Jetstream Sam
| Jetstream Sam | Gallery |
Jetstream Sam, otherwise known as his actual name Samuel Rodrigues is a character in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
He is a Brazilian samurai mercenary who has a history with Senator Armstrong and serves as one of the main adversaries of the game's protagonist Raiden.
Tournament History[edit]
2020-2022[edit]
Jetstream Sam first appeared in 2020. Though Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has always been popular on /v/ since its release, a resurgence in its popularity combined with the victory of fellow MGR rep Senator Armstrong the year prior helped Samuel through his bracket as he dominated matchups on his way to the Elite Eight. In the Quarterfinals he would take part in a Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance matchup against his canon rival Raiden, to whom he would be defeated by, afterwards landing 6th place in the Quarterfinals consolation vote.
Returning in 2022, Samuel would see tougher fights against Like a Dragon's Goro Majima and fellow 2020 Elite Eight member Miles Edgeworth, coming out on top in both matchups. However he became another victim of Jack Garland's unstoppable rise to the top and was defeated in round 3.
2023[edit]
In 2023 Jetstream Sam became a rather notorious figure, starting with the fact that despite his popularity and success in the tournaments he wasn't even nominated, which many consider to have been due to a "bystander effect" of anons assuming that such an established character already had been nominated or that someone else would nominate him for them. Nonetheless, he would end up sitting out the year alongside fellow non-qualifying Elite Eight member Nyarlathotep.
But though he would not be a part of the tournament itself, Samuel's story did not end there. In Round 3, an anon posting with a Jetstream Sam picture jokingly considered a scenario in which the hyped up Wario vs. Eggman did not happen due to their opponents winning, resulting in an unexpected Geralt vs. Alex matchup instead in a complete reversal of hype and expectations. This caused a shitstorm for the rest of the round as some anons replied to the post saying they switched their votes based off the Jetstream Sam post, making others worried that the match would be ruined due to Jetstream Sam planting a seed of contrarianism in the minds of the voterbase.
Though the anticipated Wario vs Eggman match went through, this incident caused Jetstream Sam to become a figure of metagaming and contrarianism for the rest of the tournament, even becoming a meme in which images of him would be posted alongside speculations about the biggest upsets, buzzkills, and subversions possible, often with some variation of the phrase "Wouldn't it be funny?".
2024[edit]
Needless to say, with Sam memes frequently posted during the 2024 off-season, Jetstream Sam was not forgotten about come 2024, as he was nominated in the first thread and proceeded to qualify as the highest seeded Metal Gear character. This notably cucked Big Boss from qualifying, as a vote held in the qualifiers for Metal Gear Rising characters to be treated as spin-offs was shot down (291/53.1% No, 257/46.9% Yes). Fittingly, having become something of a meme himself, Sam's first round was against the YTP/meme icon Morshu, and despite his opponent's insulating blubber, he was able to cut through with his Murasama.
In round 2 Sam faced off against Sekiro in a rather thematic samurai vs shinobi match, drawing parallels between Sam and Raiden. Adding further to the fittingness of the match was an already existing Jetstream Sam boss fight mod in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which one anon demonstrated in a series of videos for the match. Most notably in this match was an incident in which one Samposter seemingly had a stroke while typing his post his post (later revealed to be a rather severe typo made while not paying attention), leading to the notorious "JetSTROKE Sam" arc in which Sam became increasingly physically and mentally disabled from having a stroke, which also tied into the existing "Wheelchair Sam" Metal Gear meme. Despite his rapidly failing body, Sam was still somehow able to strike down Sekiro, winning the match by the biggest blowout of round 2; incidentally, Raiden won his match that round by a near identical margin.
