MKLeo holds the crystal trophy aloft and we bid farewell to Evo 2019, James Chen apparently not taking the last commentator position to send us off in tears as is traditional - but there should be at least one ritual we can count on momentarily, if Victory “Spooky” Fontanez is still in the house. Will we see it? Yes we will.
We are all free now!
And with that, thank you for joining our experimental coverage of this year’s exhausting, exhilarating, ridiculously fun video game tournament. Thank you for playing.
MKLeo is your Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Evo 2019 Champion!
Grand Finals (Reset): MKLeo 2: Tweek 0: We’re in a reverse of the earlier situation now without the benefit of a bracket reset filler, Tweek definitely on the backfoot and Leo still asserting his dominance until Tweek finally lands a heavy Charizard hit and takes the first stock. Tweek still up one stock after 2 minutes but Leo jumps down and hits a reflect to send Charizard off-screen, 2:2. Match still even after another minute but Arsense catches Charizard napping on a edgeguard and sends him on his way again. If Tweek can’t figure this out here’s gone - Leo dancing with death at 172% damage - nuked offscreen with a heavy Chrizard slash again to put it at 1:1, but Squirtle’s at 101 % on one stock left - Leo waiting in centre-stage, trying to bait Tweek in so Leo can fully convert to the tournament point takedown - an unsafe Change nearly sends Charizard off-stage but he survives with good DI, but it’s too much, he can’t take it, he can’t keep up this offence and Leo lands a Arsene-powered spike to blast Tweek’s final stock into the depths. MKLeo is your Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Evo 2019 Champion!
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Grand Finals (Reset): MKLeo 1: Tweek 0: It’s a strange thing to say when half the time both competitors are around equal on damage and stock but it’s beginning to feel like Tweek has been downloaded. Tweek’s down 2:1, nearly eats it after a bad Pokemon change right in front of Joker but just barely survives. Manages to backthrow Leo off stage but is almost immedately punished on respawn. Arsene’s out, lifts Ivysaur off-screen above, edgeguards effectively - MKLeo 2: Tweek 0.
Grand Finals (Reset): MKLeo 0: Tweek 0: We’re back, back again, at 0:0 and Leo continues his dominance, taking the first stock early in. Tweek matches a moment later, both at 2:2 again, with damage difference - Tweek manages to switch but SDs almost immediately after after getting tinged by Joker’s guns mid up-b. We’re down to 1:1 but Tweek is at 131% damage, needs something crazy to take Leo out in this first reset set, tries to pull of a crazy move and hit Joker off-screen with a wild flare blitz but SDs immediately. No payout, MKLeo 1: Tweek 0.
Grand Finals: MKLeo 2: Tweek 2: Tweek’s at tournament point but MKLeo can rest the bracket at any moment, the tension is palpable. Leo reads another Pokemon change and punishes immediately, taking the first stock at the minute mark. Is Tweek running out of momentum? It happens again, mid-air changeover read immediately, punished for it by Leo who has stock advantage 2:1. Arsene’s out, takes out the Pokemon switch again, Leo resets the bracket!
Grand Finals: MKLeo 1: Tweek 2: Another even start, Tweek surviving Arsense’s entire duration to take the first stock with a Charizard hit at 1 minute in - suddenly he’s up two stock against Leo’s Joker, then one stock - Squirtle combos doing good but Leo reads a Pokemon switch, times the forward air and equalises the stock! This turnabout! Ivysaur can’t make it back onto the stage against Joker’s quality edgeguarding - goes for a spike - Ivysaur lands with a back air, but the heavy trade comes out advantageous for MKLeo, who survives another day - we’re at game 5! MKleo 2: Tweek 2.
Grand Finals: MKLeo 0: Tweek 2: So far so good for Leo, effectively blunting Tweek’s heavy momentum, catches a flare blitz with a forward smash and doing OK but a sudden vine whip from Ivysaur evens the damage up, both at massive damage 5 minutes in until Leo finally converts. Tweek matches a minute later and we’re back to nearly even trades, both at 2 stock and comparable damage, Joker has Arsene out, catches Charizard with a counter then a back air and takes the stock. Ivy puts Leo in the air with a throw, down 90% damage but still only a match away from a Grand Finals win - can he do it now? Leo is looking dominant again and Tweek just can’t convert, looks frustrated, and loses the set - Leo takes it to game 4 - MKLeo 1: Tweek 2.
Grand Finals: MKLeo 0: Tweek 1: Leo tries to edguard and is spiked as punishment and loses a stock, but it’s evened right back in, 1 stock down each within a minute - pretty much the story of this whole match, I think it’s safe to say, at least to date. Tweek with the reads, Leo rolling into Tweek and Tweek punishes him for it with ease, up one stock and 80% damage at 5 minutes, can he clutch it out? Leo’s on the defensive, still playing at his high calibur but he just can’t make it through Tweek’s impossible reads! MKLeo 0: Tweek 2!
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Grand Finals: Mexico's MKLeo vs USA's Tweek
Here we go folks - the very last match of Evo 2019, Tweek’s Pokemon Trainer vs MKLeo’s domineering Joker, Leo with disadvantage needing to reset the bracket first. Tweek takes Leo out with a spike 40 seconds in, a surprising result for the quick-moving Joker, but Leo catches Ivysaur in some kind of repeat combo but can’t convert into a a kill until 30 seconds in. 1:1 each. Combo from Tweek’s Squirtle nearly equalises the damage, Tweek gives up stage control and eats a stock loss but gets it back almost instantly - what a close match! Squirtle definitely giving MKLeo the closest run this whole Top 8 - switches to Charizard, edgeguards the hell out of Leo, launches up off the screen! Tweek 1: MKLeo 0.
Losers Finals: Glutonny 0: MKLeo 1: Leo takes Glutonny’s first stock down 1 minute in, but he returns the favour a few seconds later, so both players sitting on 2 stock and 0 damage for a hot second. Leo mixup catches Glutonny by surprise, takes a stock, Glutonny puts up a fight but gets knocked out with another up-B despite a good recovery and up-air. Game 2 goes Glutonny 0: MKLeo 2.
Insane game happening off the edge below the stage, Glutonny trying to escape to the left side of the stage from the right - he succeeds but Leo catches him before he can find his bearings and takes the first stock. Dash attack from Wario takes Leo’s first stock but he chases him down again, removes the second stock for 2:1 Leo advantage. Bike trades - chasedown - Glutonny back to edgeguarding and doing a pretty good job, but no, he can’t make it in the end, MKLeo just keeping the pressure too high - MKLeo is going to Grand Finals, Glutonny out at third place.
Losers Finals: Glutonny v MKLeo: Just two more matches remaining before we’re all freed from this torment of hype. Oops, another accidental button press on setup, so double SDs to get back to the menu. Glutonny’s Wario vs Leo’s Joker, Leo’s been cutting through the Loser’s bracket to date, can he slice his way all to Grand Finals?
Thirty seconds in and it was looking tricky, but Glutonny accidentally walks off and goes down a stock despite equalising early on. Wastes a waft and Leo punishes, gets a good off-stage projectile eat but dies to a Leo combo, chased down, and gets hit with an up-b: Glutonny 0: Mkleo 1.
I am so glad that was a shorter set because who knows how much longer I can hold out. Here’s the climax of the insane Winner’s Finals that saw Tweek finally make it all the way to Grand Finals.
And our Winners Final goes to the last stock, but @TweekSSB avoids the reverse sweep and punches his ticket to #SSBU Grand Final! Who will join him here at #EVO2019?
