Tekken 7
VSlash's Arslan "Arslan Ash" Siddique is your new Tekken 7 Evo champion.
The grand finals was the match that many wanted -- a battle between the two best players in Tekken 7 pitting legend in the game against the new standard. Despite Knee's attempts to change up the momentum with his bag of characters, Arslan Ash forced the tempo and out-poked Knee. He backs up his win at Evo Japan earlier this year and becomes the first fighting game player to win both Evos in the same game one year.
Evo provided the perfect environment for the rest of the field to catch up the South Korean dominance in Tekken 7. With only two players from the region in the top 8, ROX's Jae Min "Knee" Bae and UYU's Sun-woong "Lowhigh" Yoon, it was a global affair. The biggest surprise of the tournament was the high number of Japanese competitors in the finals, with five (three of which were Japan's best players). Led by the new Tekken lord, Arslan Ash from Pakistan, the other regions were the U.S. (Radiance's Hoa "Anakin" Luu) and Japan (Team YAMASA's Daichi "Nobi" Nakayama and Abe "Take" Takehiko, THY's Yuta "Chikurin" Take, and Cooasgames Esports' Takumi "Noroma" Hamasaki).
Perhaps it was the variety of play styles that had an impact on the number of lopsided matches in the top 8. Every player was unique and presented their own challenges outside of their character choices. A victory could easily go down to whether or not the opponent was a counter to their own will: Arslan Ash's impenetrable defense, Knee's movement-based play, Take's all-out offense, and Lowhigh's reads all presented significant hurdles. Tekken 7 is in a great spot in the competitive spectrum.
Street Fighter V
The final day of the Evolution Championship Series 2019 is here. The finals for the day include BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Street Fighter V, Tekken 7 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Here's what went down.
Red Bull's Masato "Bonchan" Takahashi is your Street Fighter 5 Evo champion.
With his Evo victory, Bonchan secured his third straight premier event win on the Capcom Pro Tour and cemented his status as the best Street Fighter player right now. Bonchan's current run of dominance (first at VS Fighting, CEO, and a third-place finish at the Taipei Major) continues the trend this year of a single player dominating the tour. Bonchan prevented a grand final reset from a NASR's Adel "Big Bird" Anouche and won with his impressive Karin, 3-2.
Bonchan's recent level up could be attributed to his mixture of styles from slow and steady Sagat to neutral-heavy Karin. His change in pace naturally disrupts an opponent's own tempo and coupled with his own footsie game and reactions on hit-confirms and anti-airs provided the perfect formula for world domination.
The unpredictable and grueling nature of the large field for Street Fighter V at Evo provided plenty of breakthrough performances. From ChaoZhou "Yang Mian" Huang, who came into his top-8 placement with just 211 career Capcom Pro Tour points to recently sponsored Cygames Beast's DC "Infexious" Coleman, many new faces could make their debut at the Capcom Cup. In addition, five different regions were represented (China, Japan, USA, UK, and United Arab Emirates) for a truly international tournament
Despite all the surprises, there were still three consistent names in the top 8: Yoshimito Gaming's Masahiro "Machabo" Tominaga, Fudoh's Atsushi "Fujimura" Fujimura, and Bonchan.
Machabo, in particular, was impressive. His switch to Street Fighter V from Guilty Gear paid off. With a fifth-place finish, Machabo's consistency is second-to-none (third place finishes at VS Fighting, CEO, and Combo Breaker). It may just be a matter of time before he finally wins an event.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
Oscar "Shinku" Jaimes survived a bracket reset from Kamei "Kyamei" Hiroyuki to take the win in the grand finals of BlazBlue. He was one of three players from the United States in the top eight among a field that featured some of the best players from Japan such as Kyamei, Seitaro "domi" Ohno, SSNO's Kazuyiki "KojiKOG" Koji, and CYCLOPS athletic gaming's Shoji "Fenritti" Sho.
In what was originally slated to be a very Japanese-favored anime fighter, Shinku proved that he was not only the legitimate best, but did with multiple convincing victories over the rest of the pool. Only in the grand finals against the rushdown and mixup-heavy Kyamei (as well as arguably the best team combination) did Shinku struggle at all. Shinku's slower and methodical style clashed with the aggression of his opponents like Kyamei and it proved favorable for him in the end. The key to Shinku's tournament victory was not a gimmick or matchup knowledge, but it was his patience and defensive tendencies that frustrated the prototype top-tier aggression teams and players; he was a breath of fresh air to a game and meta that was just forward-moving.
The BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle finals was a great example of the overall game's appeal -- whether the style was layers of offense, mind games and read, neutral heavy, or defensive and patience like the Evo champion, there was plenty of versatility on display.
Smash Bros. Ultimate
Echo Fox's Leonardo "MkLeo" Perez took down TSM's Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey in a dominating 3-0 second set after a nail-biting reset and cemented himself as the world's best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player. It was a grand finals that saw multi-character player Tweek stick to just Pokemon Trainer, lose a two stock lead with the tournament win on the line, and fail to take even a game from his opponent thereafter.
MkLeo was the ultimate obstacle from the loser's bracket. He played with an intense focus that was befitting of the tournament favorite. His Joker was elusive, oppressive and dangerous at all stages. It was almost academic after he took the smallest of advantages.
There was hardly a stale match in the top eight due to a strong variety of character choices. There was zoning and slow methodical play from Duck Hunt, rushdown and juggles from Joker, combos and setups from Wario and Pokemon Trainer, edge guard play from Peach and Lucina, and hit-confirms from Fox. The sheer variety made for quality viewing and an impression that the current character and competitive landscape is at an all-time healthy position.
Japan's rise in the ranks was a welcome, and arguably predictable, inclusion to the finals led by the stellar play of Duck Hunt loyalist, Tetsuya "Raito" Ishiguro. Each of the three Japanese players in top eight displayed incredible tech skill, edge guards, and character loyalty -- they made their mark and opened up the map to an already wide-open playing field for supremacy.