Evo 2016: Pokken Tournament Finals are finally over
Better late than never! Pokken Tournament finals crown the first Evo winner, while Evo 2016 has yet to crown an American champ.
Pokemon trainers on the prowl for Mewtwo at Area 51 in real life should have just waited for Pokken Tournament play at Evo 2016. Pokemon No.150 on the Pokedex was certainly No. 1 for the Bandai Namco game all weekend long, although it was a much more varied affair when it came to the Top 8 Finals.
Truth be told, Bruixen and Suicune were the ultimate winners in Top 8 play, as the Pokken Tournament Grand Finals came down to Kazunori “Buntan” Ageta and H A “Tonosama.” Buntan had knocked Tonosama down to Losers Bracket in the first place, but that didn’t stop Tonosama from resetting the brackets with a 3-1 first set.
That momentum stayed with Tonosama into the ultimate Evo 2016 Grand Finals set, as he won it all going 3-1 and 6-2 overall over Buntan in the all-Japan match. Willie “Swillo” Barr came in third, representing the USA’s best in Pokken Tournament this year. USA remains locked out of winning a tournament, with Tekken 7 going to South Korea and Super Smash Bros for Wii U heading to Canada.
The difference in paydays would sour a lesser player, but there is a fairly thick silver lining for both Grand Finals participants for Pokken Tournament. Placing Top 2 at Evo 2016 guarantees a trip to the Pokken Tournament World Championships, with an even bigger prize pool up for grabs.
Those who were organizing and running Evo 2016 probably did not realize just how long it would take for a Pokken Tournament Top 32 bracket to run its course, as the entirety of its time on the main Evo stream ran two hours late. Such decisions meant that hype Killer Instinct Top 32 action, all of which went unaired, simmered in wait.
We’re not sure what led to those decisions, but Evo 2016, arguably, suffered for it. As Street Fighter V Top 128 matches were going on in the background, you could constantly hear louder reactions from the crowd watching that, instead.
Furthermore, the Pokken Tournament concurrent viewership on Stream #1 capped at 23,300. The Capcom Fighters Twitch stream, during that same time, had concurrent viewership as high as 96,400. Anytime you have late pool and quarterfinals play from the chairs draw in and captivate a much larger audience than the main stage, you know something went wrong.
Regardless, here are the Top 8 final results for Pokken Tournament play at Evo 2016.
- H A “Tonosama”
- Kazunori “Buntan” Ageta
- Willie “Swillo” Barr
- Masami “Potetin” Sato
- James “RvL_Bosshog” Rosseel
- (T-5) Christian “Circa Suicune Master” Patierno
- Kazuyuki “Kog” Koji
- (T-7) Thomas “Thulius” McLaurin
We have just one more Top 8 Finals coming up today, with Killer Instinct finally getting its due. Top 8 Finals for Mortal Kombat XL, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator, Super Smash Bros Melee and Street Fighter V will be coming to you live tomorrow from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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