The previous weekend played host to the last significant tournament before this year’s highly anticipated Evo event. WTFox, based at the Anime Blues Convention in Memphis, Tennessee, featured a lineup that included the likes of Armada, Leffen, Mew2King, Mang0 and Westballz among others. The tournament provided exciting sets throughout, with the top eight showcasing some of the most intense matches.



Now we ask ourselves: what do the results of WTFox mean going into the upcoming premier tournament?

Leffen’s hard work this year has paid off in spades. He took CEO and FC Return without dropping into the losers’ bracket once. With that in mind, many pegged him to take this tournament in similar fashion—and he did, eliminating Mew2King, Armada and Mang0 consecutively and with skill. The grand finals was an anticlimactic 3-0 victory in which Leffen took out Mang0’s Falco with ease. By winning this event, Leffen without a doubt made himself the man to beat at Evo.



Mang0’s form this summer has not been the best. While placing highly in tournaments with the exception of his fifth place at MVG Sandstorm, Evo’s two-time champion has been unable to dominate an entire tournament in quite some time. He recently notched third at CEO following a fall from the winners’ bracket by Shroomed and an elimination at the hands of Armada. With this in mind, Mang0 needed to show that the work he put in to prepare for Evo paid off. He dropped a set to Armada 3-1, but followed it up with his signature losers’ bracket run with a convincing win over Westballz to kick it off.









What followed were the two most high octane sets of the tourney. Mang0 managed to overcome both Mew2King and Armada in close 3-2 matches, the latter being a significant result as Armada eliminated Mang0 from every tournament the two have faced off in since Apex 2015. Despite the improvement, Mang0 still exhibited some sloppy mistakes. With the turnaround to Evo so short, can Mang0 tighten up more?





The Swede, prior to CEO 2015, took both of the summer events he participated in (I’m Not Yelling and MVG Sandstorm) and looked like the most consistent player in the scene. Him and Leffen led the Swedish armada through the States. But, coming into WTFox and following losses at two tournaments in a row, Armada seemed to be second fiddle to Leffen. Armada went through winners’ until he was defeated by Leffen. Before we knew it, Armada was outed by Mang0 following an extraordinary game five on Pokémon Stadium.





Despite his results, Armada is growing into a true dual main. Rather than going on sprees of Fox and then Peach (with an occasional stage-dependent swap to the other), the Swede is effortlessly changing between the two. His counter picks are surgical, with both characters taking games off of top players, one after the other. Going into Evo, Armada cannot be counted out.





WTFox spelled the return of Mew2King in high-level tournaments since Apex in February. It was time to see how he stacked up after missing out on CEO 2015 due to a delayed flight. In the end, he was close to defeating Mang0 with an energizing matchup in losers’ to take fourth place. The issue with Mew2king is that he is not registered for Evo, so it seems that his performance matters little. However, talks about the possibility of Mew2King getting into Evo despite his hand injuries have sprouted throughout the community. If everything goes well for Mew2King, then his performance at WTFox shows that he is ready and able to make a splash in the top eight.



Even after WTFox, it remains incredibly difficult to predict who will take this year’s crown at Evo. Every top player has made a statement through their play and generated excitement through close sets. If this is even a taste of what the pros will bring to Evo, it will be the best tournament of the year.