— EVO (@EVO) August 5, 2019
Watch it live at https://t.co/pRm0CRLp4y! pic.twitter.com/9bGBOwy1WQ
Losers Semifinals: Samsora v MKLeo: As Coney notes on commentary, Japan has been eliminated, so it’s just USA Samsora (Peach) vs Mexico’s MKLeo (Joker) in a best of three set to face Glutonny in Loser’s finals. Peach down a stock one minute in doing their best to zone with turnips but can’t quite catch MKLeo, who tries to chase down with Arsense out and eats a Peach back-air to lose a stock. Samsora whiffs twice and gets punished for it, down a stock again, pushed to the far ledge on the right, chased by MKLeo and bites it. Samsora 0: MKLeo 1.
Good edgeguarding by Samsora sees Leo lose a stock 1 min 20s in, taking an early lead, Samsora surviving a Leo chasedown before finally losing a stock of his own, waiting out Arsene and Joker. Leo tries to rebel charge off a crown but it’s too much - he loses his second stock and Samsora still has advantage for the moment - but not too long, stock equalises, only 60% damage defecit, and then MKLeo converts finally, blunting Samsora’s momentum and taking the set and the match. Samsora eliminated, MKLeo proceeds to Loser’s Finals.
Winner’s Finals: Glutonny 2: Tweek 2: Finally off Pokemon Stadium 2, can Tweek make it back from the edge? Tournament point for both players, we’ve been going back and forth for 17 minutes now. Tweek finally gets Wario out down a stock, switches back to Squirtle, playing a much safer game though he can’t make it through Wario covering himself with the bike. Seismic toss doesn’t take out Glutonny but an Ivysaur forward-air nukes Glutonny, stock at 2:1, advantage Tweek. Charizard too slow, saves himself with flare blitz twice but can’t keep it up, 1:1 stock, an insane breath-taking set of close play sees Tweek finally take it, Tweek’s headed to Grand Finals and Glutonny is going to Losers.
Winner’s Finals: Glutonny 1: Tweek 2: We’re still on Pokemon Stadium 2. Tweek loses a stock to a successful edgeguard at 1 minute down, nearly SDs beneath the stage but swaps to Charizard, recovers, and equalises the stock. Both playing off stage, Glutonny chasing down Tweek and tossing, but he’s still got a waft charged - Glutonny wastes the waft against Tweek’s shield, who reads the usage perfectly - but Glutonny’s still up an entire stock - dash attack takes him out, did game 3 get too far inside Tweek’s mind? Glutonny 2: Tweek 2.
Winner’s Finals: Glutonny 0: Tweek 2: Tweek down a stock a minute in, rare lead for Glutonny, but equalised a mere 15 seconds later. Parry lets Wario get significant damage in but they still remain roughly equal, Tweek rolls into a punt, ends up down 1 stock at 5 minutes remaining on the clock. Picks up with a vine whip to remove Glutonny’s edge guard and recovers with Charizard, but he’s still got a 100% damage defecit, though making up ground quickly with Ivysaur - suddenly the momentum is strong but Glutonny defends succesfully through an insane set of trades - Glutonny lives! Glutonny 1: Tweek 2:
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Winner’s Finals: Glutonny v Tweek: Little bit of fun to start with as a mispress means both players self-destruct to get back to the stage and character select, Glutonny’s Wario vs Tweek’s Pokemon Trainer. Wario’s gone within the first 1 and a half minutes to a heavy Charizard, briefly huge advantage to Tweek 3:1 before dropping to a slightly more managable 2:1. It’s not enough though, Ivysaur blasting Wario off again, Glutonny 0: Tweek 1. This set is 3/5, so be prepped for a longer run.
Second set starts strong and slightly more even, no losses yet at 1 and a half minutes in though the damage is high before heavy Charizard throw eliminates Glutonny’s first stock, though he matches it 20 seconds later. Both of them go deep below the stage, but Wario’s keeping his waft safe then punishes with it to take Tweek’s second stock. Suddenly we’re down 1-1, only 30% separating the two players - Glutonny getting good at punishing the Pokemon switches - but he eats a Charizard b-air to the face and gets tossed. Glutonny 0: Tweek 2.
Losers Quarterfinals 2: Raito v MKLeo: Can Raito’s Duck Hunt Duo take out the MKLeo’s Joker, the number one player in the world? it seems unlikely but crazier things have happened on the grand stage. Smashville is up again, both players vaguely zoning-based, Raito back on the space control kick - staredown over the can, both of them at 170% damage 2 minutes on the clock still with 3 stock until a sudden trade, both down a stock. It’s zone vs zone with neither able to get in, both just looking for mistakes, neither with a clear advantage until Leo’s powered-up normals make the difference. Leo’s grapple recovery saves him twice from going deep beneath the stage until he gets caught by a good can, but still 70% damage up on even stock 1:1. Finally a low back-air catches Duck Hunt and tosses them, MKLeo 1: Raito 0.
My god, I turned away for 20 seconds and Leo already eliminated a stock somehow. What the heck? Leo looking pretty right now, edgeguarding even without Arsene out, Raito down 1:3 - insane odds in Top 8. Can he get in? It’ll be the comeback of the year, both at 120% damage but at a 2 stock defecit - he gets a stock in, then commentator’s curse hits immediately, Duck Hunt hitting the screen. MKLeo into Loser’s finals, Raito eliminated. Rest in peace doggo.
Losers Quarterfinals 1: Samsora 1 | Protobanhan 1: We’re back to Battlefield and roughly equal one minute into the match. I’ve never seen Peach played at this speed - even game, one stock each, 5% damage seperating the two - we’re at tournament point - Peach’s lockdown is impressive, and finally catches Protobanham’s Lucina at the last moment, and that’s Protobanhan eliminated at 5th place - Samsora advancing to Losers Semi-Finals.
Losers Quarterfinals 1: Samsora v Protobanham: Six matches left to go and we’ve got Samsora’s Peach up against the aforementioned Protobanhan’s scary-fast Lucina - it’s a bad matchup for the floaty Peach, but let’s see if there’s any surprises here. By the way, did you see that Smash 4 footage during the break? My god, Ultimate looks so fast compared to the Wii U version. Anyway let’s get to the set.
We’re on Battlefield again and it’s dead even half a minute in, Samsora doing good to approach despite Lucy’s swords, suddenly tech into back air and Samsora’s down a stock. Peach keeps chasing down, follows up and launches successfully and they’re back equal, 2 stocks each and fairly comparable damage. Back on stage dolphin slash picks up Peach after a long recovery for both of them and sends her flying, Samsora down one stock - equalises with a back air attack - Proto’s edgeguarding successfully and consistently but can’t quite eliminate Samsora - until it happens one too many times and knocks Samsora out, Samsora 0: Protobanham 1.
Phew, what a set. Samsora starts out strong, dealing 60% damage in the first 10 seconds and maintains the damage lead for nearly a minute, but Protobanham chases and reads a predictable recovery at 90% to get the stock lead early on. The situation reverses, Peach edgeguarding for a moment before Protobanham recover, both players sitting on high damage and 2 stock each - finally Peach flies too close to the side and Lucina capitlaises. Peach bomber catches Lucina quickly after the refresh, takes the damage lead - can Samsora pull it back? Yes, he does it - smart edgeguard reads, those last 20 seconds, beautiful play. Samsora 1: Protobanham 1.
For serious, Protobanhan’s Lucina is absolutely terrifying. Look at this play.
It's @SSBU_Lucina who advances to losers quarters with a win over @Light_S21! More #SSBU Top 8 action happening right now! Watch it live at https://t.co/pRm0CRLp4y! #EVO2019 pic.twitter.com/DrwUovnkUi
— EVO (@EVO) August 5, 2019
Losers Round 2: MkLeo v Zackray: MKLeo’s Joker takes on Zackray’s Wolf, both fast characters again on Pokemon Stadium 2. Joker’s normally quite dependent on Arsene but Leo is making him look competitive even without the Persona out, though it’s looking fairly even here, Zackray chasing out Leo until a smart mid-air counter sends him flying. He just won’t stop chasing, which turns out bad for him when he gets sent below the stage, Leo’s tether recovery saving it for him: MKLeo 1: Zackray 0.
