The Evolution Fighting Game Tournament (EVO) is the biggest and best that fighting games have to offer, and EVO 2016 did not slouch in that department. Filling the Mandalay Bay Stadium in Las Vegas, NV over the weekend, the tournament featured many games, each of which had plenty of exciting moments to go around. Let’s take a look at five.
Sonic Fox Takes Off His Hat – Mortal Kombat X’s competitive scene has been completely dominated by one man. Dominique “Sonic Fox” McLean has been stomping fools in NetherRealm fighters for years, but this was the closest time he came to faltering. His opponent, Sayed “Tekken Master” hashim Ahmed had already reset the bracket, and was one round away from taking the whole tournament. Sonic Fox took his trademarked blue furry hat off, signifying that he meant business. The fire in his eyes was palpable, and with his trusty counterpick of the Xenomorph, he kept his crown.
ChrisG Closes the Book on Marvel – Christopher “ChrisG” Gonzales has been a prominent figure in the Marvel vs. Capcom scene for years. His style wasn’t always the most-loved, but he could never quite nab a first place victory at EVO. Other tournaments yielded better results, but EVO was always the biggest and boldest target. This year, he finally did it, against last year’s champ, KaneBlueRiver. His reaction to winning seals the deal, as he cannot believe he won after all these years, as KBR rests his arm on his shoulder with a knowing nod. The future of Marvel is unclear, but this would be a hell of a sendoff to a hell of a fighting game.
Download Complete – The only hype moment that wasn’t actually a fight, Street Fighter V virtuoso Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo had a dominating performance at EVO 2016 with his exquisite Nash. After being knocked into the loser’s bracket by Ai “Fuudo” Keita, he faced him in grand finals and beat him in two sets of 3/5 matches. He then proceeds to talk about his victory, showcasing his bravado and skill in two simple words – download complete. He used the match he lost as a learning experience, being able to completely stomp Fuudo when the time came.
L.I. Joe and the American Dream – In a Top 8 bracket with 6 Japanese players and the top player being South Korean, Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli had a lot to prove. While he ultimately fell later in the bracket, his Losers Quarters fight against Hiroyuki “Eita” Nagata had the support of the largely American crowd, filled with LI Joe and USA chants. His father and family friend could be seen, letting out every ounce of excitement and hype imaginable.
HungryBox Fills Up – Juan “HungryBox” DeBiedma has gone farther than almost any other player in the history of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but he could never clench that coveted first place spot at major tournaments, most of all EVO. It’s something his contemporaries, the “five gods” of Smash, would regularly chew him out on. In an extremely passionate and emotional grand finals with the biggest and best Melee player there is, Adam “Armada” Lindgren, HungryBox beat Armada in two sets of 3/5 matches, coming from loser’s bracket to finally take home the coveted first place title.