The stroke arc continued into his match against Mario, with Sam being reduced to a brain in a jar and eventually fucking dying, upon which his soul was fragmented and scattered. This lead to the next arc in Sam's run in which the fragments gained defined powers and were collected by various characters, with the fragments themselves often changing hands either due to being stolen or killing their holders due to their detrimental effects, such as the Red fragment, which caused Bejita and Battler to get cancer and die before falling into the hands of Doomguy who resisted its cancerous effects. The fragments eventually became known as "The Sameralds", which were hunted throughout the tournament, culminating in one final Hunt for the Sameralds in the finals where 92 fragments were claimed via GETs, with said hunt resulted in mass post deletion by the janitor due to the sheer amount of characters rolling GETs to claim their Sameralds. A full list of the Sameralds, their claimants, and their effects can be found here.
Now there was also anticipation for a Mario vs Wario match to happen in round 4 should Mario win his match, however in a rather familiar fashion Sam upset this hyped up match by defeating Mario and causing a Jetstream Sam vs Wario match to happen instead. Having stolen Sam's wheelchair, Wario ended up crippled himself, resulting in the two fighting as cripples. Miraculously however, Sam's souls were restored to him by Freddy Fazbear and his body healed, bringing him back to full strength. This shifted Sam's campaign back to a more normal direction, and in the final hour of the round a proper battle ensued between Sam and Wario.
Ultimately Sam prevailed, which once again killed a Mario matchup, this time cucking a potential Wario vs Luigi match, as it became Jetstream Sam vs Luigi instead. During this match it was revealed that Sam had used his stroke as mere ruse to catch his opponents off guard and strike them down. Fuelled by vengeance for his fallen Mario reps and powered by the Silent Majority, Luigi did battle with Sam. However Sam was once again at his full power, and with his trusty Murasama struck down his third Mario opponent in a row, adding a green cap to his head along with the red and yellow caps from the previous two matches.
Jetstream Sam's final battle this year was in the semi-finals against Shadow the Hedgehog, who with his familiarity with the Chaos Emeralds had harnessed the Sameralds power for himself. A fierce battle of blades and bullets ensued, however ultimately Shadow emerged victorious and went on to win the entire tournament. Despite the loss, many have pointed to Jetstream Sam's campaign and thread presence as one of the most defining and memorable parts of the tournament. Potentially owing to this, Sam claimed 3rd place as his final placing for the year.
Jetstream Sam is projected to return in King of /v/ 2026. But then again, wouldn't it be funny if someone forgot to nominate him again?
Results[edit]
| King of /v/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 - Seed 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round | Opponent | Series | Votes | Pct. For | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (118)  Niko Bellic
|
Grand Theft Auto | 1125 - 483 | 70.0% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 2 | (54)  Jacket
|
Hotline Miami | 741 - 421 | 63.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (22)  G-Man
|
Half-Life | 655 - 491 | 57.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 4 | (27)  Agent 47
|
Hitman | 718 - 597 | 54.6% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | (3)  Raiden
|
Metal Gear | 595 - 934 | 38.9% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5th-8th |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 - Seed 19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round | Opponent | Series | Votes | Pct. For | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (38)  Goro Majima
|
Like a Dragon | 766 - 467 | 62.1% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 2 | (6)  Miles Edgeworth
|
Ace Attorney | 790 - 605 | 56.7% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (5)  Garland
|
Final Fantasy | 486 - 654 | 42.6% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 - Seed 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round | Opponent | Series | Votes | Pct. For | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (110)  Morshu
|
The Legend of Zelda | 495 - 431 | 53.5% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 2 | (95)  Sekiro
|
Shadows Die Twice | 589 - 242 | 70.9% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (23)  Mario
|
Super Mario | 389 - 356 | 52.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 4 | (28)  Wario
|
Wario | 457 - 402 | 53.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Quarterfinals | (44)  Luigi
|
Super Mario | 445 - 386 | 53.5% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Semifinals | (9)  Shadow the Hedgehog
|
Sonic the Hedgehog | 373 - 507 | 42.4% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd Place | (4)  Peppino
|
Pizza Tower | 588 - 442 | 57.1% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