Set two starts fairly similarly, a powered up Joker tossing Wolf before being quickly removed himself. Leo up a stock though the damage is near equal - a smart up-B from MKLeo removes Zackray from competition. Zackray eliminated.
Losers Round 1: ProtoBanham vs Light: Protobanham’s Lucina vs Light’s Fox and Fox is already down a stock mere moments into this match on Smashville. No zoning or projectile shenanigans here, clean chases between two quick, fast characters. Lucina clips Fox to finish off at the end there - what a incredibly fast match! Protobanham 1: Light 0.
Double KO moments into the second round as Protobanham chases Light beneath the stage, successfully knocks them out but then self-destructs unable to recover back to the stage. A half minute later Light gets launched at fairly low damage and is punished for it, losing a stock quickly - dramatic flurry of moves before Protobanham does it again beneath the stage, but since it’s the last stock Light dies first and hands Protobanham the victory. Protobanham eliminates Light.
Winner’s Semifinal 2: Tweek v Samsora: Two top 5s in the world here meeting in Winners Semis, Tweek number 2 on the planet and Samsora number 4, on the Panda Global Rankings. Should be a good match, Tweek’s Pokemon Trainer vs Samsora’s Peach, on good old basic Battlefield. Samsora down at 100% of damage compared to Ivysaur’s 22% early on, heavier Charizard getting in and tossing Peach off screen. It’s the Charizard who gets the kills putting us at Tweek 1: Samsora 0.
Smashville for our next stage, a bit smaller than Battlefield, Tweek utilising character switches to great effect, keeping it light to start combos getting back on the stage with unsafe air dodges - finally caught by Samsora, who punishes to finally take the first stock. But it’s not long before Samsora is down one stock, and can’t hold onto it for long - eventaully Tweek gets through, knocking Samsora into Losers.
Winners Semifinal 1: Glutonny 1: Raito 1: These sets are 2 out of 3 for reasons of speed so it’s match point for both competitors. We’ve moved to Pokemon Stadium with transformations off now, still a wide stage, both competitors at roughly equal damage before Raito goes flying off screen. Finally another can lands on and takes Wario out, 2:2 at four minutes thirty. Glutonny is carefully trying to approach, avoiding the beans, picks Raito off a ledge recovery and hits him with a waft - bam, Raito’s outta here. Glutonny heads into Winners Finals, Raito knocked into losers.
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Winners Semifinal 1: Glutonny v Raito: Gluttony’s Wario v Raito’s Duck Hunt on Town and City. Smash is of course a different type of fighting game than almost every other mainstage game in Evo, focused on damage buildup to launch enemies off stage. Raito’s space control is strong with cans and gunslingers all over, both down a stock each after a minute off the clock, then down to 1:1 at 4 minutes remaining. Raito lands a late forward smash to knock Gluttony out, Glutonny 0: Raito 1.
Second set goes roughly the same, Raito hanging on a 174% damage for a while with advantage before a bike hit takes him out. The projectile game is making it very difficult for Glutonny to jump in who finds himself down 2:1 at 3 min on the clock before a waft on uptilt kills at 47%! Suddenly the match evens out, only 40% difference with advantage to Glutonny before landing a flying foot to knock Raito out, Glutonny 1: Raito 1.
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate's Top 8 is about to begin
Brackets! Brackets! I’m not afraid to tell those of you still with us that I’m beginning to melt down into a puddle of goo. Thank god for coffee. Your Top 8 for Smash Ultimate are:
Winner’s bracket
- Glutonny [France]
- Raito [Japan]
- Tweak [USA]
- Samsora [USA]
Loser’s Bracket
- ProtoBanham [JPN]
- Light [USA]
- MkLeo [Mexico]
- zackray [JPN]
Can we all survive to the end? Who knows - though you should know in advance it’s fairly unlikely Nintendo will have any announcements afterwards, so from here on in, it’s all about the competition. It’s real strange not having Street Fighter as the closer, but Smash had an unprecedented 3,492 entrants. It’s time. Cinnpie and Coney on mic on stream. Let’s go!
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Looks like Gematsu has the scoop on the latest Guilty Gear pics for next year...
Added some official Guilty Gear screenshots sent out by Arc System Works to our post https://t.co/9kQ3SGv7Gz
— Gematsu (@gematsucom) August 5, 2019
This is the highest res available, sorry =( pic.twitter.com/zOxG8loz9I
Recap: Mortal Kombat 11 and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
Here’s the last lot of recaps. You can probably tell I’m still losing steam - hopefully Smash can bring it back.
Mortal Kombat 11
Gory, bloody and looking somewhat stiff next to its flashier competitors, MK11’s first Evo appearance was decisively claimed by two-time Mortal Kombat X Evo champion Donique “SonicFox” McLean, apparently unphased from his earlier Top 8 appearance for DBZ, as he demolished Ryan “Dragon” Walker 3-0.
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BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
The actual lowest number of participants and the smallest prize pool went to BBTag, but that didn’t make the game any less hype, with Marvel-style shennanigans blunting against the defensive playstyle of eventual champion and one of three Americans in the top 8 Oscar “Shinku” James, despite expectations of Japanese dominance. Check that out below.
Daisuke Ishitawari of Arc System Works, best known as the creator of the Guilty Gear series, has turned up to announce something that they’ve been working on - an entirely new Guilty Gear slated for 2020. As usual it looks stunning.
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Recap: Dragonball FighterZ and Samurai Shodown
While we wait for Smash to start up, let’s take a look over a few more finals from Day 2.
Dragonball FighterZ
Story of the night was a runback (replay) of last year’s grand finals which happened not once but twice, with last year’s flamboyant champion Donique “SonicFox” McLean up against his perennial rival Goichi “GO1” Kishida. SonicFox’s furious offence met Go1’s implacable defence in a dramatic Winner’s Finals and again in Grand Finals after Fox fought his way back out of the loser’s bracket.
Go1 burst into tears of happiness after finally defeating SonicFox, who hugged his victorious opponent in a grand display of sportsmanship. Definitely an Evo Moment, extremely anime. Other notables included the reappearance of infamous Marvel 3 player Christopher “ChrisG” Gonzales as well as a good performance from Spanish newcomer Joan “Shanks” Namay making it to Top 4.
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Samurai Shodown
The venerable SNK game’s return had a star lineup with the legendary Justin Wong showing up with safe play and Ryota “Kazunoko” Inoue joining his second Top 8 (alongside his strong DBZ appearance earlier in the day). Long-term Evo veteran Alex “CaliPower” Valle had a glimpse at greatness with a clutch victory against Renato “DidimoKOF” Martins before eating a decisive loss in the Losers Quarterfinal against Reynard “Reynard” Tacsuan.
Still, it was the controversial Seon-woo “Infiltration” Lee, better known in the Street Fighter scene (though currently on hiatus due to domestic abuse allegations), who broke out of the loser’s bracket to trounce Kazunoko 3-0 in the first set and 3-1 in the second. His victory unfortunately casts something of a cloud over a super interesting, very differently-paced type of fighting game.
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Tekken series director Harada has turned up, his shades firmly on to throw shade at Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono, who didn’t turn up after the Street Fighter finals, as well as a little at Evo for some early choppy video for the Soul Calibur announcements earlier in the evening. Did Harada really turn up to say “no info to announce” and wander back offstage? The answer... is no. Harada drops the date of the Tekken World Tour finals in Bangkok in December, then walks off stage, then back on stage for one more announcement. The ruses! The trickery!
Here’s a video - it’s Tekken 7’s season 3. New characters announced are returning character Zefina and a new original character, Leroy Smith, who looks like a New York take on Bruce Lee.
