Day 1 of Evolution 2014 has come to a close, and it has already lived up to its reputation. Yesterday started “Ultra Street Fighter 4”, “Injustice”, “Smash Bros” and a myriad of side tournaments across the Westgate Las Vegas Convention Center. In the “Street Fighter” pools, which began at 8 am; we saw a mix of pro and amateur as the competition kicked off.
Starting the day with over 2000 Street Fighter contestants, the competition was thinned to the top 256 players by 6 pm. While many familiar faces fought their way up to top 32, the upsets on the way to finding the top 8 for Sunday night were absolutely breath taking. Some of the most notable upsets include Daigo “The Beast” Umehara (E. Ryu) being eliminated by Jon Choi (Ryu) off stream after being sent to losers bracket by Filipino Champ (Dhalsim). Video courtesy of TeamSpooky’s Arturo Sanchez below:
Another clutch moment of the evening featured RG Snake Eyez (Zangief) vs. the returning Evo 2013 champ RZR Xian (Gen). The final round came down to a clutch read by Snake Eyez blocking Gen’s Ultra and getting enough damage to gain a life lead, just before the time expired. This was the first time Snake Eyez has been top 32 at Evo as well as Top 8. Many more matches had incredible intensity as the best from all over the world including the 5 Japanese gods of gaming (Sako, Nuki, Daigo, Haitani), went head to head for prizes and glory. Sunday night will feature the following matches to decide the USF4 world champion.
RG| Snake Eyez(Zangief) vs. RZR|Fuudo (Fei Long)
RZR|Gackt (Fei Long) vs Bonchan (Sagat)
EG|Ricky Ortiz(Rufus, Rolento) vs. HORI|Sako (Ibuki, E. Ryu, Gen, Elena)
MD| Louffy (Rose) vs. EG|Momochi (Ken)
Ultra Street Fghter 4 begins at 6 pm Sunday night after an announcement from Tekken producer Harrada. Will we finally be getting Tekken x Street Fighter?
See you all at 6pm, Sunday.