone. The worst thing for me if I never played Tetris is that I wouldn’t have met some of my amazing friends today, some of whom I have bonded more than my IRL friends. So in the end, Tetris has done me more good than harm.

Why are you retiring from Tetris and what will you do after retirement?
When I first started playing Tetris, I played just for fun. I didn’t care for high scores or becoming a competitive Tetris player. When I started playing PS3 Tetris, I became more competitive in multiplayer Tetris to the point where it became an obsession. I was so obsessed about becoming better and winning that I would rage quit whenever I found someone better than me. I practiced so hard and played so much that I thought I reached the point of my full potential. So at that point, I “retired” from the game. But what brought me back was the social aspect of the game. I wanted to make new friends. And I did make several good friends. But recently, a lot of those friends have left the game, and in some cases, they left me. So now, I have lost that passion, that reason to continue on. I have reached all the goals I have set out for myself. I lost the fun factor. I lost my competitive edge. And I lost that social element of the game. I might play Tetris again someday, but it will be very casual and it won’t be under this name. I’ll still lurk around Harddrop and watch some streams.

I’m going to focus more on my career. This month, I can apply for my certified public accountant (CPA) license. So hopefully, at the beginning of next year, I will be a CPA. I’m also looking to pursue a real estate license at my work. I’m still going to play games. I need suggestions other than FPS games or League. I played two games after I quit Tetris. One of them, I got stuck in the first 5 minutes, so I quit. The other was a RPG that I got bored playing after 30 minutes. I’m a moderator for my friend who streams regularly, so I’m going to continue to support her with that. I feel like now I have the time to catch up on some TV shows that I always wanted to see but didn’t get around to. So I’m keeping myself busy with no Tetris.

Do you have any shout outs?
My shout outs can be divided into three categories.

My first list of shout outs goes out to seven specific players. These players have provided the framework of how I play Tetris. By watching these individuals play, I developed my style of play by selecting and molding their best characteristics or skills into my own.

• TKI (Tetris DS) - The man who started it all. All of my T-spin openers, I learned through him. This man was a T-spin genius. I learned how to be more proficient in T-spins from watching him play.
• Chopin (Youtube) - Chopin’s Twist Guide video on Youtube is the most influential Tetris video I’ve seen, only behind my cousin’s stolen strats videos of TKI. I learned all the basic spins and rotations of SRS. His video is most helpful in fixing misdrops, which are inevitable in Tetris.
• Maserati (PS3 Tetris) - Maserati inspired me to become a faster Tetris player. He was one of the fastest players I’ve seen at the time. So I worked heavily on my 40-line time for a short while. He was also the first person to expose me to a 6-3 stack. It’s very flexible for a Tetris/T-spin hybrid build, therefore, I became more back-to-back conscious because of him.
• Zin_ss (PS3 Tetris) - He’s the first player to ever humble me. An underrated Japanese player, when success got to my head, he layeth the smackdown on me. Afterwards, I asked him, “How do I become a better Tetris player?” He replied with something like, “Tetris is not about destroying your opponent. It’s about surviving.” That lesson hit home. He was basically telling me that downstacking takes much more importance than APM, that I shouldn’t be covering my garbage holes in order to outsend more lines. From that meeting onwards, I rarely ever admit that I can beat someone or that I’m better than someone. Oh, he also showed me how to do perfect clears.
• HD_Blink (PS3 Tetris) - Blink has showed me how to become a more efficient player. He showed me that a line clear that doesn’t send or block lines is very wasteful. He taught me about timing, watching your opponent’s screen, and how to maintain a very clean stack.
• Virulent (TOP) - When I first played against virulent, our matches were very even. I would always have the better APM and efficiency stats. She would have the better speed stats. But what I noticed from watching her games closely was that her downstacking was at an elite level. So if zin_ss showed me the big picture of downstacking, I learned the details of downstacking from virulent. And I give virulent all the credit for my C2 skills. I watched her stream every time she was on.
• Hebo_MAI (Tetris Friends) - I became a higher APM player because of Hebo showing me some advanced T-spin techniques. He showed me how to have a strong side game, where you have your Tetris column at the very edge. There are 5 possible moves you can do: 1) Tetris, 2)  Kaidan, 3) Yoshihiro, 4) ST Arrow, 5) Donations. I developed a stronger midgame and endgame as well.

My next list of shoutouts goes to my friends and/or foes that I made or enjoyed playing against, and the client I associated them with most.

