Now that all of the hype has somewhat settled after Evo 2018, and players have had a chance to rest, examine their gameplay and collect themselves, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to finally reach out and interview USA’s ‘Tekken 7 hero,’ Terrell ‘Lil Majin’ Jackson, about his amazing performance.

Majin, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me. Absolute honor. How are you?

Hello, Shen.  I am doing fine today and I’m really honored that you have considered conducting an interview with me!

First of all, I want to congratulate you on your top 3 placement at Evo. How do you feel knowing you were the highest placing American?

Even with Evo being weeks ago, the feeling of making it so far and finishing in third is still amazing to me.  The feeling is intensified by the fact that I’d never placed that high at an Evo before.

You had so many great games and taking out some titans like Dimeback, Noroma, JDCR and Pekos. What is your secret when going against the Japanese and Korean players?

Honestly, there is no secret per se. However, when going up against any opponent in a tournament set, I try my best to play smart and to not give my opponents anything that they can use against me to win.  In other words, I try not to play impatient and not throw out punishable moves that I know the opponent will punish and take momentum afterwards.

How did you prepare for Evo? Can you give us any insight into your training or practice routine?

You definitely wouldn’t believe me if I told you that during Evo week, I didn’t play Tekken at all.  Me and my girlfriend flew out to Las Vegas on that Monday to have a “baecation” until EVO on that Friday.  We toured the city and had a great time together.  Tekken was not on my mind that Monday through Thursday.  Nevertheless, the weeks prior to Evo, I did a lot of training both in practice mode and online against opponents of all skill levels to prepare for Evo.

Which match of yours are you most proud of at Evo and why?

I am most proud of pulling off the Rolling Death Cradle against Dizzy on stream and performing my “People’s Eyebrow” afterwards. (laughs) I’m just joking. Not taking anything away from it. It was a great moment. On a serious note, my most proud moment was my entire Evo 2018 “run.”  That was a momentous occasion to say the least!  I was able to defeat Pekos, the best Geese user in Japan in a convincing fashion.  Next, I edged out the CEO 2018 Champion, JeonDDing, in a really intense set.  After JeonDDing, I defeated Japan’s best player in Noroma to qualify for top 8 on the winner’s side!  For me, qualifying for top 8 meant that I had accomplished one of my goals, which was to finally place top 8 at Evo !  Of course, it didn’t end there.  I knew that my next opponent would be last year’s Evo Champion in JDCR.  Beating him to move on to Winner’s Finals was so great a feeling that I really believed I could win the tournament!  Unfortunately, I lost back to back against LowHigh and Qudans, but all in all, my Evo 2018 run was my most proud moment of being a competitive Tekken player. 

What was in your mind between the 1st and 2nd match when you were against JDCR? What adaptations did you make?

After I lost the first match against JDCR, I was thinking “I need to fight fire with fire.”  The first game, I tried to beat him with defense and it did not work for me.  He pretty much ran over me and when I tried to switch to offense, it was too late.  Furthermore, I took off my headsets to fully embrace the crowd.  The crowd really hypes me up and boosts my confidence.  In the second and third matches, I switched to offense and it ended up working with me winning five rounds in a row.  Both the crowd and myself saw that the key to beating this monster was to overwhelm him with offense while also keeping a lookout for retaliation and punishing accordingly.

You really showed what King is capable of. Do you have any tips you could give to any new players that want to pick up this character?

I am honored to have inspired a lot of new Tekken players to learn King with my Evo performance.  Advice? I tell people all the time when I stream to master Tekken’s mechanics and to learn King’s extensive move set first!  I also recommend new Tekken players to watch That Blasted Salami and Avoiding The Puddle on YouTube to learn all of the game’s mechanics and entry level character basics. As far as learning King, I encourage new players to watch myself, J King, and BoxeR-King’s YouTube channels.  YouTube is a valuable resource for learning!

Evo didn’t end there. Bandai Namco has confirmed there will be a 2nd Season Pass. What are your thoughts on the revealed characters Anna, Lei and the most shocking reveal, Negan from The Walking Dead?

I wasn’t too surprised at the reveal of Lei Wulong being a Season 2 DLC character because he was the most requested character to return by far. I loved that he has been redesigned with a new outfit and a different hairstyle. Anna being unveiled wasn’t a surprise either because she was also a highly requested legacy character. Negan? I am a huge TWD fan and he is one of my favorite characters in that series. I am anxious to see how he will look and how well he will play in Tekken 7.

What do you think of the changes of the games mechanics? For example the wall bounce, changed properties of some moves. Are you hoping for some balance changes as well?

I am a fan of change. I welcome the inclusion of wall bounce, buffs and nerfs for characters, and new moves!

What are your character predictions for the 3 remaining slots?

I predict Julia, Ganryu, and Armor King as the 3 remaining slots! Tekken 7 needs more grappling characters!

Majin, thank you so much for you time. It’s been awesome. Is there anything you want to say to your new collection of fans?

All that I can say is that I am honored to inspire so many new players to play the game series that I have loved for the past 20 years!  I am here to stay and you guys will see more of me in the future! Follow Me on Twitter @Lil_Majin  and follow me on Twitch: twitch.tv/lil_majin. You all have a blessed day!

Thank you.