Your Tekken Evo 2019 Champion, Arslan Ash.
Evo's first ever unified Evo Champion, Arslan Ash! #Evo2019 pic.twitter.com/Q6ImMyDrru
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) August 5, 2019
My heart is in my mouth as we go to the winner’s ceremony and I’ve still got another entire Top 8 left to go. We know Harada is in Las Vegas (and so is Ono) - they’ve said that there’s no announcements slated for Tekken, but can we really believe them? An amazing job for Arslan, who turned up out of nowhere to take Evo Japan and can now add an Evo championship to his list of achievements.
Arslan Ash is the Evo 2019 Tekken 7 Champion!
Grand Finals: Arslan 2: Knee 2: We thought it was over, but Knee pulled it back from the edge, but he’s still got a set to go before he can even reset the bracket. Arslan’s got another chance. No character switching here, Arslan pulling off the first round with a steady set of safe moves. Trades go badly for Knee in the second round early, but converts a counter hit into a decent amount of damage, but with 11 seconds left on the clock Arslan clutches it out. We’re back on tournament point and Arslan takes a commanding and aggressive lead - can Knee turn it around once more? Knee gets a flashpunch combo off a whiff but Arslan immediately jumps back into offence. 20 seconds left on the clock. Knee on rage, nearly takes it, but Arslan cements it with a heavy trade and takes out Knee decisively. Arslan Ash is your Evo 2019 Tekken Champion!
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Grand Finals: Arslan 2: Knee 1: If Arslan takes this set it’s all over, Knee switching to Devil Jin - a higher tier character according to the books, but right now it’s looking pretty good for Arslan no matter what character Knee chooses. Arslan takes round 1, Knee finally gets a good counterhit in in Round 2 and drops Arslan to three-quarters help in an instant, but his steady poke game pays off and puts Arslan at tournament point. Third round is almost a repeat of round 2, but Knee manages to pull it off this time, drops Arslan in round 3. Round 4 starts with a stone head and decent momentum for Knee, it goes down to seconds before Knee manages to penetrate Arlan’s defences and equalise it all, 2-2. Knee’s back on his game, Arslan’s steady work not doing it for him this time - Knee pulls it off and takes the set!
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Grand Finals: Arslan 1: Knee 1: Arslan losening up and putting a round on the map as I blink, then taking the second round as well with a domineering performance. Knee gets back in for a hot second before Arslan pokes make it through once again, handing the set back to Arslan 2: Knee 1.
Grand Finals: Arslan 1: Knee 0: Looking dangerous for Knee here who can only eat two more set losses before elimination. A furious footsie game results in Arslan clutching out a last second victory for round 1. Knee takes a lead in round 2 and manages to convert, strong blockstrings seeing a set of trades broken by Knee’s last second grab, taking the third round as well. Knee, knocked down to low health, breaks through into a set of full damage Devil Kazuya combos to equalise the sets - Arslan 1: Knee 1. This is tight, folks, but as Markman and Aris remind us all, Knee has never beaten Arslan in competition to date - can he swing it here, at the very top?
Tekken 7 Grand Finals: South Korea's Knee vs Pakistan's Arslan
The runback! This meeting of Tekken legends already resulted in a crazy match early on in Winners Semi-Finals and we’re returning to a runback of the battle of legends here at the pinnacle. It’s all on the line as South Korea’s Knee fights his way out of a tough Loser’s bracket to face the Pakistani Prodigy, Arslan Ash, once more.
The crowd is popping off as we head into the fight, Arslan sticking with Kazumi, Knee with Kazuya. Arslan takes a dominant position early on in round 1, drawing first blood, but Knee pulls out a super to punish a whiff and take the second round. Knee takes the third as well, summoning Devil Kazuya in round four but not managing to blunt Arslan’s sudden onslought. It’s 2-2 until Arslan traps Kazumya against a wall and juggle combos him to death, Arslan 1: Knee 0.
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Loser’s finals: Anakin 1: Knee 0: Anakin closes in on Knee immediately in round 1 and again in round 2, an unbelievable run before Knee seems to wake up in Round 3 to stay competitive. A smart rage drive opens Anakin up, Knee charging in and throwing to finally get a game back, but Anakin takes the fourth round back with a juggle combo to take the second set, Anakin 2: Knee 0.
Knee gets a few hits in early in the second set but Anakin retaliates, equalising the lifebars, then picks up Knee and goes completely ham to take round 1. A more cautious approach characterises the second round with throw escapes and footises finally solved by a crucial Paul rage art giving Knee the round win and the momentum to take the set, Anakin 2: Knee 1.
Set three starts out strong for Knee with a dominant round 1 and then clutching out the second round with 2 seconds left on the clock. The third set goes to Knee as well, recovering decisively to bring up his score, Anakin 2: Knee 2.
Knee’s found his momentum now and it’s looking fairly free - he’s downloaded Anakin entirely and turns it around within moments. Knocks Anakin down and out into third place, Knee advancing to Winner’s finals to face Arslan once again. Some kind of codec call is going on-stage but it hasn’t shown up on stream - no doubt we’ll find out about it later on.
From 1900 competitors we’re down to the Top 3 for Tekken 7. In Loser’s finals, we have South Korea’s Knee vs USA’s Anakin for the chance to fight Pakinstan’s Arslan who is waiting on the throne, having already tossed both of them out of the winner’s bracket.
Knee picks Paul, his first appearance in this top 8, while Anakin sticks to Jack. Knee takes an early lead, Anakin in the purple, and converts to take round 1. Anakin jams Knee against a wall quickly but Knee rolls out and nearly comes back before methodical work by Anakin puts him in the dirt in round 2. With 10 seconds left on the clock Anakin punishes a whiff and takes the third round, then finishes the last round with a perfect, Anakin 1: Knee 0.
Recap: Soul Calibur 6 and UNIST
Just a couple of recaps while we’re in break here from Day 1 and the beginning of Day 2.
Soul Calibur 6
With nearly the lowest number of entrants – a still respectable 750 or so – SoulCal was up first on Friday. Marie-Laure “Kayane” Norindr, one of the few women to make Top 8, put in a good performance but was eliminated early 2-0.
Ultimately it was Yuta “Yuttuto” Sudo who took the finals 2:1, fighting off Zain “Bluegod” Tibeishat with a terrifying set of Voldo hipthrusts and mixups.
Under Night In-Birth.exe: Late(ST)
The phrase going around for UNIST, as the once-niche anime fighter is commonly known, is ‘Cinderella story’; making Evo’s lineup is a breakthrough to the relative mainstream and the result of years of hard work on the part of its community, and Top 8 showed off the indie fighting game with style.
Early in the bracket Shinji “Neji” Taharu pulled off a daring win via timeout, a rare ploy on main stage, though he ultimately lost the match. Later on in Losers Finals, a furious battle between Japanese players Oshuu-hittou and Hishigata saw Hittou coming back from a single pixel of health to take the round, upset Hishigata’s momentum and ultimately take the match 3-1.
Still, it was an extremely close match for Oshuu-hittou against Clearlamp in Grand Finals that truly brought the hype, with Hittou very nearly managing to reset the bracket at 2-2 before Clearlamp clutched out a last second victory, which he celebrated with a truly epic pop-off. A great showing for the little indie game that could.
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Here’s Arslan’s dominating performance against Anakin a few moments back, who’s set to fight his way back out of Loser’s bracket in mere moments.
🇵🇰@ArslanAsh95 is looking 𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚!
— EVO (@EVO) August 5, 2019
He takes down 🇺🇸@tk_anakin 3-0 and books an expedited ticket to #EVO2019 Grand Finals!https://t.co/pRm0CRLp4y #EVOPS4 #TWT2019 pic.twitter.com/It9G8cH2Hk
Losers Semifinals: Knee 1 | Take 0: Knee heads in early and traps Take against the wall, who nearly makes it out before getting shut down with a low jab. It goes to trades in round 2 but Knee dominates, sends Take out quickly. Take gets back in Round 3 but it’s match point in semis, still on the ropes. Take’s defence just doesn’t quite hold up, Knee punching him out after a cautious slogging match, dropping Take out at 4th place and Knee advancing into Loser’s finals.
