AVerMedia’s Bruce “GamerBee” Hsiang won a lot of fans when his Adon debuted on the world stage at Evo 2010 — and since then, he has steadily continued his climb towards the top of the Street Fighter IV heap, making top 8 at Evo 2013 this year. But why Adon? Will he stick with him for Ultra Street Fighter IV? What will he change for his Evo 2014 championship run? We decided to check in and see what he had on his plate for the next year of Street Fighter.

Patrick Miller: You’ve been known for your Adon for quite some time. (I started playing Adon after watching you play at Evo 2010!) Why’d you pick up Adon in the beginning, and what made you decide to stick with him?

GamerBee: I was a Akuma player in SFIV, and when SSFIV released I tried Akuma a little bit but felt that nothing changed and got bored, so I started playing a new character. After I tried few characters, I felt like Adon’s distance control was the most fun for me, and I was able to develop almost everything by myself, which made me want to play Adon more.

PM: Back in Super SFIV, there were quite a few people convinced Adon was the worst character in the game until they saw you on the Evo 2010 stream. Were you surprised by that? What did you see in him that others didn’t?

GamerBee: I really don’t know why people thought Adon was the worst character in the game at that time. I got a very good winning rate on XBox Live in that time, even if Adon was a weak character. I still thought that I could be very good in competition as a player, not because of Adon.

PM: Adon has had a few significant changes from Super to AE, and then from AE to 2012. How did each new version make you change your playstyle? Were you ever tempted to switch characters?

GamerBee: I had a very good record in Super with Adon; that became my personal mark and I liked it. I think Adon in AE is still good enough for tournaments, but you know that the three kings — Yun, Yang, Fei-Long — killed everyone in tournaments. I studied a lot to beat these three characters but still failed. I could have changed my playstyle but it would have only been because the game balance is changing, and I have to enjoy the new playstyle, otherwise I don’t really want to change my style .

PM: Ultra Street Fighter IV is due out in early 2014. What do you wish Capcom would change about Adon (or any other characters)? Are there any matchups you think that really need to be easier or harder for him?

GamerBee:The matchups are very important in SFIV; I think no matter how you change the balance it still have some really bad matchups. When top players feel like a matchup is dead, they will adapt somehow. Maybe by changing characters, or studying more detail about the characters that give them bad matchups. For me, I just want to see USFIV release and try to build my own way in game, it doesn’t have to be Adon.

PM: Are there any other players out there that have surprised you with how well they took a bad matchup and learned how to win it?

GamerBee: I think all the top players are suffering with bad matchups because counter picking in tournament is more common right now, but we’re still trying our best to adapt to those counterpicks with our original character. I will say that Xian is the guy who worked very hard on this and actually did well, because we are the same — we have to develop everything and build our character strategy by our own.

PM: In general, do you have any advice for new players looking to learn Adon?

GamerBee: Adon is easy to start, but very hard to become an expert with. You can Jaguar Kick any time you want and beat a lot of people, but if you really want to become an expert Adon player, you will have to learn how to reduce your Jaguar Kick, and try to read your opponent moves and counter them with Jaguar Kick. Jaguar Kick is only good when people can’t counter it or punish it, so try to make your Jaguar Kick very hard to counter or punish. It’s hard to practice reading your opponent’s mind, but at least you should start thinking about what is in your opponent’s mind right now, like “Why they did this move” and “How they do against to your Jaguar Kick” , then find a way to counter them .

PM: How’d you feel about your performance at Evo this year? Anything you plan on changing about your practice regimen for next year?

GamerBee: My original goal was make into top 8, and I did it again, but I still felt sad when I lost in the finals. So it’s like, I’m not happy, but it’s okay, I did good enough.

About my practice plan: I wasn’t playing any other characters besides Adon for a long time, but I will try to play other characters to study and build new strategies from now on. Maybe I will use another character in tournament, but I think top players are not good because of their characters, they’re just really good, and in a tournament, anything could happen, right?

PM: Which other characters are you planning on practicing with besides Adon?

GamerBee: I already prepared Yun for the Akuma matchup, but that was for AE2012. I’ve also played Akuma recently and hope to play a rushdown character in USFIV.