The First Ever EVO Online Tournament

On December 11th 2010 hundreds of fighters from the United States and Canada competed in the first EVO Online Tournament on Galaxy4Gamers.

Presented by EVO Championship Series, Shoryuken, MadCatz, and Galaxy4Gamers, the tournament included two days of intense Super Street Fighter IV online matches.

The brackets included a number of well-known top players, along with plenty of up-and-coming fighters looking for recognition.

Everyone was fighting for the tournament Grand Prize: FREE airfare, hotel, and entry to EVO 2011 in Las Vegas, AND the exclusive right to bare the online title of

“No One Comes Close”!

Day one began the grueling preliminary rounds of the tournament. Regional action saw some players facing old foes in the first and second rounds. As the afternoon passed, the brackets whittled down to 16 finalists earning them each a chance to play in the Final Bracket the following Saturday…

The finals were live streamed and commentated on SRKLive, via Justin.tv, and were hosted by James Chen and UltraDavid. Behind the scenes and keeping things moving for the event, were Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar from EVO and Galaxy4Gamers President, Mike Casazza. As all 16 finalists checked in at Galaxy4Gamers.com, and “readied up” from across the continent, James and UtraDavid set the stage with bit of background on the event and some bio information on the final 16. The chatrooms were filled with spectators giving shout-outs for their favorite players, and as the number of viewers steadily increased, the first match of the afternoon got under way…

The first round bracket of the finals pitted the following players against each other:

Starting things off , Air and Vangief went to work, and right off the bat, they put everyone on the edge of their seats with a 3-2 match that could have EASILY gone either way. The first game went to Air and his Ryu with a victory of 2-1 over Vangief’s Zangief. Vangief then followed up with back to back wins, in games 2 and 3. Turning things back to Air’s favor in game 4 with a 2-1 victory, the match was suddenly 2-2 and a fifth and tie breaking game had to be played! In game 5, Vangief, won the first round…Air the second. With only one round left in the match, both players went head to head delivering blows evenly throughout the 99 second round. Down to the wire, with both players extremely low in health, the match deciding round came down to who was going to get the final hit. With tensions high, both players came at one another to strike, but it was Vangief who sent Zangief up and delivered the K.O. to Ryu with a final punch to the head. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done, and moved Vangief on to the next round of the bracket.

With the stage now set, and thoughts that things couldn’t possibly get any better, the very next match up between IIPeru and Showst0pper also went 5 games with another back and forth, who wants it more showdown! In the first game, IIPeru came out swinging and took an early 2-0 lead over Showst0pper and his Dhalsim. In game 2, it looked like things would continue the same way with IIPeru taking round 1 with his El Fuerte, however, Showst0pper turned it all around and shut things down by wining the next two rounds and taking the game. In game 3, Showst0pper proved that he was serious about his intentions and swept the game 2-0. Saying enough is enough, IIPeru came back and hammered things home for himself and El Fuerte winning both games 4 and 5, moving him on to the next round.

Although the excitement meter was off the chart, the next few matches kind of cooled off a bit and gave us spectators a chance to catch our breathe and pull our hearts out of or stomachs. In the next match “old man” CaliPower’s Ryu seemed to be a bit much for jrgutier’s T.Hawk, for CaliPower didn’t drop a single a round and cleaned house by dominating the match, 3-0.

CrizzNation got a by in the next match up, because his opponent, EdMa had prior engagements and unfortunately had to forfeit.

Onward, we had adamvongs99 3-0 victory over immortalbmw, followed by a 3-1 win by iPerfectLegend over Endl3ssrampage. Next, Macumazahn donned an overwhelming Ryu and destroyed scottosohotto and his Bison, 3-0. Concluding the first round of the event, the up and coming WolfKrone showed Davero that his deadly Viper had a sting that neither E. Honda nor Guy could recover from. In a 3-0 victory, it was Wolfkrone who moved on to round 2.

Updating the bracket, the next 4 matches looked like this:

After a few brief recaps of round 1 by our commentators, IIPeru and Vangief showed us another nail biter as Zangief and El Fuerte went back and forth, trading blows and games, with IIPeru coming out on top 3-2.

CaliPower kept his fans cheering as he took games 1 and 2 away from Crizznation in the second match up of the updated bracket. CrizzNation and his Viper did gave the veteran some pause by winning game 3, but CaliPower came back and finished things up in game 4, forcing CrizzNation out and ensuring himself a place in the semifinals.