• PS3 Tetris: Roxas, ChildofGod, my German posse (growup, Alkoholic, Whiskey)
• TOP: xenoslash, arf, Larry, Barney, perfectclear, iljain, joeybeans, ZeroT, pokemino, Xeal, Paul676, BeastinShen, jixsoo (yes, even you)
• Tetris Friends: kickniss, charchar_baby, shadowrose64, BentoBoxer, CaptainPaul, HD_Blitz, MicroBlizz, Aluriel, Vince_L, Destiny, master, chortles, iHotShot, Affezippel, Hattze, chrisw
• Nullpomino: Profane, Vlad
• Cultris 2: Martin, leilickan, poopmo, piper, sheenie, vipjun, kolibri, dreamy, Carolyn (why are you so pro in everything?), Jadessly

And this last list of shoutouts goes to people that should receive special recognition.

• triple_lei - He was my own personal Harddrop before Harddrop even existed. He provided me with countless video recordings to study with. He was my own personal fumen and a sparring partner that was always available.
• HoneyGirl-_-27 - She was my first close Tetris friend I made online. She is also my first and only Tetris student. I have offered to teach several people how to play the game, but no one else has ever committed to learn.
• caffeine - My PS3 team partner. He’s also my favorite of all the brilliant Tetris minds. I like reading his posts, even if I don’t understand half of the things he talks about.
• Parkzer - He’s my favorite Tetris commentator. As a Tetris videoholic, I like watching streams that are very fun, informative, and interactive. And he’s the best around.
• SirJeivus - I enjoy watching his YouTube channel. It’s great seeing a pro player play from his POV and not the streamer’s POV. He also featured me in one of his videos. So I had a lot people come and ask me, “Are you the guy that played SirJeivus?” So he boosted my reputation a bit with his many followers.
• rowa_ks - He’s my Tetris inspiration. He has shown me that you can be a top tier Tetris player using a controller. He has been the standard I always wanted to end up to.
• jkwon23 - He’s my favorite former Tetris player. I don’t think many harddrop members quite knew how good prime jkwon was. He was appropriately dubbed “The Next Blink.” I remember watching a stream on justin.tv by Johnny. He streamed a 1v1 against jkwon on TOP and jkwon straight up OWNED Johnny. I don’t remember the score, but it wasn’t even close. I didn’t think anyone could have done that to Johnny besides someone like Hebo.
• Johnny - He’s my favorite current Tetris player. I admire his dedication, discipline and work ethic for Tetris. His style of play is what I would recommend every new player to watch and emulate. He doesn’t take risks, plays good, fundamental Tetris, and is a strong downstacker. I also like that he’s American and non-Asian. And as far as I know, he gets a big thumbs up from me for still having a PS3.
• Virulent - I realize that I already gave a shout out to her, but it was to her as a player, not as a member. She has made so many contributions to Harddrop as a moderator and a streamer that either goes unnoticed or that are taken for granted. Thank you for your contributions on Harddrop and the Facebook page, your Harddrop designs, contributions on TOP, and streams. Thank you for saving and titling all the past Harddrop broadcasts and for helping new members feel welcomed. And thank you for being one of my closest friends, inviting me to your wedding, showing me how to stream, and all the numerous things you helped me out with.
• And last but certainly not least, I give a shout out to you, Stephanie. Thank you for conducting this interview and sharing my long and boring Tetris life haha. I look forward to reading your other interviews. Thank you for all of your contributions on Harddrop. Your banner design of TTO3 is just sick. You know I got your back when other Harddrop members give you a hard time. And thank you for being a good friend. It’s fun talking to you.

I know there are several people that I missed that I probably should give a shout out to. So for anyone who has read this interview in its entirety and not fallen asleep, I give a shout out to you.

[Blink]

Wow, what a good interview.  Good luck on your career Kai, make sure to come back for casual games!

BTW: Kitaru's partner was KevinDDR, not cubixcreature.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]When I first met Blink, my first impression was “biggest in aura, shortest in appearance.”[/quote]
I'MMA KILL YOU

[ohitsstef]

I'MMA KILL YOU

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[StS]

What a great interview. I've seen Kai in action, seen him around, but I don't think I've ever spoken to him. Pity that you're retiring now, but good for you that you're working on your career! And do come back whenever you feel like it (though I'm sure you don't need my permission to do just that)!

Edit: Here's a question! You look somewhat SE-Asian; are you (or your parents) originally from Asia?

[ohitsstef]

If you have additional questions for Kaibutsu feel free to post them!

@Kaibutsu what tips would you give a Tetris player looking to get into the competitive scene?

Also what scene do you prefer more: PC Tetris or game console Tetris (ds, ps3)?

[caffeine]

Wow, great interview. I love reading about people's Tetris backgrounds. Interesting how you completely bypassed the tnet/othertris era.

[VladtheImpala]

Great interview man. It's really cool to see a whole lifetime's worth of tetris just laid out like that. I thought your ideas for the ideal client were interesting. A funny team game to do would be 2 players per matrix and you switch off who has control every piece placement.

Also thanks for the shoutout man. Good luck with your life, and I hope to see you on Null some time in the future!

[virulent]

twin always so modest~

[piper]

Thanks for the Shout out!  Always refreshing when playing against Kai!