Losers Semifinals: Knee v Take: Another Kazumi (Take) vs Steve (Knee) match here in Losers, two highly repped characters here in top 8. Knee hits a rage drive but misses thanks to Take’s crouching stance, Take punishing easily to take round 1. Round 2 looks free for Take but Knee turns it around in moments to swing it, reminding everyone that Tekken (and Knee) can always comeback around in mere moments. It doesn’t happen in round 3, which goes with ease to Take, but Knee has a great read and nails Take on a rage drive straight in the face and follows it up to equalise the first set. Round 4 goes to Knee as well, placing the score at Knee 1: Take 0.
Winners Finals: Anakin 0 | Arslan Ash 2: Anakin charges in trying to make up gone ground but Arslan is ready for everything he throws at him, dominating round 1 and again just nearly perfecting Anakin on round 2. Arslan stops playing in round 3 and just runs over Anakin, putting the USA and Anakin down into Loser’s Bracket and putting Pakistan and Arslan Ash into Grand Finals.
Winners Finals: Anakin v Arslan Ash: The last US representative left in Tekken on Jack 7 versus Pakistan’s surprise wunderkind Arslan, playing Geese. Who’s going to go to Grand Finals? First blood goes to Arslan in mere moments, but Anakin is up again in round 2, misses a throw, and goes down. Two ruonds quick to Arslan. Anakin starts strong again in Round 3, trapping Arslan on a wall, but can’t convert to a final knockout and gets himself trapped instead, Arslan turns it around and knocks him out. Anakin 0: Arslan 1.
Anakin is again trapped early in Round 1 but gets a crucial parry in and sets Arslan against the wall, but Arslan brings it back, taking the round; a repeat performance for Arslan in Round 2 sees just him just completely dominant. Arslan is down to pixel health in round 3, Anakin finally gets a game in, breaking Arslan’s streak, but he takes a lead performance in round 3 and pulls it off, Anakan 0: Arslan 2. We have moved to first to 3 for these sets, so Anakin still has a chance to get back in the game, but the mindset dominance is definitely on Arslan’s side right now.
Here’s that commentator’s curse hitting Noroma live on stream. Absolutely hexed.
#TEKKEN7 Rare footage of commentators actually cursing the matchhttps://t.co/pRm0CRLp4y #EVO2019 #EVOPS4 pic.twitter.com/1cWqNUsaRx
— EVO (@EVO) August 5, 2019
Losers Quarterfinals 2: Take 1 | Noroma 0: Noroma goes in quickly and takes the first round in moments, but a slogging match takes them to 3 seconds on the clock before Noroma finally grabs the round. A dominant performance by Noroma sees him take the rest of the set almost before anything even ocurs, Take 1 | Noroma 1.
Back on an infinite stage sees Take recover with a round 1 victory, a dramatic footsie game raising the tension again. Take gets Noroma back into the red in moments, a total reversal of the last set, up 2 rounds to nothing. The crowd is making noise as Take looks dominant with basic cautious play, finally turning it around and sending Noroma out of Top 8; Take advances to face Knee in the Losers Semifinals.
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Losers Quarterfinals 2: Take v Noroma: Noroma running Steve and Take with Kazumi. As Markman says, it’s a very poke-heavy match, Noroma dominating the first two rounds until Take pushes him back up against a wall. Noroma nearly manages a comeback but gets read on the third hit, poked out. Noroma misses the wallsplat, commentator’s curse kicking in, Take coming back from a near insurmountable death spiral to wallbreak and come back into play, 2-2. Lifebars are tied in round 3, both deep in the purple, a careful game of footsies breaking at the last moment, Take 1: Noroma 0.
I was going to recap some of the other tournaments in this short break but they’re just too short, we’re back already. Looks like we’re lining up for Losers Quarterfinals 1: Knee vs Nobi.
Might be an issue with one of the headphones, so a slight delay on startup, but looks like it’s nothing serious and a Steve Fox mirror match can proceed. Knee takes a commanding lead in round 1, but gets pressured in round 2, tries to rage art out of it but starts up too early letting Nobi dodge and punish to equalise the set. The announces are yelling about hotdogs during a tense standoff, Knee closing in to clutch out round 3 and then round 4 as well. Knee 1 | Nobi 0.
Nobi switches up back to Dragonov in set 2, which gets him within spitting distance of a win but gets clutched out by Knee at the very last second. Second round sees Knee take a more dominant stance, taking the round with relative ease, before Nobi comes back with a solid string of trades - but Knee breaks out with a rage drive to knock Nobi out of Top 8, sending Knee into Loser’s Semifinals. A bit of a blowout there unfortunately for Nobi, but that’s no shame against Knee.
Loser’s Round 2: Noroma v Chikurin: Two amazing Japanese players up against one another here, Noroma picking Steve Fox and Chikurin another Geese main. Noroma takes the first round easily, but Chikurin recovers and puts up a fight in round 2 before eating a special to the face and losing the round. He gets back in advantage in round 3 early on, but Noroma plays cautiously, trades, pulls it back and takes the set, Noroma 1 | Chikurin 0.
Noroma puts in a dominant performance again for game 2 round 1, Chikurin putting up a bit of a fight but Noroma flattens him again in round 2. Can Chikurin come back? Round 3 sees a strong recovery for Chikurin putting Noroma into rage drive, but nope, it’s all over for Chikurin, Noroma trapping him in the wall and just crushing him. Chikurin out and Noroma moving on to Losers quarterfinals.
Loser’s Round 1: LowHigh v Nobi: Two former Evo champions face off in the first round of the loser’s bracket, Lowhigh’s Shaheen v Nobi’s Dragunov. Lowhigh gets the first round by burning a rage art at a crucial moment, but Nobi pressures back in round 2 to take an early lead and takes a perfect. Lowhigh responds with a perfect of his own in round 3, but round 4 comes to a straight up brawl, both players making good trades and keeping the life leads roughly equal until Nobi reads a last second rage art and punishes appropriately to put the set at 2 rounds each. The final round is a strong performance for Nobi, putting him in the lead, Lowhigh 0 | Nobi 1.
An infinite stage for Set 2, Lowhigh taking an early lead in the set in round 1 but a beautiful sidestep puts Nobi back within spitting range in round 2. Lowhigh’s capitalises with a juggle to take round 3, round 4 ends up with a dramatic finish stolen by Nobi after Lowhigh messes up a last-minute approach and finds himself facing the wrong way. Round 5 sees Lowhigh come back strongly to equalise the sets, Lowhigh 1 | Nobi 1.
This is just a bareknuckle brawl of a match, we’re in Jungle now, both sides at pixel health, Nobi whiffing a punish to let Lowhigh steal the first round but pulling it off in round 2 to equalise. Lowhigh wallbreaks to toss Nobi down a stage, punishes, grabs round 3. Early pokes in round 3 sees Nobi regain momentum, equalising the round, presses Lowhigh up against the wall and takes it with a furious offence, last year’s champ Lowhigh eliminated and Nobi moving up to Loser’s quarterfinals. This is insane Tekken and we’re not even past the initial Loser’s brackets. This is nuts.
Winner’s Semis 2: Arslan 0 | Knee 1: Arslan draws first blood on an infinite stage, nearly getting to timeout with 13 seconds left on the clock. A dedicated game of footsies sees the results reverse, Knee taking the second round, but Arslan maintains focus to turn it around again in round 3 and again running it forward in round 4, taking the set to Arslan 1 | Knee 1.
