Photo: From the left, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Top 8 Finalists: CO|Dogura, BjornSonOfBear, Hotashi, GO1, TSC|FaultyDefense, PG|MarlinPie, MC|GcYoshi13. Not pictured: FF|ElvenShadow.

While attending Frosty Faustings IX, I had an opportunity to not only participate in a few of its tournament games, but also to see high-octane competition from some of the best Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- players in the world. The culmination of the event was a face-off between BjornSonOfBear and CO|Dogura, a pro gamer from Japan who visited the States specifically to compete in Guilty Gear, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and other games.

Post Grand Finals, I caught up with Dogura to ask him about how he feels about the tournament, his opponent, what Arc System Works may be thinking about their game, and what his plans are for this year.

Special thanks to PG|MarlinPie for translation.

Luke “Woocash” Siuty: You just won Guilty Gear at Frosty Faustings IX, what are your thoughts and feelings on your matches and the Grand Finals?

CO|Dogura: I’m glad that I won the first significant major of the year. About BjornSonOfBear, I’ve fought him at SoCal Regionals 2016. Pretty much the same thing happened as now. I used Raven against Bears, then I lost, and I picked Sin, then won. Same thing happened here. I’m glad. I didn’t really want to play Bears, because I was a little worried. I knew how I wanted to play, and I knew Bears is a problem, so I wasn’t really confident against him, but I’m glad I beat him.

Woocash: How do you feel about the atmosphere at American tournaments vs. Japanese arcade ones?

Dogura: Usually Japanese tournaments end in one day or so. The difference that I feel is the most impactful is the fact that American tournaments do not really let go of the players for a long time. It’s like a whole-day job. You have to play in a different environment, wait for your matches, play consecutively if you enter a lot of tournaments, be aware of them. I need a lot of stamina and energy to attend them, so that’s the one thing that I always think about.

Woocash: Can you explain your thoughts on Raven and Sin in their current state?

Dogura: I think they’re both mid-high tier. Sin’s a little higher than Raven. My usage of those two in tournaments is just whatever I think is a hard match-up for Raven, I go with Sin, as simple as that.

Woocash: You’ve attended the first REV 2 Location Test. What are your thoughts on it, what direction do you feel the game is going?

Dogura: I felt like every character is nerfed. What they’re trying to do is, the game felt overall like something close to Guilty Gear XX Slash. In Slash, everybody was weakened. I feel that ArcSys is trying to maintain balance in the game, trying to make everybody fair. I don’t think all these changes are going through. There are some iffy changes that I’m sure they will fix up, so I feel that the location tests are going to go on, and things will change more.

Woocash: What are your plans for this year and aspirations in regards to Guilty Gear and other games?

Dogura: This year, I’m going to try to attend all the Capcom Pro Tour events for Street Fighter V. I want to attend Capcom Cup, and if I can’t attend that, that’s great. As for Evo 2017, I want to focus on BlazBlue and Guilty Gear, not so much on Street Fighter V. I’ve had this sentimental, regretful moment at the previous BlazBlue tournament at Evo against Galileo. I’m still feeling pretty gruff about that. This time, I want to win it, and I will try my best at Guilty Gear also.

Woocash: Any other final comments or thoughts?

Dogura: I’m encouraging foreign players to interact with me on Twitter or if they have any questions, they can ask in English, and I can use a translator, I’ll try to answer at my best.

Check out this amazing set between BjornSonOfBear and Dogura at the Frosty Faustings IX Grand Finals.