The Toronto Soulcalibur community's foundations were created when the first Soulcalibur hit Toronto's Downtown Funland (DTFL) in 1998. Truth be told, the community consisted of a whole two people: Mishmashi and Reno, who met online on EFnet's #soulcalibur channel. The two were part of a larger Soulcalibur arcade community that consisted of several hotspots, including areas in Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Tulsa. It wasn't until the Dreamcast version hit that the game started getting popular, but unfortunately the community did not grow beyond these two players despite everyone and their little sister playing the game. During the time, Mishmashi and Reno would chat constantly about the game, and soon Reno went on to win the first Soulcalibur DC tournament at E3, where he won a motorcycle and trophy, much to the chagrin of other SC players who weren't at the show (hey, it's my story, and I'll tell it like it was! SC1 players were pissed, so kiss my ass! I won it and you didn't! :p). Soon afterwards, Reno held what was probably the biggest Soulcalibur 1 tourney in GTA, in Oakville. With a turnout of about 35 players, Mishmashi went on to win the tournament and lay claim to a new Dreamcast with a couple of games.

The two man community died down as the game became older and newer games were released, but soon interest quickly rose again as Soulcalibur 2 was released in arcades in the summer of 2002. The first arcade to get the game was Video Amusement in Scarborough, and soon after other venues would also get the game. Between the time that Soulcalibur 1 and 2 were released, Mishmashi had gone on to become a hardcore Tekken player... and a ricer. So, when SC2 was released, there were minimal interest on his part, although he did participate in the first ever tournament, organized by Reno. The first tournament was a small event, with 8 players showing up, and featured a tournament format that helped maximized everyone's playing time. Dubbed “Ironman”, each player would go through the gauntlet of participants consecutively, and points would be awarded not only for matches won, but rounds won. At the end of the Ironman segment, a traditional single elimination tournament w!
as held. The first tournament was won by Reno, and has gone down as the only tournament he's ever won in TOSC history. ^_^

Soon, more players popped up as the game became more popular at DTFL and crowds started to gather. Currently top players such as NeoRussell and sh8kerm8ker started picking up the game during the fall/winter of 2002 and soon became huge forces. From the beginning of 2003 until the end of the SC2 period, the large majority of the tournaments were won by NeoRussell, with LAU, sh8kerm8ker and SowNemesis Senior also winning a couple. Other players who were considered tops at the time included yellowfungus, polooo2, and ZeroFalcon. Soon afterwards, tournaments were held on a monthly basis using the Ironman format, and when we had enough players every tournament, the community moved to a more traditional double elimination format. During the first two years the community thrived with several players making their way up the ranks and providing a lot of healthy competition for the top players. During the beginning of 2003 is when the Twins, Junior and Senior made their appearance as well. The time from summer of 2002 until spring of 2004 proved to be the high point in the Toronto SC community.

Being the only hardcore community for the game in Canada, the top Toronto players were invited to participate in the World Championships in Cannes, France in Feb 2004. The players that represented Canada were Reno, SowNemesis (Senior), SILENT, InfiniteTaki and Lau, who was technically living in the US but was raised in Canada. After three days of hard training, Lau placed 9th in the singles tournament, and Team Canada placed third in the team tournament, behind first place US and second-place host, France.

Following this strong showing, both Reno and sh8kerm8ker left Canada to pursue other interests, and Lau also left to return to Hong Kong. Despite this the community still retains most of its top players, including NeoRussell, SILENT and SowNemesis. Recently, sh8kerm8ker has also returned, although who knows if he'll play seriously now that he's deep into the game of L-O-V-E, bizzoy.

In the end, with the upcoming Soulcalibur 4 coming out next year, the Toronto Soulcalibur community will only get stronger with the addition of fresh new faces and seasoned veterans to guide them.

(if you're not here, I don't like you or you sucked when I was in Toronto)

Created by: Reno