Knee switches up the stages to a wall stage since he lost the set, a good choice for Geese, but can he actually capitalise? Big lead for Arslan who takes the first round, and the second. Knee has Kazumi up against a wall early in the third round, then traps her in a corner, reads Arslan’s low kick on wakeup and perfects her - devastating. It looks like the beginning of a Knee comeback until Kazumi wakes up and sends the momentum back in the opposite direction - a tense game of footsies looks like it breaks with a whiff as the timer ticks down - but Arslan gets in at the very last second and breaks out with a second left on the clock, sending Knee into Losers and advancing Arslan to Winners Finals.
Winner’s Semis 2: Arslan 0 | Knee 1: Here’s the big storyline for Tekken, the Pakistani prodigy, Arslan Ash up against South Korea’s Knee, a former Evo champion. They’ve met before and Arslan has dominated every time in tournies, but on the main stage of Evo can this be a turnaround? Knee is nearly untouchable to everybody else but Arslan is his bane. Let’s see how this goes.
Knee chooses Geese Howard, Arslan playing Kazumi. Both players are playing defensively, small pokes and a quiet back and forth, but a strong sidestep by Knee sees Kazumi punished to equalise the rounds early. Strong defensive play by Arslan saves him when both parties are knocked down to pixel health in the second round, but the fourth is a dominant one for Knee who wins with a last-moment throw.
Arslan has dominance in the fifth round, but Geese has charge and comes back around in the last moment to take the set! An amazing comeback.
Winner’s Semis 1: Take 0 | Anakin 1: Anakin showing up to play, driving in and stealing Round 1 easily, but Take reverses in Round 2. Anakin leads early in life on round 3 but it goes to trades and Take can’t capitalise, losing out to a flurry of blows. Anakin takes round 3 with a perfect blowout, advancing to the next round in winners!
I might slow down on these posts instead of going set by set - Tekken’s just too dang fast.
Winner’s Semis 1: Anakin 0 | Take 0: Take has Kazumi, Anakin on Jack-7. Anakin gets in early with a huge life lead and punishes early, taking round 1, then round 2, solid performance very early on. Early trade is advantageous for Anakin but Take gets a wallbreak and juggles effectively to go up a round. Anakin punishes a whiff and takes the first set.
Tekken 7's Top 8 is about to begin
Markman and Aris on commentary for Tekken 7 as we start up. Here’s your Top 8 bracket:
Winner’s Bracket
- Anakin [USA]
- Take [JPN]
- Arslan [Pakistan]
- Knee [SKorea]
Loser’s Bracket
- Lowhigh [SKorea]
- Nobi [JPN]
- Noroma [JPN]
- Chikurin [JPN]
Obviously I’ve spoken far too soon, with new SamSho DLC and KOF 6 announced during the break. More on that in a moment but we’re moments away from Tekkn 8 Top 8 - let me get my bearings quickly and get right back to the action.
It’s an emotional moment for Bonchan, who is a long time Sagat player but last saw grand finals at Evo 2014, where he came out on the losing side vs eventual champion Luffy back in the Street Fighter IV days. Doesn’t look like there’s an announcement after this tournie, so I’m going to step out for a moment as they switch over to Tekken and I’ll be back with you very shortly.
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Bonchan blunts Big Bird's rushdown to become your Evo 2019 Street Fighter champion!
Grand Finals: Big Bird 2 | Bonchan 2 (W): Bonchan at tournament point can taste the blood in the water, perfecting Big Bird out of the gate in round 2. Rashid responds with the traditional furious offence but drops it halfway through, letting Karin get in, fighting for his life. The tension is palpable as the two sit in the corner, insane defence, teching throws, until Rashid breaks through and equalises the set.
It’s tournament point or bracket reset in moments - Bonchan gets the reset but drops it at the last second letting Rashid live on pixel health, who hits Bonchan with a critical art but doesn’t kill - Bonchan takes the read for the follow-up, lands it perfect, and takes it all - Bonchan is your Evo 2019 Street Fighter champion!
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Grand Finals: Big Bird 2 | Bonchan 1 (W): Bonchan does it again, perfect spacing blunting Big Bird’s rushdown offence in round 1 but backed into the corner in Round 2 and taken out by Big Bird. Can Big Bird reset the bracket here? Bonchan gets Rashid into dizzy, makes a great read, perfects Big Bird to take the set and put him at match point.
Grand Finals: Big Bird 2 | Bonchan 0 (W): Bonchan finally turns it around, entering offence early and not letting Big Bird get into his rhythm to take round 1. Round 2 sees the turnabout continue, giving Bonchan his first set, though Big Bird still needs to reset the bracket before a realistic shot at the title.
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Grand Finals: Big Bird 1 | Bonchan 0: I don’t believe this - Big Bird starts out the second set with another perfect! Bonchan is doing decently but seems like they can’t quite deal with Big Bird’s furious offence, falling to a crazy mixup. Big Bird up 2 sets.
Street Fighter V Grand Finals: UAE's Big Bird v Japan's Bonchan
From 2000 players it all comes down to this. Our two competitors clink drinks and shake hands and get right into it. Bonchan has switched it back around to Karin, widely regarded as a solid pick, but it makes no difference to Big Bird who perfects Bonchan in round 1.
Bonchan gets better treatment in round 2, two solid hits converting into full combos and handing him the round. Round 3 sees a solid defence by Bonchan baited into an uppercut that sees Big Bird immediately capitalise to take the set.
Losers finals: Big Bird 2 | Infexious 0: Big Bird takes the early traditional Rashid rushdown, pushing Infexious into a corner and putting himself on match point extremely early. The second round continues much the same, though an uppercut response puts Infexious back within grabbing range of the round, but is trounced by a strong Big Bird mixup, sending Big Bird to Grand Finals and berthing Infexious in third.
Losers finals: Big Bird 1 | Infexious 0: Match 2 is a crazy footsie game but Zeku lands a strong punish, Rashid recovers for a brief moment but Infexious grabs him on wakeup to take the first round. Round 2 sees Rashid sitting on pixel life but a series of close trades somehow sees him equalise the set, 1-1. The third round sees an early lead for Infexious but with no fear in his eyes Big Bird catches him jumping, swinging the momentum and giving him the second set.
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Losers finals: Big Bird 0 | Infexious 0: The bracket clips along at a rapid pace and we’re up to see if the UAE’s Big Bird or the UK’s Infexious will face off against Bonchan, Japan’s number one favourite, in Grand Finals. Big Bird at Rashid and Infexious sticking to Zeku.
Round 1 starts swiftly with Rashid trapping Zeku in the corner again, Infexious sitting on pixel life and getting a little recovery in before falling to a quick poke. The second round is a little more even, both players finding more in the way of defence, Infexious surviving some strong Rashid pressure early-game but falling after Big Bird spends V-trigger to take the set.
Losers Semifinals: Big Bird 2 | Fujimura 2: Big Bird somehow escapes a terrifying Ibuki rushdown to put him back at match point. A tense staredown of pokes sees neither side getting strong confirms, Ibuki sending out shurikens and kunai and essentially poking Big Bird to death. At match point, both players go totally ham, feeling the victory on the tip of their tongues, Ibuki pulling a strong defence but eventually baited into a wrong move, punished, and bam - eliminated. Big Bird heads into Top 3, Fujimura is going home.
Losers Semifinals: Big Bird 2 | Fujimura 1: In a familiar sight Rashid rushes Ibuki down in the corner and gets Big Bird to match point. Fujimura gets back in in round 2 a little to take life lead handily, but a smart spend by Fujimura brings him back 1-1. Round 3 sees no hits landed 15 seconds in, but Fujimura comes back with a good read and equalises the sets, 2-2. Edge of your seat stuff.
