EVO Update: Top 8

With the rest of the mods enjoying the nice, cool Vegas casino weather, I felt it was appropriate to update everyone with how yesterday's matches went if for whatever reason you're having trouble (like I initially was) finding the results/brackets, or maybe you're just new to the scene and not quite sure where to go for information.

With a full day off today (Saturday) before they finish out top 8 (Sunday), you gotta keep yourself occupied somehow, right? If you haven't been paying attention to the biggest and hypest tournament in the world, you'll be in for some surprises

Top 8

Winners:
Xephukai (USA) - Asta (also, Patroklos)
Something-Unique (USA) - Pyrrha
Shen Chan (SG) - Cervantes
CRNA|Ruka (JAP) - Patroklos

Losers:
Kura (KOR) - Patroklos
Woahhzz (USA) - Alpha Patroklos
Shining Decapon (JAP) - Tira
Kamaage (JAP) - Mitsurugi

TOP 8 STARTS AT 10 AM PST. DON'T MISS IT!!!!!


HEADLINES:
-France out!
In a surprising turn of events, both Keev and Kayane lost some tough (extremely hype) matches. Keev now has himself an official EVO nemesis having both losses come from the same player. [NOTE: The EVO bracket is incorrect for the Keev/Kura match; Keev did NOT win that match.]

-International players sans France having a strong performance!
If you were watching the stream and listening to the commentary, you probably noticed that even players like Bibulus were taken aback by the performance of foreign players not normally known for their SC dominance, such as the Singaporeans.

-MAJOR comebacks!
Although this is certainly true for many specific matches (there were SO many close matches to even begin to list), there were some players that have straight-up faced the gauntlet in terms of their bracket. Kamaage (who you'll notice is in the loser's side of top 8) was knocked into the loser's side second round... and hasn't looked back since, stringing along an impressive number of wins to get in to the final 8.

-Some interesting character selections...
We knew we were going to see a lot of Nightmare, Natsu, Mitsu and Violas (to name a few), but... regular Patroklos? Three of the top 8 are regular P players, and Xeph used him in certain match-ups. Looks like that shin kick is making waves. Not to mention, there's even a Japanese Tira that sneaked in there... although his dominance in some matches would certainly mock my use of the word "sneaked."

-Word of the day: Execution
Not just in the sense of killing someone (metaphorically speaking, of course), but also technical execution. So many rounds and matches were won because of clutch, high-difficulty moments... and some were lost because of wasted opportunities. A lesson to newer players: Your ability to execute when needed is crucial on a stage like this.

-Asia VS the US of A!
Of the final 8 spots, the US holds 3 (2 in winner's) while Asian players hold the other 5 (Japan with 3, Korea with 1, and Singapore with 1). With Europe being such an SC hotspot, how surprised is everyone that this game seems to have quite a following in Asia?!?!

-So many killers...
If EVO has taught us anything so far, it's that there are a lot of skilled players in Calibur V, and any one of them can take any given event on any given day. For instance, despite France not making top 8, that doesn't mean that they weren't prepared or didn't play strongly: Keev and Kayane's matches were some of the hypest of the day. Expect more players to surface and this game to have a long shelf-life.

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That's all I have for right now. I was not able to catch every match, so if there's something you feel is worth noting as a headline, feel free to comment and I'll add it to the main post. Otherwise, fire away with any of your comments/opinions on how the hypest event of the year has turned out thus far! Oh, and don't forget to throw out some predictions!

http://evo.shoryuken.com
Full brackets: http://evo2012.s3.amazonaws.com/brackets/index.html (click on the pool number to see that bracket's results)

 

Do you really think I give a shit what you people think?

Then why are you posting?

 

Do you really think I give a shit what you people think?

what you mean "you people"?

 

Why tournament players care what stream monsters think is something I will never understand. We should be the one's praising you all for actually keeping the scene alive.

But the salt is super entertaining so please continue! :D

 

 

 

MORE FUNNY PICTURES GO!

 

Here's a picture of me after EVO.

 

OMG

 

Vanity, it's a tricky thing.

 

I like Solo, even though, like Kayane said, just keep it real my nig. There's lot of haters behind closed doors here. Just be like, "Kayane, you ain't shit! I hope that ass keep getting twerked!" Let 'em know, dawg!

FYI, Kayane's one of my favorite players.

Also, at least they don't put Kayane's haters on commentary...or they don't openly hate on her on commentary.

 

and .. there's me talkin to Rip in the beginning haha. for those of you who don't know who Rip is ...

 

Hw ken a women ba gud et Solcaliber, dis maka no senze?

 

Kane, you just made my day.

 

Some of the crowd is laughing- but it's not exactly the funniest when it happens to a valued member in the community, who traveled from another country, to get lamed out by that. Tokido has good fundamentals, but that infinite is his crutch. I can't wait to play Tokido in tourney.

 

This thread is too real. This community is just too real.

Keepin' it hunned.

 

hmm, yeah. I didn't post the vid here for ppl to laugh at partisan though... he's a cool guy and a great player.

unfortunately, I don't feel as though project soul's balancing team is the greatest at balancing their games. I don't see why infinites are even allowed in major tournaments either.

 

I agree, those kinds of things should definitely be on the developer's radar because they should be left out, but I can't say that they should necessarily be banned from tournies, only because they're incredibly hard to regulate. Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt.

 

Damn...Tokido so serious with that infinite. You lucky Asta can break backthrows, Xeph.

 

The balance of this game was more out of whack at the beginning when this game was first released. Now I feel that the team did a great job and most of the cast is viable competitively, unlike SC4 where the balance was terrible.

Viola's infinite is outside the realm of game balance and should be considered a glitch. People try to break every fighting game that comes out and try to search for broken stuff/infinites. (i.e. TAC in UMVC3 that was found out a week before EVO took place). It shouldn't be a problem once Jaxel stops being lazy and posts an announcement banning the Viola infinite. What people should watch for is if it actually gets fixed or not.

Why tournaments allow them? Can't answer that. I was under the impression that infinites are banned from the start, but I guess organizers aren't paying attention or don't care.

 

I agree, those kinds of things should definitely be on the developer's radar because they should be left out, but I can't say that they should necessarily be banned from tournies, only because they're incredibly hard to regulate. Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt.

difficulty on regulations shouldn't be what we're worried about. People paying their hard earned money to compete is the issue. The cons of allowing an infinite in tournament play should out weigh issues of regulations. No one wants to pay 800$+ to lose to something out of your control. Very disheartening- if I were Patrisan, and this happened to me, I would've quit the game. Especially after many have voiced their concerns on the particular matter at hand pre-EVO.