7 Things We Learned From EVO Japan 2020 MadKingMick Follow Jan 30 · 6 min read

1) Leroy Is OP And Needs Nerfing

This is the first round of the first game of Day 2 Tekken — the Leroy invasion was real

With the Tekken 7 Top 8 consisting of 6 Leroy’s, a Julia and a Kazumi, it only confirmed what many in the Tekken community were saying since his release back in December last year, the character is just too strong. Even the eventual winner, Thailand’s Book said “Just pick Leroy” in his post match interview, after beating Japan’s Mikio and his insane Julia 3–2 in the Grand Final.

A combination of high damage output, excellent moveset and ease of use, meant Leroy saw extensive play throughout the tournament with plenty of mirror matches, that left little variety and marred the viewing experience for those streaming at home. Many will have been glad to hear Tekken 7 Producer Michael Murray announce the new balance patch coming on Jan. 28th and in a follow up tweet a few days later promising even more changes and potential nerfs to Leroy.

2) Despite His Time Away Infiltration Has Still Got It

Infiltration takes on NuckleDu

After Seonwoo “Infiltration” Lee stepped away from the Capcom Pro Tour in 2018 and the entirety of 2019 after domestic abuse allegations by his ex-wife, he made his return to the CPT and Street Fighter V at EVO Japan this year. He made Top 8 and eventually finished joint 5th with Itabashi Zangief, losing 3–1 to USA’s Nuckledu in the Losers Semi Final after initially going 1–0 with his Juri versus NuckleDu’s G.

Infiltration also had success in Samurai Shodown, finishing 9th place and just narrowly missing out on Top 8. Playing as Earthquake he lost 2–1 in a close set against Japan’s Betel playing Jubei. It seemed to be a successful return to the CPT and wider competitive scene and you can only expect further success as the year goes on if his track record is anything to go by.

3) A New Entry In An Old Series

Amidst all the action at EVO Japan Weekend Developers FK Digital dropped a trailer and announced Chaos Code: Next Episode of Xtreme Tempest. A sequel to the original Chaos Code back on PS3 in 2011. It’s a 2D, 1-on-1 fighter, with anime visuals and character designs and seems to play similarly to a lot of anime fighters.

You can check out the full trailer at EventHubs

The original game also received a remastered version for PS4 a few years ago, Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe added online play and new characters, so if you’ve never tried the series it may not be too late to get yourself a copy before the next installment drops.

4) Always Keep Your 1st Place Limited Edition Controllers Boxed

It’s just begging to fall out the box

At this point Nintendo’s lack of support for the Smash Bros. competitive scene is well known, but if they’re not looking to give out monetary support they may at least what to rethink the packaging it uses for its actual prizes. Instead of money Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Winner Shuton received a special Nintendo Switch Pro Controller with a golden Smash decal on top, upon receiving the prize by EVO staff, he’s asked to give it back for photos and in the process the controller falls out of the open box and onto the floor. Anyone who’s owned a Switch Pro Controller will know that’s not good for the device.

Thankfully the real prize for Shuton will be winning Japan’s biggest ever Smash tournament in the series history and you could see that in the emotion he showed after beating Kome. Playing as his main Olimar, Shuton went on to 3–0 Kome’s Shulk in a tense, all Japan Grand Final to remain unbeaten throughout the tournament.

5) Soul Calibur VI World Tour absent from EVO 2020?

After an incredibly hype Top 8 Bandai Namco announced the full Soul Calibur VI World Tour with the next event in March at Final Round and the Finals some time late in the year after August. Bandai Namco has yet to announce where or when the World Tour Finals will happen but hopefully they are aware of the utter disaster that was the 2019 Capcom Cup and have a suitable venue for the players and spectators and adequate stream setups for the viewers at home.

One event missing for the Tour is EVO 2020 in Las Vegas, leading to speculation that Soul Calibur VI might not be one of the main games at the biggest NA tournament of the year, The tournament’s organiser Joey Cuellar aka “Mr. Wizard”, teased the possibility of a smaller EVO 2020 when he tweeted out “which games would make the cut?” if EVO could only have six games this year. Perhaps Bandai Namco know something and have planned the Soul Calibur VI World Tour accordingly.

6) BlueGod is possibly the best Soul Calibur VI player in the World

BlueGod Celebrates EVO Japan Win — IMAGE TAKEN FROM SCWORLDTOUR.COM

If you didn’t get a chance to watch the excellent Top 8 for Soul Calibur VI then I would highly recommend you go back and watch it as it was incredibly hype, with some excellent high-level play on display by all involved. The USA’s Zain T. aka “BlueGod” beat Japan’s Yuttoto 3–0 in Winners Final and Grand Finals, in a runback from the 2019 EVO Soul Calibur VI Finals in Las Vegas. That time Yuttoto was victorious beating BlueGod 3–1 after the reset, but at EVO Japan this year BlueGod was on another level, going unbeaten throughout Top 8, not dropping a single game and showing utter dominance with his Azwel.

In the Grand Final Yuttoto didn’t seem to have an answer for BlueGod’s Azwel, going with Raphael in the first two games and losing 2–0, before swapping to Azwel himself, hoping to have an answer for BlueGod’s strong punish play, but it wasn’t enough as BlueGod took the Final game 3 rounds to nothing.

With the announcement of the Soul Calibur VI World Tour, BlueGod will surely be the favourite at the upcoming Critical Edge Event at Final Round in March.

7) Shiki Is No Longer A Weak Character Pick?

Gamera ties it up with Shiki in Game 2

When Samurai Shodown released in June last year many players were complaining about how weak Shiki was compared to the rest of the cast on initial release as patches have arrived and players have had more time to invest in the game, it seems Shiki’s fortunes have finally turned.

In an all Japan Final, Shiki player Gamera beat fellow countryman Emujima’s Shizumaru 3–1 in a close, tense set to be crowned EVO Japan Samurai Shodown Champion. At first it looked to be an uphill battle for Gamera as he went down 0–1 to Emujima’s very patient play, From then on however Gamera took control of the set and punished Emujima’s Shizumaru with DP’s and clever keep away play, winning the Grand Finals 3–1. Will we see more Shiki’s appearing in future SamSho Top 8s? That still remains to be seen but for now she has at least brushed off the weak character misconception thanks to Gamera’s win at the weekend.