Jetstream Sam
Jetstream Sam, otherwise known as his actual name Samuel Rodriguez 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
Jetstream Sam first appeared in King of /v/ 2020. Though Metal Gear Rising 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 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 Yakuza'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.
In King of /v/ 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, in which images of him would be posted alongside speculations about the biggest upsets and buzzkills possible.
Results
| 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
|
Yakuza | 766 - 467 | 62.1% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 1 | (6)  Miles Edgeworth
|
Ace Attorney | 790 - 605 | 56.7% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Round 3 | (5)  Garland
|
Final Fantasy | 486 - 654 | 42.6% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
