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ELEAGUE: Stephen ‘Sajam’ Lyon previews Tekken Team Takedown

By Brittany Frederick

ELEAGUE STREET FIGHTER V INVITATIONALGROUP A: ROUND ROBIN
ELEAGUE STREET FIGHTER V INVITATIONALGROUP A: ROUND ROBIN /
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ELEAGUE Tekken Team Takedown starts Friday, and Stephen ‘Sajam’ Lyon told FanSided why this isn’t your ordinary fighting game tournament.

It’s game on for Turner and IMG’s ELEAGUE, which will bring the Tekken Team Takedown to TV starting Friday after TBS‘s March Madness coverage. The four-part series pits the world’s best Tekken players against each other—but this time they’re playing in teams.

FanSided sat down with ELEAGUE commentator Stephen “Sajam” Lyon to discuss why the series is worth tuning into, what separates Tekken 7 from the other fighting games ELEAGUE has shown in the past, and why he works so well with his colleague Steve “Tasty Steve” Scott.

Read what Sajam had to tell us below, and don’t miss the ELEAGUE Tekken Team Takedown premiere tonight after March Madness (approximately 10:30 p.m. ET) on TBS.

FanSided: This is your third go-around with ELEAGUE, after the Street Fighter V and Injustice 2 tournaments. What do you enjoy about the brand?

Stephen “Sajam” Lyon (SL): ELEAGUE is really easy to work with. Anybody at any level [in the production] is going to be some of the best people that you can find at their job. So when you show up to ELEAGUE it’s interesting because you feel like the least qualified for what you’re doing, kind of. (laughs) Because everybody is so talented. It’s really easy to work with them.

FanSided: What makes Tekken 7 different from Street Fighter V or Injustice 2? What will we see here that we didn’t see in those other events?

SL: It’s the seventh Tekken now, so the game has been around for a long time. The interesting thing to me about Tekken is that they have done a lot to make it more spectator-friendly, specifically to people who maybe don’t know much about the game. It doesn’t matter if you know nothing about Tekken.

In particular, one of the cool things about it—and it happened in the very first round played in the entire [event]—is that if two characters are really low on life and they both try to attack each other at the same time, the game goes into bullet time, like slow motion. It’s exciting when you see two people super-low on life trying to swing at each other and then there is a slow motion aspect.

Then also, Tekken is a three-dimensional fighting game, so the movement and the way that the game is played is a lot different from what people have seen before, but in a really fun way.

FanSided: We think of fighting games as individual esports, but ELEAGUE turned this into a team experience. How much do you think that format change affected the gameplay?

SL: Having team tournaments in fighting games is always really fun because you just never get to see it. It really sets up players, especially some of the stronger players you had in the tournament like Jimmyjtran, who is super, super, super good.

People really come alive and really shine when they are in this environment where they can not only play and show how good they are [but] they cheer for their team, make a bunch of noise and strategize at that point.

FanSided: Are there any particular players or matchups that the TV audience should watch for in the Tekken Team Takedown?

SL: I think everybody is looking forward to watching Jimmyjtran play. Everybody who hasn’t seen him play they will be excited. Anytime Pokchop is on the screen, keep your eyes glued to the television because he’s just such an excitable player, no matter what he does. He has a great personality; he’s just brimming with energy. You’re going to be glued to the screen watching him whether he’s playing or cheering on his team.

But honestly, I thought all the matches were really great. I thought that Cuddle_Core was really impressive. Everybody knows how good of a player she is but she was even better than, I think, people expected her to play. She had a really good run as well. Those are the players that stand out in my mind.

FanSided: From your side of the desk, what does fighting game commentary entail? Because this is worlds away from what we’ve seen in ELEAGUE with Counter-Strike.

SL: Fighting games are definitely interesting in that sense that they look the most simple to many people. There’s two life bars, one character trying to hit another. But the hard thing about fighting games is that the games are so fast. Fitting in that analysis, explaining why things are happening on the screen, has to be done in sort of a bite-size fashion.

It’s one of those things where you have to really understand, not only what’s happening on the screen but the why. You have to get into the player’s tendencies and get why, psychologically, these players are making these choices either emotionally or just like robotically thinking in a certain way.

That’s what you have to dive into and figure out, and that comes from really just being experienced predominantly—watching a lot of fighting games, playing a lot of fighting games, competing in a lot of fighting games. You sort of get used to it.

FanSided: Speaking of teams, you and Tasty Steve have been a great addition to the ELEAGUE roster of talent. What’s the secret to your success?

SL: Steve and I, are a very fortunate accident, I think. In the sense that the two of us are completely opposite in strengths and weaknesses so we cover each other very well. But we just [both] have a very easy personality. Our personalities just click. We just work very well together.

The way Steve thinks or talks about fighting games is so different from the way that I think or talk about fighting games. But it’s very easy for the two of us to understand each other and explain what we’re thinking. We have a dynamic and the goal in our commentary to really make it feel like you’re sort sitting on a couch next to us, with your friends watching the matches. That’s what we hope for.

FanSided: ELEAGUE normally refers to you by your nicknames, but since you do have similar first names, is there still any confusion between you two?

SL: That happens all the time. (laughs) Steve is super common and that’s why usually I go by Stephen or Sajam, and he goes by Steve. It’s slightly less confusing but, yeah, anytime anybody yells Steve we both look. It doesn’t matter how many times, it’ll happen.

FanSided: Anything you want to say to the TV audience who are about to dive into this new ELEAGUE adventure?

SL: I hope people tune in and check it out and give Tekken a chance. I think it’s one of those games that many people will remember from when they were younger, especially like Tekken‘s early days. There’s a lot of nostalgia that comes with this game and it’s a really beautiful game. It’s honestly one of my favorite fighting games released in a long time.

People should check it out and if they enjoy it that would be really cool, and I think that the fighting game has the benefit of being kind of easier to dive into than something like Counter-Strike or League of Legends. People should take a peek and see what they think.

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The ELEAGUE Tekken Team Takedown premieres Friday after March Madness (roughly 10:30 p.m. ET) on TBS. For more Gaming news, follow the Gaming category at FanSided.