Here’s what you need to know about the biggest fighting game tournament event of the year, Evo 2016.
If there was ever a time to get into watching professional fighting games in a live tournament setting, the Evolution Championship Series is the perfect entry point. Kicking off this week and running from Friday, July 15 to Sunday, July 17, Evo 2016 is an annual fighting games tournament event that brings the best and brightest from the fighting game community together.
Big prizes pools can only be outmatched by bigger personalities, and with everyone traveling from near and far to culminate in a celebration of fighting games, Evo 2016 is set to be one of the biggest weekends in eSports this year.
What Is Evo 2016, Really?
As you may already know, at a professional level, no two fighting games are alike. That’s why Evo 2016 will bring a variety of different fighting games together at one venue, showcasing the very best the medium has to offer. It’s the focus on variety that makes this tournament so special. Player registration for each game is open to those willing to pay a modest entry fee. That means that anyone who practices their butt off can make a name for themselves at Evo, in any number of games. There are even players signed up for all nine games Evo 2016 has to offer, as listed below:
- Street Fighter V
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator
- Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
- Mortal Kombat XL
- Killer Instinct
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
- Tekken 7
- Pokken Tournament
- Side tournaments for King of Fighters XIV and more!
Each game at Evo 2016 has its own set of special tournament rules in order for fairness to prevail. It only costs $10 per game to enter into each game’s starting brackets, with the possibility of winning a percentage of the registrant pot if you make it to the Top 8 finals. The official split by percentage goes 60/20/10/4/2/2/1/1, with first place getting 60 percent of the total winnings. Sponsors can add more to the pot in whatever game tournament they see fit.
How To Watch Evo 2016 Online?
Unless you’re willing to catch a flight, hitch a wagon or bang a gong (thus, subsequently, getting it on), the only way to watch the Evo 2016 action as it happens live is by viewing a live stream. Because they are host to so many different tournaments at once, up to five simultaneous streams will be made available on Twitch.tv. Stream 1, Stream 2, Stream 3 and Stream 4 are right here for free, with a $12 premium ticket to allow for access to subscriber emotes from now until the end of time. Chat access is also tied to a premium subscription, with the funds going directly to a scholarship fund that allows those in financial need to attend events. On Friday and Saturday, you can watch the majority of Street Fighter V qualifying play on the Capcom Fighters stream.
The Evo 2016 stream schedule can be seen in full below (all times in PDT):
How Do Evo 2016 Tournaments Function?
At the very least, hundreds of players are signing up to compete in Evo 2016 tournaments. At the most, thousands. To break down the competition as fairly as possible, players are organized into brackets of 16 (rarely fewer) players, running double elimination style. If you lose once, you are set to appear in the loser’s bracket for each stage of the rest of your game’s competition. Two losses in the entire tournament mean you’re out of competition for that game.
Each qualifying pool will run until there are two players left, who move on to the next round bracket. Because of this structure, half the remaining players with one loss out of two will play against the no loss half of the bracket, with odds favoring those with perfect records. Once the Semifinal Bracket has been reached, four players from that game’s Winners and Losers bracket, respectively, will form the Top 8 Finals. From that point on, each player is guaranteed at least a share of the winnings pot. The tournament ends when the best of the Winners and Losers bracket face each other, deciding an overall winner.
An official list of rules is included here.
Evo Glossary
Cheese: When a player emphasizes a style of play that gets an intended result in an underhanded way. Most of the time in pro play, it refers to playing ultra-defensively with a life lead as time runs off the clock, forcing a round victory by health lead. In casual play, it means spamming the same move over and over again to defeat an opponent.
Hype: Unadulterated excitement. The go-to word for anything going on at the tournament that just screams excellence.
Salt: The act of bitterness. When a player loses a match in a frustrating fashion, if they get mad, others will accuse them of being salty.
Stream Monster: Someone at home who thinks they’re better than the players they’re watching live at a tournament, typing out vitriolic, hyperbolic statements.
Heavy/Medium/Light: Type of hit each punch or kick can perform. Heavy attacks hit for more damage and are slow. Lights are quick and weaker. Mediums are in the middle. Guessing which type of attack may be important for combo-linking/combo-breaking, depending on the game.
OTG: Short for “Off The Ground.” Moves made from recovery periods (usually once a player’s character is flattened). This timeframe dictates a response to getting leveled by a combo or special attack.
Dropped Combo: Similar to an unforced error in tennis, it’s when a player fails to punish another player when they leave themselves open. Certain games only allow strong attacks if you pull off a finisher, making dropped combos especially painful.
Footsies: The act of poking at another player on the ground, just outside of combo range. The idea is to dictate the flow of a match, trying to trick your opponent into committing attacks that can be blocked and punished.
Frame(s): A single still picture from video. Most fighting games run at 60 FPS, unlike the standard 24 FPS that makes up the majority of modern movies. Certain combos, response times or inputs have frame windows that can be as narrow as one frame, indicating their difficulty in execution.
Supers/Super Moves: Special attacks that often require combination inputs and hitting a certain limit on a special power meter. The most powerful versions of these attacks are often referred to as “ultras,” or “critical art” in Street Fighter V.
Tiers: Rankings based on the strength of characters’ viability within a game’s competitive scene. Once tournaments begin, certain characters won’t typically be picked because they are often weaker in matchups with other characters from equally-skilled players.
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