Happy birthday to the ground
The Marvel vs. Capcom series is an absolutely brutal experience. Those who choose to play it and stick with it usually accept exactly what they’re getting into before doing so, but that doesn’t make some plays hurt any less when they happen.
At the same time, that brutal essence also makes the series incredibly hype, and at a recent major tournament, East Coast Throwdown 2023 to be specific, a moment in the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 grand finals occurred that was insanely hype, but also incredibly heartbreaking. HB|Evasion took on FLY|RayRay in the finals and during the first match of their set happened to score a TAC infinite that they hoped they could run out the clock with. Unfortunately, things went terribly wrong with just four seconds left on the clock…
The two competitors clashed in the final set of the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament at ECT 2023 this past weekend, with Evasion sitting on the losers side of the bracket and RayRay on winners. Evasion ran a squad consisting of Zero, Dante, and Vergil, while RayRay selected his trademark Magneto, Dr. Doom, Sentinel.
In the latter half of the first game in this set, both players found themselves with just two characters remaining on their teams. Both still had their anchor at full health, while their point characters battled it out to try and score a lead.
Evasion’s Dante found that lead at the 44 second mark on the in-game timer (according to X user Jason_GameDev who uploaded the clip), and the footage we see begins while this competitor was already waist deep into a TAC infinite with Dante.
For the uninitiated, a TAC infinite is a technique used in UMvC3 that sees a player use the Team Aerial Combo mechanic and set it up in a way that allows them to continue juggling the opponent indefinitely. The general gist of it is, hitstun is ignored when a Team Aerial Combo is happening, and as long as both players remain airborne, it will continue to be ignored.
Players discovered that hitting an air normal in a certain way right as they’re about to hit the ground, then jumping right back up again can trick the game into thinking that they never touched the ground, and in doing so, they can maintain the infinite combo as long as their execution holds up.
Evasion went for this technique in this match in hopes of keeping it going long enough to run out the timer. Had they done so, they would have taken the win as RayRay would have ended up at the life disadvantage. But that’s not quite what happened.
After 44 seconds of the TAC infinite and only 4 seconds left on the clock, Evasion actually dropped the combo. With RayRay being a veteran and champion in the world of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he was ready for the drop and reacted appropriately.
Following the combo drop, Evasion tried to maintain pressure by bringing out the Vergil assist. Unfortunately for them, RayRay blocked Dante’s attack, popped X-Factor, and scooped both characters up for what is known in the Marvel vs. Capcom community as a “happy birthday.”
Both characters got snatched up and hit with a devastating X-Factor combo from RayRay, and this sequence literally KO’d both of the opponent’s fighters right at the buzzer with only 1 second left on the clock.
Such an occurrence is so rare to see in tournament that even the commentators were saying that Evasion had the win. Right as they did though, the combo dropped and RayRay turned the tides.
The infinite started at 48 on the timer btw. Just damn that’s crazy. pic.twitter.com/mKunqs11Z4
— Jason Hiatus (@Jason_GameDev) October 22, 2023