Losers Semifinals: Big Bird 1 | Fujimura 1: Big Bird again with a furious offence to dominate Fujimura, very nearly managing a second perfect in round 1. A set of back-and-forth combos sees Ibuki taking round 2, but round 3 sends Fujimura right back to the corner, a desperate uppercut not going his way and handing the set handily to Big Bird.
Losers Semifinals: Big Bird 1 | Fujimura 0: The momentum continues with Big Bird rushing down Fujimura in moments to take round 1. Round 2 sees Ibuki recovering halfway through to hang in the corner, dizzying Rashid after a furious combination, who nearly breaks through but falls to Ibuki’s shuriken mixups. It’s 1-1 as round 3 starts, both players nearly immediately down to half health, Ibuki with the life lead, baits out Rashid’s EX spinning mixer, boomerang shuriken again putting in work. Set 2 to Fujimura.
Losers Semifinals: Big Bird 0 | Fujimura 0: Just three matches left in this Street Fighter Top 8 with Loser’s semis, finals and then Grand Finals blocked out. SKill and James Chen are already both drained. A good handshake before the match begins, Big Bird on Rashid again and Fujimura back on Ibuki.
A careful start sees Rashid down half health within 15 seconds, but Ibuki’s taken down there too. A series of great reads sees Big Bird take that first round despite the early life loss.
Round 2 starts in similar fashion, but this time Rashid doesn’t escape - Fujimura perfects him in seconds. Round 3 sees the trend reversed, Rashid rushing in and returning the favour with his own perfect to take the first set - absolutely clutch.
Evo twitter crew are quick on the Vods, thankfully, so we can add a little colour to this rather texty-looking liveblog. Here’s that last set for Bonchan vs Infexious.
Dance on them when you're about to win?
— EVO (@EVO) August 4, 2019
No, this is EVO, we TIGER UPPERCUT people in the face.@katitagaribon ascends his way into Grand Finals sending @infexiousdc to Losers Final!#EVO2019 #EVOPS4 #CPT2019https://t.co/pRm0CRLp4y pic.twitter.com/wBHaCnHkr2
Winners Final: Bonchan 2 | Infexious 1: A cautious round by Sagat sees Bonchan up on Round 1, the tension continuing into round 2. Bonchan’s reads are amazing - solid play, nothing flashy, but responds appropriately to Infexious’ approaches and gives him Round 2 and, ultimately, the set. Bonchan advances to Grand Finals.
Winners Final: Bonchan 2 | Infexious 0: It’s looking good for Bonchan but it’s not time to relax just yet, playing cautiously especially when Infexious takes back the life lead and ultimately the first round. Suddenly a furious offence by Infexious knocks Bonchan out in moments, a big counter to the previous few rounds of cautious poking and handing Infexious the set.
Winners Finals: Bonchan 1 | Infexious 0: Another round disappears before my eyes and Infexious recovers handily to take Round 1 in an instant. A fairly cautious exchange sees Bonchan again responding with a critical art to equalise round points 1-1. Third round begins with cautious footsies again, but Infexious loses out in these exchanges, gets stunned, and loses the set.
Winners Finals: Bonchan | Infexious: We’re straight into Winner’s finals. Bonchan returns to his Sagat, up against a Infexious’ Zeku. Both players approach cautiously, but it’s Sagat’s reach and fireball zoning that begins to slowly chip away at Infexious. Finally Infexious jumps in and puts some damage on the map, but Bonchan successfully blocks a second attempt to take round 1.
Round 2 begins looking like a repeat of the first round, with Bonchan fireball pressure keeping Infexious at arms reach, but another approach sees Zeku take Sagat down to near-pixel health again. But a crazy reads sees Bonchan take a risk and launch a super to take out Infexious’ advantage and take the first set.
Losers Quarterfinals 2: Idom 1 | Fujimura 2: Idom perfects Fujimura immediately, he’s up 2 perfects this match, but takes massive damage in round 2. Idom reads the returning shuriken mixup this time around but is too low health and falls to a throw from Fujimura. Round 3, match point, sees better pressure from Idom but a succession of throws from Ibuki messes him up and takes him out of the game. What a set resulting in Fujimura’s victory, Idom and the dreams of the USA relegated to 5th place.
Losers Quarterfinals 2: Idom 1 | Fujimura 1: This match is ridiculously fast, with Fujimura already taking a round in moments. Round 2 is more equal again but Ibuki’s mixup boomerang shuriken puts in some hot work to knock out Laura, handing the set to Fujimura.
Losers Quarterfinals 2: Idom 0 | Fujimura 1: Again I blinked and Idom took a round in the flash of an eye. Round 2 sees Laura take Ibuki all the way down to pixel health, but Fujimura very nearly equalises, until a trade of blows knocks Ibuki all the way out. 1-1.
Losers Quarterfinals 2: Idom | Fujimura: Idom’s Laura against Fujimura’s Ibuki sees both parties at half health mere seconds into the match. Ibuki drops a killer combo to see Idom begin a recovery but saves it with a jab.
Round 2 sees a more cautious entry to start, but Ibuki’s furious pressure sees Fujimura take the first set.
Losers Quarterfinals 1: Machabo 0 | Big Bird 2: Machabo takes round 1 with some extensive ground pound work. Rashid comes back in round two to get to match point with some tricky aerial movement from the mobile Rashid. But Machabo knocks Rashid into Stun early and very nearly perfects Big Bird, but what a comeback! Big Bird, reappears out of nowhere, opens Machabo up and - at 10% health - takes him all the way from 100 to 0 with a combination of great reads and mixups. Big Bird advances, knocking Machabo out of Top 8.
Losers Quarterfinals 1: Machabo 0 | Big Bird 1: Big Bird immediately traps Necalli in a corner but he comes back with some big damage combos to recover momentum and grab game 1. He continues the flow into Round 2 but misses a crucial uppercut which lets Rashid punish and let Big Bird take the round. Round 3 sees Rashid low on health but catches Machabo napping, letting Big Bird take the set.
Losers Quarterfinals 1: Machabo 0 | Big Bird 0: Machabo with Necalli vs Big Bird’s Rashid, with the UAE’s hopes and dreams on his shoulders. Big Bird gets in there round 1 with a fairly good exchange; Machabo puts up a fight but can’t overcome Big Bird’s momentum. Round 1 to Big Bird.
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Loser’s Round 2: Kichipa-mu 0 | Fujimura 2: It’s looking fairly free for Fujimura at this point who just wades through Zangief’s fierces with ease. Yep - Kichipa-mu is eliminated, clearly feeling the loss, and Fujimura advances.
Loser’s Round 2: Kichipa-mu 0 | Fujimura 1: Fujimura is doing good work with projectile setups to catch Zangief’s massive hitboxes, taking Round 1 decisively. Another runaway round puts Fujimura up 2-0.
Loser’s Round 2: Kichipa-mu 0 | Fujimura 0: Kichipa-mu gets in immediately and triple piledrives Ibuki to take round 1, but Fujimura shakes it off and puts in a workman performance to equalise with round 2. Kichipa-mu is on pixel health, but Fujimura plays it respectfully and catches him spinning to take the set.
Loser’s Round 2: Kichipa-mu | Fujimura
We’re back from break, hopefully they’ve fixed the overlays. SKill and James Chen give us a brief look at the bracket again, but we’ve still got one more round in Losers to go - one more elimination - before we even get to the quarterfinals.
Kichipa-Mu’s Zangief v Fujimara’s Ibuki. Let’s go.
It’s probably worth explaining the bracket system Evo uses while there’s a break in the action.
Format-wise, all tournaments for all games are double-elimination: lose a match once, and you’re knocked into the Loser’s bracket, playing against other competitors who have also lost once. Lose there, and you’re out of the competition entirely. This format means that Grand Finals always consists of one fighter who has won every single one of their matches, and one fighter who has only lost one of their matches, which in turn means that the competitor who came out of the Loser’s bracket needs to win twice in order to take the title – to ‘reset the bracket’ first and equalise the score.
