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)

 

Really enjoyable top 8 and it was awesome to see a Tira player take it. Decopon is awesome.

 

Congrats to all of the placers at Evo, especially to Decopon, you were on another level and took the crown today!

 

well no ofense i like tira and all and am very happy she won evo, but i really found it iritating to die and not be able to come back just because she takes here life away with some key moves if only she didnt have that retarded defect i would totally use her more often, i already have to manage meter, i dont wanna have to do health management too but i absolutely love the character

The self damage isn't as brutal as it was in SCIV.
You just have to be careful on which moves DO take health and which don't.
44B doesn't take health and majority of the time, people will fall for it and try to block low since it looks like a low.
44A is a good side stepper and takes no health either.
236K is also a great low, takes no health and can give you a chance to switch to Jolly.
Just figured I'd share.
Edit: always get the notations mixed up. >.<

 

666B doesn't take health and majority of the time, people will fall for it and try to block low since it looks like a low.
66A is a good side stepper and takes no health either.

Lolwut you have it wrong.

 

the only player that even came close was kmaage the japanese mitsu.
so if he had won we would still have had a Japanese winner.
i think we should start learning from the Japanese i knew it would only be a matter of time before they took over SCV.

Haha. You do know that Shen Yuan went to Japan and won their SBO qualifier right? Completely undefeated and in the same tournament as Decopon? Stop dickriding.

 

Haha. You do know that Shen Yuan went to Japan and won their SBO qualifier right? Completely undefeated and in the same tournament as Decopon? Stop dickriding.

But thats just because siegfried is a counterpick against japan.
:P jk

 

I'm happy that Decopon won and rep-ed a little-used character, but now I'm pissed that there's no chance that she will get ANY of her fun stuff from before the patch back.

I still think Tira is trash now, but it just goes to show you that in the hands of an awesome player, anyone can be used well.

Also, under-used characters experience a sort of "tier bump" because everyone is not nearly as familiar with their play style so when they come up against an extremely strong player, you get your ass handed to you two-fold.

And I'll remind people that are saying Decopon has such amazing defense that Tira isn't even close to the best character to capitalize on such a good defense. Before patch, yes, but after, not so much.

 

But thats just because siegfried is a counterpick against japan.

I think we need another EVO taken by Sieg so that people will finally open their eyes.

 

I think we need another EVO taken by Sieg so that people will finally open their eyes.

Sieg is good, it just seemed from the streams we've seen so far that the japanese players are not very familiar with the MU.

 

snip

You are awful.

 

I think most people know how to face Nightmare, Natsu, Mitsu and Violas that's why Cervantes and Tira were in the finals also Decopon is a skilled player.

 

Well I guess random status posts can become a reality for EVO after all

Anyway it was a very nice watch indeed. And on that note, congrats to the guys that placed Top 8, I'll be sure to look back and see the battles. Shame on you @ those who blamed luck lol, you knew it was more than that ;D

GANBARE DECOPON!

AZ

 

Sieg is good, it just seemed from the streams we've seen so far that the japanese players are not very familiar with the MU.

How can they not be familiar with the matchup? They play with Plasma all the time.

 

I still think Tira is trash now, but it just goes to show you that in the hands of an awesome player, anyone can be used well.

Any Tira player who says this is just making excuses for themselves if they lose. "Oh my character is trash" is a defense people use when they don't want to accept responsibility for their loss. This goes for any character in the game. if you can't win with then either shut up and switch or accept that you need to improve your play.

That's probably too hard for most people to do. It's ridiculous, Tira wins Evolution and you still consider her trash? Ahahahaha

 

How can they not be familiar with the matchup? They play with Plasma all the time.

I dont know.

 

Hold the phone for a minute.

People are still making excuses for themselves even after everything we saw during EVO?

You want to say it was luck, or people were ignorant of the matchup, or that someone did or didn't deserve the win, fine. Whatever. Go do that on your blog or twitter or anything else that isn't here.

The only things I want to see posted in here from now on are "Congratulations Decopon" or "Good show (country/player that didn't win), you'll do better next time."

Have some class.

 

Tira would say to hating scrubs: Haters do me a favor!! Scream a little louder for me!!!

 

I hope that saddle is on tight dickriders.

I am so glad that i came out to evo. Amazing fucking experience

 

I want to see more of the Shen's that was some good play.

 

Congrats to Decopon! I really enjoyed watching his Tira, hyped finals. So agressive, it's so great to watch.
Congrats also to everybody else, especially to ShenChan! :D

And (even though I feel sorry for Kayane), I'm so happy that we didn't see a Viola in the finals, it's been so long! ^^

And lol at those who try to draw tierlist-conclusions from one tournament result. Let the bitching begin!