Yesterday was the revenge of Team Tekken.  They pulled off the win for the Team Challenge, and then used their advantage award to reclaim their stolen console.  200yen had a particularly impressive showing, hitting his 18 ^th Trial to win it for his team with around a minute and a half remaining.  He was able to stand up and rejoice with his team mates for a long time, and still had time to sit back down and finish another one just for style points.  Now the teams are on a completely even playing ground, with both teams having 3 consoles and 4 active team members.

Pandora Elimination yesterday was pretty crazy. If you caught Dr. Sub Zero’s Salt Mines interview last night, it shows just how intense the experience is here for the players.  n my opinion, one of the best elements of reality shows are when teammates begin to not trust each other, as then no one feels safe and it creates a completely different dynamic between the team. We wanted to make sure to incorporate that element into the show, while still retaining the competitive nature between the teams, and allowing opportunities for both teams to eliminate each other. That is why the days rotate between Cross and Pandora elimination. But, what I think is different from this experience is that some of these players have been friends for a very long time, making the voting decision an extremely tough decision. That is much different than having to betray someone you have only known for a couple weeks. Again, this is mental warfare, and the road to 25k is not supposed to be easy. 

Now that the teams are even, today we are back to Cross Elimination, so tonight the Elimination Match will feature one player from Team Street Fighter versus one player from Team Tekken. 

Today is one of my favorite Team Challenges of the show, The Combo Assault. 

In the morning, the coaches will assign one of the following categories to each member of their team. In the Team Challenge, the players assigned to each category will then have three chances to pull off their combo of choice. The exception to this is the Consistency category, in which the first player to drop an assigned combo loses the challenge.  

UPDATE: 

We have added some more details as to exactly how the Team Challenge will work tonight.  

General Rules:

All combos must be started after a pause menu restart

The combo starts after the first hit connects between characters.  This includes throws. 

Gems are allowed

No infinite Pandora or infinite Cross Assault

Dummy settings must be on Default

Team Challenge Flow:

The Team Challenge starts with a coin flip, with Alex calling it in the air.  (Aris called yesterday)  The winner of the coin flip determines which team will attempt Challenge #1 first.  After Challenge #1, teams will alternate going first and second in the challenges until the Team Challenge is completed. 

Challenges will be played in order.

For Challenge #1-4, each player will be given three attempts to finish their combo.

In the result of a tie in Challenge #1-3, it will result in a push.

Challenge #4 will be determined by a panel of three judges. 

For Challenge #5, the player will have a single attempt to finish the combo.  The combo is chosen randomly at the start of the challenge. The player who drops the selected combo first, while their opponent hits the combo, will lose the challenge.  The starting team will alternate after each combo is executed. 

In the result of a tie after all 5 challenges have been completed, each coach will pick a representative from their team, and a standard 2 out of 3 set will be played to determine what team wins the challenge. 

The combo categories are:

Combo Challenge #1: Bread and Butter: Highest damage using no Cross Gauge

Combo Challenge #2: Maximum Damage: Highest damage using infinite Cross Gauge and/or Pandora Mode

Combo Challenge #3: I’d Hit It: Most hits in a combo, with Cross Gauge set to “Max Start”

Combo Challenge #4: SWAG: Most stylish combo, with Cross Gauge set to “Max Start”

Combo Challenge #5: Consistency: Must perform a combo on demand without missing

Assigned combos for Challenge #5:  

• Steve: Trial #17
• Rolento: Trial #15
• Marduk: Trial #16
• Guile: Trial #18
• Poison: Trial #17

See you all on the stream at crossassault.ign.com !