[eevor]

Thanks for the Shout out!  Always refreshing when playing against Kai!

Awesome interview!

I'm just sad whenever I see someone retiring  

[kaibutsu]

I'MMA KILL YOU

Come at me, bro! I ain't scared. I got height and might. You're tiny and whiny.

Edit: Here's a question! You look somewhat SE-Asian; are you (or your parents) originally from Asia?

I'm Filipino. I was born in the United States. My parents were born in the Philippines.

Also what scene do you prefer more: PC Tetris or game console Tetris (ds, ps3)?

@Kaibutsu what tips would you give a Tetris player looking to get into the competitive scene?

I prefer PC Tetris more since there are better games and you can interact with players online more. Once in a while, I like to go back to my roots and play console Tetris.

I'm a huge advocate of Tetris fundamentals. Learn the basics first and develop good habits early. It's frustrating when a new player tells me things like: "I need to learn how to do T-spins;" "Teach me how to do that setup;" or "How do I get faster?;"  I look at how these players play and I see uneven stacking, triple rotating, covering garbage holes, poor downstacking, not skimming when their stack is unstable, and not being able to platform. If a 5-year-old boy could instantly learn most of the above skills in classic Tetris where there are a memoryless generator, no holds, 1 preview, and no lock delay, there is NO reason why a new player can't develop these skills early in modern Tetris. Don't just focus on the top part of your stack, look at your stack as a whole. I also recommend learning finesse as early as possible. This is one skill I learned late. It will help a player with his or her speed and not rely on the ghost piece so much.

Of course, practice makes perfect. But what you practice and how you practice is equally important. There are no shortcuts in becoming a good player. If you just want to become a faster Tetris player, by all means, play a lot of 40 lines. But speed is only one element of the game. If you want to become a complete player, then there are so many different skills one must be proficient in: T-spins, combos, downstacking, back-to-backs, timing, efficiency, garbage blocking, etc. There's a reason why I can beat so many players who have a faster 40-lines time, TPM, and LPM.

Finally, everyone can potentially be better than me. Using a controller already puts me at a disadvantage. But it's not necessarily my experience that gives me an edge, it's the knowledge I've obtained that has made me a better player. New players today are very fortunate of all the resources that are available to them, resources that were not available 5-7 years ago. Today, we have wikis, comprehensive guides and Tetris theories on the forums, streams, YouTube videos, a fumen generator, advanced statistics that keep track of your progress. You can ask advice on the shoutbox or in the forums. So if you are serious about Tetris and you want to become a better player, you can't get there by simply play, play, play. You learn, observe, and then play. Do your homework!

Wow, great interview. I love reading about people's Tetris backgrounds. Interesting how you completely bypassed the tnet/othertris era.

Thanks partner. I haven't even heard of Tnet until just a few years ago. I wish I did though

Great interview man. It's really cool to see a whole lifetime's worth of tetris just laid out like that. I thought your ideas for the ideal client were interesting. A funny team game to do would be 2 players per matrix and you switch off who has control every piece placement.

Also thanks for the shoutout man. Good luck with your life, and I hope to see you on Null some time in the future!

Thanks Vlad. You're really fun to play in Nullpo. That's an interesting game. I actually think the co-op vs mode in Tetris Party Deluxe for the Wii is very intriguing. You and your partner share a larger matrix, maybe 15 or 20 wide. I'm not sure. And you and your partner have to stack together to send T-spins, combos, or Tetrises to the opposing team. One player's pieces spawns on the left and your partner's pieces spawns on the right, and you share the same hold piece. So a lot of communication is needed. This mode was only available in local play, not online. And the computers suck as partners and opponents.

twin

Thanks for the Shout out!  Always refreshing when playing against Kai!

No problem piper and thanks. It's so fun playing against you. You're one of the few C2 players I didn't mind getting whooped over constantly

Awesome interview!

I'm just sad whenever I see someone retiring  

Thanks eevor. It has been a fun ride. Have fun for me.

[Johnny147]

Hey Kaibutsu, thanks for the shoutout and I'm sad to see you're quitting.  You were one of my favorite people to play. We always had fun games!  All the best with your future.

[ohitsstef]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]Of course, practice makes perfect. But what you practice and how you practice is equally important. There are no shortcuts in becoming a good player. If you just want to become a faster Tetris player, by all means, play a lot of 40 lines. But speed is only one element of the game. If you want to become a complete player, then there are so many different skills one must be proficient in: T-spins, combos, downstacking, back-to-backs, timing, efficiency, garbage blocking, etc. There's a reason why I can beat so many players who have a faster 40-lines time, TPM, and LPM. [/quote]

This is so true and something I don't think a lot of players take into consideration. I see many players looking for shortcuts or looking at their timeline as an indicator of how good their supposed to be. Quality > Quantity