With thousands of entrants in most of the tournaments, whittling down the field to just 8 competitors is a long and involved process that takes literal days, with players fighting their way out of pools (small mini-tournaments) and maintaining winning streaks that will keep them advancing to the next round of competition. Pools are usually seeded by player’s region of origin, with players less likely to face familiar opponents until higher in the bracket, and only if their own skills have let them advance that far.
Looks like we’re on break for a hot moment while the Evo streaming crew scramble to fix their overlays, which mysteriously went missing during that last set. Meanwhile, the twitter at least has that last VOD if you missed it:
Big winds lead to big wins!@Bigbird_fgc eliminates @YangMian666 and continues to live on in Losers side!#EVO2019 #EVOPS4 #CPT2019https://t.co/pRm0CRLp4y pic.twitter.com/eGJlPiFoOu
— EVO (@EVO) August 4, 2019
Loser’s Round 1: Big Bird 2 | Yangmian 1
Sorry, I phased out of reality for a brief moment there to come back to find Big Bird up a set. Following that, Big Bird recovers his momentum to take Yangmian back to the corner and crush him in round 1. It comes down to blows in round 2 and swings back Big Bird’s way, knocking Yangmian out of the Top 8 and sending Big Bird onwards.
Loser’s Round 1: Big Bird 1 | Yangmian 0
A bit more of a fight in Round 1 with Yangmian putting in some work to take it. Big bird manages to escape a furious Zeku combat and returns him back to the opposite corner, but Yangmian picks him back up and takes Round 2 as well.
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Loser’s Round 1: Big Bird | Yangmian
Get your scissors ready for some cuts - it’s time for the loser’s bracket, with the UAE’s Big Bird playing Rashid up against China’s Yangmian (incorrectly reported on the brackets earlier as Johnny) playing Zeku.
Big Bird gets Yangmian in the corner almost immediately and very nearly perfects him in round 1 - and he takes the perfect in round 2 with a domineering performance. A mental gutpunch for Yangmian - is it one he can recover from?
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Winner’s Bracket Semi-final 2: Machabo 2 | Infexious 2
We’re at match point with Infexious up in Round 1. Machabo sets in the V-trigger and powers up, but a great read by Infexious sends his opponent into Losers with a well-timed throw on wakeup. Victory to Infexious.
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Winner’s Bracket Semi-final 2: Machabo 2 | Infexious 1
Machabo puts in a domineering performance in Round 1, but a strong defence by Infexious brings it back for Round 2 and 3. Infexious brings it back to equalise at 2:2 with almost no outward response whatsoever.
Winner’s Bracket Semi-final 2: Machabo 1 | Infexious 1
Machabo takes round 1 and spends some bar to finish his opponent off in a sudden rush. 2-1 Machabo’s way.
Winner’s Bracket Semi-final 2: Machabo 1 | Infexious 0
I blinked and Infexious had Machabo on pixel health, fantastic turnaround. Machabo responds next round with a decent early rush in, but misses a grab and is punished. Last second turnaround doesn’t quite make it as Infexious finishes him off with a jab. It’s 1-1.
Winner’s Bracket Semi-final 2: Machabo | Infexious
Machabo’s Necalli v Infexious’ Zeku, ready to go, two tricky characters. Good defensive work by Infexious but can’t keep it up, and doesn’t seem to take advantage of his occasional successful pokes - loses the first set to Machabo.
Winners Bracket Semi-final 1: Idom 1 | Bonchan 2
Bonchan seems to have found his rhythm, handily taking the third set to sit at match point. Now Idom looks on the defensive as Karin closes in, punishes whiffs - and takes it through, knocking Idom to Loser’s bracket. Victory to Bonchan.
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Winners Bracket Semi-final 1: Idom 1 | Bonchan 1
Bonchan jumps back to character select and deploys his Karin, who puts up more of a fight but is immediately outpressured by Idom’s intense rushdown to take round 1 - but Bonchan immediately turns it around and equalises, 1-1.
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Winners Bracket Semi-finals 1: First up is Idom v Bonchan, running Laura v Sagat respectively. In about 10 seconds flat Idom flattens Bonchat - a good start to the night. And Idom follows through and annihilates Bonchat again to take Round 1.
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Street Fighter V top 8 is about to begin
We’re ready to go with our regular commentators Seth “SKill” Killian and James “JChen” Chen set to go, but first we’re seeing our competitors. Street Fighter, a former main event and likely moved earlier in the night to attract a larger crowd, gets its own boxing or wrestling style intros for its players.
Tournament matches in SFV are first to 3 points. Here’s the official brackets for Top 8 2019:
Winner’s Bracket
- Derek “iDom” Ruffin [USA]
- Masahiro “Bonchan” Takahashi [JPN]
- Masahiro “Machabo” Tominaga [JPN]
- DC “Infexious” Coleman [UK]
Loser’s Bracket
- Adel “Big Bird” Anouche [UAE]
- Yangmian “Yangmian” Huang [CHN]
- Hiroki “Kichipa-mu” Asano [JPN]
- Atsushi “Fujimura” Fujimura [JPN]
An interesting list, with some notable omissions. Last year’s champ Benjamin “Problem X” Simon didn’t quite make top 8, sitting at rank 13, though he did defeat the much-touted Victor “Punk” Woodley, who currently ranks highest in the world on the Capcom scale. Still, Masato “Bonchan” Takahashi and Atsushi “Fujimura” Fujimura are familiar faces; could this be their year?
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On Evo: The Evolution Championship Series, more commonly known as Evo, is one of the mainstays of the fighting game community, having existed in various forms since 1996. An Evo championship winner is widely considered to be the best in the world in their respective game. One reason is the completely open format of the various tournaments: if you can physically turn up to Las Vegas and pay the entry fee, you have a shot of making it all the way to the top. Contestants travel from all over the world to play at Evo, with winners in recent years from Japan, Sweden, South Korea and the UK, though the bulk of players are based out of North America.
Fighting games in general have a somewhat rugged reputation in terms of production values and especially prize pool, which even at Evo – the biggest FCG event of them all – sits in the tens of thousands of dollars (compared to the almost-regular million dollar tournaments for games like League of Legends and Fortnite). Nonetheless, Evo has a certain wild grassroots and community appeal that’s difficult to replicate elsewhere.
Just rolled out of bed to see Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono and wrestling’s Xavier Woods leading the crowd in the traditional Sho-ryu-ken before Street Fighter Top 8.
Ono is a legend...thank you for everything you do for the FGC and Street Fighter fans. #EVO2019 pic.twitter.com/xw90MEqRkI
— DemonDan14 (@DemonDan14) August 4, 2019
Apparently we’re 20 minutes behind schedule even though BBTag wrapped early. Not entirely unexpected.
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Welcome to Day 3 of Evo 2019!
Ladies and gentlemen, scrubs and stream monsters, welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of day 3 of Evolution 2019, the world’s premiere fighting game tournament. We’re late to the party, with a plethora of great games already wrapped over Friday and Saturday and even earlier today, but we’re here now and ready to deliver Top 8 for Street Fighter 5, Tekken 7, and this year’s main event, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. And since that’s going to take quite some time, we’re also going to serve up some of the highlights over the last few days of furious competition - the biggest blowups, the saltiest runbacks, the weird, the wacky and the just plain hypest matches out there.
With almost all of the official tournaments already over except these last three, there’s only one place left standing to watch events unfold: the main channel on Twitch. Fair warning: this is somewhat of an experimental liveblog, so if you want to get in touch, drop me a line or tweet me. I’ve just woken up (timezones, y’know) so I’ve got to quickly scrub through the Blazblue results, assuming it finished on time, but I’ll be up and ready to go in moments.
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