Back and forth things went between adamvongs99 and iPerfectLegend in match up number 3, but alas, it was iPerfectLegend who came out on top, and took his Akuma on to a 3-1 victory, also putting him in the semifinals.

A late and rather unfortunate event then took place, as for unknown reasons, Macumazahn could not continue on with the event, which by default, moved Wolfkrone one more slot closer to the finals.

With only 4 of the 16 now remaining, the semifinal bracket was as follows:

In the semifinals things heated up again, and from the chatter on the site, it looked like CaliPower was the favorite to move on to the championship. IIPeru put that notion to bed by coming out on top with his El Fuerte, winning 3-2 in another exciting 5 game contest, making IIPeru the first ever EVO Online Championship Contender! The next match up would decide who would go to the final to battle against IIPeru and who would face CaliPower for 3rd place. Would it be iPerfectLegend or Wolfkrone?

After losing the first round of the last semifinal match, Wolfkrone and his Viper moved on to join IIPeru in the featured event of the afternoon, winning 3 games to 1 over iPerfectLegend and his Akuma.

Before IIPeru and Wolfkrone faced off for the champion crowning match, there was the matter of 3rd place to be resolved.

CaliPower vs iPerfectLegend. IPerfectlengend vs CaliPower. No matter which way you put it, both of these competitors have time after time shown their consistency in game play and deserved nothing less than our appreciation for the show they put on for us in this inaugural online event. In the end, it was iPerfectLegend, winning 3-0 and taking 3rd place over CaliPower.

And finally…Your 2010 Official EVO Online Championship Matchup…

IIPeru -Salt Lake City, Utah vs Wolfkrone – Detroit, Michigan

Weeks of preparation, days and days of practicing, hours of waiting…were finally over! The moment had come to name a champion!

By the looks of the spectator comments, it was clear that not many people expected either one of these e-warriors to end up in the final match, but nonetheless, there they were, and as exciting as the opening round of the finals were, NOTHING could of have topped what we were all about to witness…

Spectators on SRKLive were typing so fast, that the room moderator had to drop it down to slow mode just so you could read it! The crowd was split. Virtual shouts of “PERU” and “WOLF” went back and forth in the few minutes before the match started, and continued throughout, what was the mayhem of the event! We all waited for the READY lights to turn green and when the character select screen came up, just as we knew they would, Wolfkrone picked Viper and IIPeru stayed with what had got him this far…El Fuerte! Beginning the match, and after 6 or 7 seconds of “dance moves” by both players, Wolfkrone sent Viper in and got FIRST ATTACK. Trading blow for blow and combo for combo for 67seconds, both players health was completely exhausted and with one final blow, it was IIPeru who took the first round. Wolfkrone finished out the game and took the next two rounds, winning it 2-1. In game 2, of the best of 5 match, it was Wolfkrone and his Viper who quickly sent El Fuerte and IIPeru packing, winning 2-0 in that game. Game 3,which turned out to be match point for Wolfkrone, started off with him taking round 1, but IIPeru was not going down this way! In round 2 El Fuerte punished Viper severely, causing some very hectic and panicky game play out of Wolfkrone. This win by IIPeru forced one more round in the game and even though Wolfkrone came out strong and put the hurtin’ on IIPeru, diminishing his health to nearly nothing, IIPeru showed his persistence and patience, coming back, taking the round and the game! Now 2-1, it was time for game 4. It was IIPeru who made first contact, doing some substantial damage to Wolfkrone early in the round…but WAIT! Wolfkrone comes back and flurries the round with just under 70 seconds left on the clock! Rounds 2 and 3 belonged completely to IIPeru, tying things up 2 games to 2 games, forcing a fifth and final game! It was nothing less than fantasic! Hats off to these two players for the spectacular show they put on for us this afternoon…Unfortunately, I have nearly exceeded my word count for this article, so I regret to say that I will NOT be able to report the outcome! I can tell you this though, it was one of the most exciting SSFIV games I have ever witnessed…and you are just going to have to see it for yourself!

Although the First Ever EVO Online Tournament is over, don’t be sad. The Road to EVO 2011 Continues! On January 22nd 2011, Galaxy4Gamers, EVO, Shoryuken.com and MadCatz will host another EVO Online Super Street Fighter IV Tournament, with the EXACT SAME Grand Prize…a FREE Trip to EVO 2011!

The only difference this time is the platform! Many have asked for it and now they are going to get it! Hurry up and get over to Galaxy4Gamers.com and pre-register for Round 2, of EVO Online, this time on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Network!