Glitch: Infinite is the jewel in VGBootCamp's crown

From its very inception in 2016 the Glitch series has never shied away from the risk taking elements in providing an innovative experience. You would think with a name like “Glitch” and negative annotations that surround it, the event would be hard to sell to the various competitive and casual gamers. However, this appears to be its main driving factor creatively. Series creative director and creator Aposl explains the ideas behind curating Glitch in a way that remains captivating, yet true to competitive form, all in one.

Just because Smash has a home at some of the largest fighting game tournaments in the world doesn't mean its appearance is a given. With CEO, EVO and Combo Breaker all running two Nintendo-partnered titles it goes without saying there is a lot of love for the Smash community within the FGC. During CEO 2017's top 8 for Smash 4 CEO's very own Jebailey gave a heartfelt speech about the importance of Melee at his events. This helped further the narrative that Smash plays a bigger role in the grand scheme of things than it may get credit for. However, in the last few years Smash has been a little slow to the draw on running fighting games at their events at the level of an EVO or CEO. In 2018 Smash Super Major Genesis 5 ran Street Fighter V, which brought out the legendary KBrad. Get On My Level 2019 ran Dragon Ball FighterZ, which helped highlight how strong the players from the North were. While both events had a strong turnout bridging that gap requires community-wide consistency.

This is why events like Glitch: Infinite are very important. Not because they're running fighting game titles, but because they're celebrating their very existence. I had the opportunity to chat with the series creative leader himself VGBC | Aposl so he could further explain how this event came to be and what to expect at the next installment.

Day 1

VGBootcamp is no stranger to running Tekken 7 at Xanadu due to the success of their Thursday tourney. Though only an 8-person bracket for Glitch, Tekken 7 still delivered on all fronts of entertainment. All of the matches were amazing to watch, but the breakout player was Bryan Fury main "Ty". Not only was he the Grand Finals champion, but he won it in such a dominant way having not dropped a single game to anyone.

Tekken 7 wasn't the only fighting game title showcased at Glitch: Infinite. There was Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Samurai Shodown, Street Fighter V, and Melty Blood all organized by Tong Lee. I was able to grab his thoughts on running multiple events in such a short period of time and what it means to have all these titles under one roof.

DAY 2

At 951 attendees Day Two of Glitch brought us a mixture of familiar faces and new blood all wrapped into one epic bracket. However, the best player in the world MKLeo missing this event meant the throne was up for grabs by someone new. Zomba, who most notably won Squad Strike and Doubles, was looking to complete the triple threat and there were plenty of challengers to try and stop him. A few of his notable opponents were Gackt, Jake, and Solary TV’s Gluttony. It wasn't until he bumped into Beastcoast’s Cosmos that he lost not only one, but two sets in Grand Finals. Though they ended up getting second place, there's no denying that Tristate is undoubtedly one of, if not the strongest region in Smash. The fact that just a month prior Quidd won Let's Make Big Moves further cements this theory.

Some of the breakout matches to highlight were Vendetta vs Moist Gaming’s Goblin in Losers Top 16. Vendetta was able to deliver him a one way ticket back home with a reverse 3-0 by switching off Ken and going Ryu. Team Liquid’s DaBuz faced off against Jake shortly after which brought us some of the strongest Minecraft Steve gameplay we've seen yet.

Despite everything going on in the world, VGBootcamp seems to hit the mark every time with event production. With DoubleDown in March and *POUND* 2022 shortly after this looks to be their year.

Rodney Conyers Jr.

Host

Rodney is the current co-host of Wide World of Electronic Sports as well as an interviewer and journalist.

His fiery passion for all things gaming was initially sparked by his father –who at the time worked the electronics section at Walmart– purchased him and his younger siblings Pokémon Gold and Silver for the Gameboy Color.

As a natural performer you can find the majority of Rodney's work in gaming in front of the camera in esports. He's worked in commentary, interviewing, and hosting positions for various companies such as AT&T, Red Bull, Amazon Prime Video, CEO Gaming, and NXNE! When Rodney isn't doing something gaming related you can find him writing theatre music, hosting sneaker conventions, and much more!

Rodney can be reached at rodneyconyersjr@shacknews.com and on Twitter @rodneyconyersjr.