Transcript for:
AK's Rise in Tekken

exciting man Goosebumps again why Goosebumps I don't know whenever the boy won their plays man like he went for some stuff this kid is dirty he got setups wow ends it with a perfect the Philippines they're not here to mess around AR he's your Evo Japan Champion Pakistan taking the tournament over the Philippines people have seen him traveling the world and he always gets like in the top three and he just doesn't seem to get the w right AK going to get it ties it up one game me crowd on their feet for AK right now all the way from the Philippines this is the run back yo for AK and Arland so and that was like the very first Evo Japan wasn't it the very first Evo Japan where arson as showed up and tried to make his name this is the repeat Grand finals so we are in for a treat if I didn't win in that tournament I I will really not play anymore like I will not join International tournaments cuz it's expensive and it's not realistic SL good again they're about even oh the confirmed engage oh boy he's got the two we're tied up two to two AK is one game away from winning the [Applause] tournament so before we get into today's video just please quickly if you enjoy the video like it sub to the channel and ring that notification Bell also check out our merch over at shop. thescore.com now if you think that AK came out of nowhere that's okay but the truth is a bit more complicated in his home country of the Philippines AK started playing young his uncle introduced him to Tekken 6 when he was seven and by 10 he was playing in his first tournament but many Tekken fans first heard of AKA when he broke through with the 2013 King of Iron Fist tournament and beat big names on his way to third place representing the Philippines it was his birthday yesterday we have AK who is just turned 13 he's going to be using law and Paul definitely the youngest competitor we've seen at the world stage oh he's going to go he went for some stuff this kid is dirty he got setups wow ends it with a perfect the Philippines they're not here to mess around okay and that's it jdcr takes it but the kid Wonder AK taking all the way to the last round back then before for the Tekken 7 explosion prizes were small and Glory was the only thing at stake AK continued to play in tournaments though gradually developing a reputation for taking risks and even play that some interpreted as disrespectful but that he says was pure pragmatism I don't actually know that my play style is being called like that and from what I've experienced if what is working I won't stop doing it cuz it's working right so why fix it if it's not broken so when the Philippines appeared on the map they were shocked or they were not familiar with it so that's why I think they call it as that because in the Philippines that's the way we play so I thinks that that's the reason why so for me that's my play style that's all but I don't mean to disrespect them Goosebumps again why Goosebumps I don't know whenever the Boy Wonder plays man like during the Tekken 7 era AK bounced from law to Paul before finally finding his new mate shahim so when I saw shahim I was really uh I liked him I like him because of his design but um aside from that my first main is martial law when I looked into Shaheen his play style is the same with martial law there are similarities but it's not fully the same the fundamentals the move set but for me Shaheen is better so when I played him in Tekken 7 I really liked him a lot Shaheen wasn't a top tier in fact he was uncommon enough that very few people actually labbed the matchup his approach was mostly built around poking and a slide based mixup but that was about it this uncomplicated game plan seemed to be designed to let newer players dip their toes into Tekken 7 he's got a strong hop kick and a strong down for two um he has a 50/50 with a slide just like L uh has decent poking and is unbelievably boring now for the next couple of years AK put up strong results but was never able to win any tier one tournaments he got the laun this could be it John ding wins C major 2018 Tekken 7 was blowing up with old Legends and forgotten prodigies making the competition scarier than ever and a AK was falling behind his next best chance was at Evo Japan 2019 where AK lit up opponents like Jimmy J Tran and Cherry Berry mango the only person left for him to beat was a relative newcomer to the scene a player by the name of arsel Ash rage B for AK now look at the blocks no he didn't go for it got to be careful oh the reset cuz right now Aron Ash is on fire the momentum is obviously in his favor 3 0 right yeah that was a three reset a has to tighten up arson is playing too tight oh my God that was good what a win punish and he gets the wall here one mixup can do it right here and that will be another three rounds St for Arsen he's up two to one one more game ak's got R tournament point for osen can he close it out what's he going to do oh he gets he's not going to kill he's not going to kill oh he gets the blue stop final round game four he's a phoenix ahead he's a phoenix behind over's going to get the tournament aren is your Evo Japan Champion Pakistan taking the tournament over the Philippines despite nearly winning Evo Japan AK had to walk away with yet another almost it was actually sad and it was frustrating cuz um we were so close to winning evil Japan 2019 but then um Deen said it's not yet your time what could have been a breakout year for AK instead became a what if without a satisfying answer and after a disappointing Evo Japan 2020 things really took a turn not just for AK but for Tekken with everything headed online AK continued to play where he could travel was impossible for a while but by playing in the Intercontinental Fight Club AK proved that he was still one of the best comp competitors in the world it's not really in my control because in the Philippines you can't really travel but I was lucky because um local tournaments there was a league called the Nationals here in the Philippines it's like a franchise uh franchise tournament franchise based tournament so they made it online even when in-person events came back AK wasn't always able to secure a visa to attend eventually he was able to start traveling again and as tekken's newest title approached he learned that he'd be able to stick with Shaheen one of the problems with playing an uncommon character is that it can sometimes be difficult to find things out about them for a long time the only other consistent high-profile Shaheen Main in top tier Tekken was gen who left the scene in 2022 after personal controversy but right before combo breaker AK watched a video of Assan Ali a Pakistani Shaheen player who was doing something interesting I've applied many things in combo breaker because because of watching tournaments right before dream hack there was bz gaunlet right yes and as an Ali was a Shan user so I learned a lot from him that I was be able to use in dream hack does not need to overextend here that's there's no way right he presses the button M oh my God oh my God H with the clutch so I added some move list from him and added to myself specific