Final Round 20 has come to a close as far as Tekken 7 is concerned. There were a range of emotions throughout the night, as America thought it a chance at finally defeating Korea in a grand finals.

In a surprising turn of events, during the semi-finals yesterday current EVO 2016 and KOIFT 2016 champion Echo Fox Saint of Korea did not make the Top 8, having been placed in the losers bracket by In The Skies’ Joey Fury (ITS), and then eliminated by ITS Spero Gin. Neither did Japanese player CO Tanukana make Top 8, but was beaten by ITS Jackie Tran. These were two world class players that America had eliminated, and with that the hope that an American would win Final Round 20 had greatly increased.

In the winners bracket Echo Fox JDCR faced ITS Joey Fury. It wasn’t an easy road by any means, but by giving what may be the best fight of his life, Joey Fury sent JDCR to the losers bracket. Hopes were the highest they could have ever been after Joey secured the win, especially since JDCR was using his main character Heihachi Mishima.

The crowd erupted after the win.

Circa eSports’ Anakin won his first matchup, eliminating ITS Jackie Tran, but then he would face his friend JDCR and welcome elimination as well. Hazardous Gaming’s Speedkicks fought valiantly through the top 8, landing himself in grand finals. He then only had to patiently wait to see whom he would face. Would he face JDCR, or someone do the “dirty work” for him? It would be JDCR in the end.

When was the last time anyone had seen JDCR have to crawl out of the losers bracket to win a grand finals? He would have to beat Speedkicks six times in order to win. For anyone else this may have been a daunting task, but for JDCR this turned out to be a cakewalk. JDCR used Dragunov the whole time, and he made this iron-hearted Russian look very scary. JDCR looked like someone unlike we had seen the whole tournament. The games were completely over. Was it the way the crowd was vehemently rooting against him? Was it the way his friends Saint, Tanukana and Anakin were eliminated? Who knows. His Dragunov performance was aggressive, unapologetic, and extremely superior. Speedkicks had no answer for him.

Between matches Speedkicks would reflect upon the previous match and try to think of how to adjust, but just when he thought he had answer, seemingly a myriad of other things were presented by JDCR that he would not have an answer for. JDCR ended up resetting the bracket very quickly. And in the same fashion he won the grand finals. Yes, he defeated Speedkicks six matches to zero.

Watch the final seconds, as JDCR silences the crowd.

Echo Fox’s JDCR is your Final Round 20 Tekken 7 Champion. Considering that America does not have the game, this was a solid effort and nothing to be down about. But will they ever defeat their nemesis? Can they do it at EVO 2017? In time we will all see.

Top 8 Results

1st EF JDCR | KOR

2nd HZRD Speedkick | USA

3rd ITS Joey Fury | USA

4th ITS P.Ling | USA

5th Circa Anakin | USA

5th ITS Crowder | USA

7th ITS Spero Gin | USA

7th ITS Jackie Tran | USA

You can view full tournament results here.

Top 8 Archived Video

Did you miss the Top 8 action, or want to relive it all over again? Here’s the footage below.