FT2 is Better For the Fighting Game Community - Tokido

Fighting game pro and part of the Bandits team that won the Street Fighter League world championship, Chris Tartarian, had a discussion with Evo winner, and one of the greatest fighting game players ever, Tokido, about his growth, mentality and so on. 

This was on the 'Talking With T' podcast which Tartarian hosts where he brings in some of the biggest names within the FGC to discuss various topics relating to the scene and the mechanics of Street Fighter 6. 

In his latest episode, he sat down with Tokido and learned a lot about the champion including the fact that he went to the same school as MOV, another fighting game player and Street Fighter III: Third Strike champion. 

While they went over a variety of topics, one of the most striking things discussed were Tokido's views on first-to 2 versus first-to-3 in tournaments. The community has been torn on this issue as tournament organizers insist that FT3 is time-consuming and a logistical nightmare, while others opine that FT3 is more entertaining and gives players a better opportunity to adapt to an opponent. 

Tokido, while preferring the FT3 model personally, is of the opinion that FT2 is better for the community. He stated that a large playerbase is at the heart of Street Fighter's success and the FT2 format helps keep the community alive. According to him, if tournaments were all FT3, it could see even less players enter as some players will reckon that they would be unable to take on established professionals in a FT3 and win, and to avoid a defeat, will walk away. 

Chris Tartarian found the answer interesting and said perhaps there is a mentality issue in the FGC. It is true that a FT2 brings about more upsets, but since top 8 would usually revert to FT3, there's rarely ever a surprise winner. 

Tokido also talked about his opinions on age as a factor and even let slip that he plans to get married and start a family soon.