thing do you remember anything in specific that you really got from him I didn't know that you can actually use heat smash when ducking oh from Crouch from Crouch from Crouch and from stands abolutely getting rewarded for it yeah that that mid is safe as well crazy full Mi goes for the heat smash now why is this important well in teken most low attacks are pokes some characters including Shaheen have slides with a guaranteed followup Shaheen has a low heat smash out of his stealth step stance which was well known to AK but he could also use his normal heat smash which hits mid while standing up from Crouch done correctly it's easy to trick opponents into blocking low and hitting them with a mid and with this trick in ak's backpocket combo breaker 2024 would be his best shot to finally break the curse and take an event but the bracket was stacked with Incredible players from across the globe back to the wall tries to use it to get away again ready what a side step uses the low heat smash L heat smashes again into the freaking wall boo oh he did Duck it and the power Crush to close it out AK sends Junior 20z to the losers bracket yeah I thought you could only jump out of that but AK showing me here you can have sidewalk left the heat smash goes underneath the high and AK is looking good right now mm you got to stand up took a lot of damage Y theop kick and I think that could be it for sure oh yeah he's got the heat Dash here and it's it yeah here we go oh AK over noi and into the top eight of combo breaker got off the Flinch he didn't want to eat the low again oh the slide gets the follow up oh my God they dancing they dancing oh oh it's so risky both close out I know he did it AK over rangu finishing the strings with his win over rangu AK was in winners finals top three was guaranteed but AK wasn't going to settle for anything less than Victory and farzine hot off a win over KN the god of Tekken was not going to go down easily this is still the first game what do you mean side step but they trade oh heat burst going to try to strengthen the lead gets the float I don't think he's dead here though I don't know if he gets that wall oh my gosh he's going to get the wall no he does but the run two doesn't but as the series began to slip away the crowd rallied behind AK yeah I was actually shocked cuz um the audience is cheering for me and usually it's you know it's cheering for the opponent or 50/50 half of the crowd is for the other guy half of the crowd is for me but this time the crowd is really cheering for me the whole time and I was lucky cuz it's my first time going there and I already have their support so I think that helped us as well AK really needs to win this round get off of me bro hands off the shirt yo the AK chance AK going to get it ties it up one game me the crowd is going crazy crowd on their feet for AK right now all the way from the Philippines heat smash the low AK with the perfect AK my Clos it out here AK could do it he's going to do it Steve AK he's going to the Grand finals not over yet the crowd loving it AK looked like he would finally do it there was just one problem his final opponent was the very player who had ruined his last best attempt ever at Evo Japan arsin Ash this is the run back yo for AK and arsand so and that was like the very first EV Japan wasn't it the very first Evo Japan where arson as showed up and tried to make his name this is the repeat Grand finals so we are in for dream it had been over 5 years since that series but this time AK was the underdog arsand was the de facto greatest Tekken 7 player ever but in Tekken 8 things had changed arsel and Ash had yet to win a tier one event himself and played a variety of characters in his search for Glory going up against AK arsin locked in Nino Williams an old favorite but not a character he was known for competitively until recently and almost immediately it felt like both players were battling some serious nerves but Arsen pulled ahead first AK though still has access to heat find an engager to maybe get the P back but ARS activates first what a du again this could be a close out ARS looking for the first match of a potential reset here in this Grand finals I like him taking the open grab the other one grab the other one give me that oh got him AR goes up two to one in the grand finals oh boy anyone's round to take the lead AR's got the life in R AR hit the button did not and just like that it's reset point for ARS a AK needed to tap into something deep inside himself he needed to calm down he need to win bring it up again we're going this way and to the other wall almost bring it get puted give that gr Perfect final round reach that point AR yeah AK hadn't been using that power but AR's got the likely right now slide good again they're about even oh the down confirmed engage oh boy he's got the run it to we're tied up two to two AK is one game away from winning the tournament arsin was fighting to stay alive and to grasp that first huge win in Tekken 8 AK was fighting to show that he was a champion and that the 5 years since their last meeting had been well spent here we go AKA AR Ash AR no gra got the wall 32 here's the combo to the wall we go a got the pressure what the floor big damage re split into the radar a ash first round of the last match of a potential reset e burst The Hop kick Here Comes AK big damage the walls right there but he drops the combo good can he finish it he does going to happen spins the heat no resources outside of Rage but we're not there yet triple Crow Dash another one do it again oh it engage 5050 it is tournament point for AK to win AK Still Got His deep ready to go look at the sidewalk look at the Jabs just keep there down this is a lot of damage right here he's got simple he might be able to do it AR got raed he's mes block he got the AK win AK win AK win go breaker AK couldn't hold back after years of trying and failing to get there he was finally the champion of a tier one tournament and he did it by beating one of the best ever to touch the game despite coming close so many times only to have his hopes dashed AK never gave up he never quit even after falling just short so many times and he was re awarded not only with a championship but also a new sponsorship with na'vi if I didn't win I I will really not play anymore like I will not join International tournaments cuz it's expensive and it's not realistic and if you have no sponsor it's really a pain but then I got lucky cuz we won the tournament and I think Tekken said yeah yeah we'll give you another chance and I'm really thankful for them for giving me the opportunity to join their Arc na'vi is a tier one Arc and I'm really really lucky to be a part of them that's why he was still there and after over a decade of Tekken why the young Prodigy from the Philippines was finally a champion in teken seven there were so many second place finishing but in teeken 8 AK is first place thanks for watching if you want more content like this hit the sub button and ring the notification Bell for Unique bite-size videos you won't find anywhere else hit us up on our Twitter Instagram Facebook Facebook and Tik Tok [Music]