Pokkén Tournament made its Evolution Championship Series (Evo) tournament debut as one of the featured games in the main lineup. After two arduous days of pools and qualifiers, the quest to crown the Evo Pokémon Master came to an epic conclusion.
The Japanese players came prepared to dominate. They showed up in large numbers with the sole goal of taking the title. Led by Kazunori "Buntan" Ageta and his Suicune play, it was hard to truly pick out a weak link. They powered through with four players in the top eight, including Buntan, H. "Tonosama" A., Kazuyiki "KOG" Koji and Masami "Potetin" Sato.
Not to be outdone, the United States contingent more than proved that it belonged on the main stage. Four U.S. players were represented in the top eight: Willie "Swillo" Barr, Circa eSports' Christian "Suicune Master" Patierno, RvL's James "Bosshog" Rosseel Jr. and Thomas "Thulius" McLaurin.
And your Pokémon Master is: Tonosama!
The runaway king was Tonosama, who had to run the gauntlet to take down the necessary players for his victory. His Braixen was the talk of the entire tournament. Between his patience and spectacular spacing, he ran circles around his opponents.
Perhaps the most impressive fact about his win at Evo was his unwavering desire to play just his style of Pokkén and let his opponents frustrate themselves. He ran away from every undesirable situation and even collected a few timeouts for good measure. Tonosama reset the bracket in grand finals and ultimately made the rest of the real finals his own Pokémon stadium.
His victory was a testament to how any style could potentially take the reins of a given tournament. Tonosama proved, as Braixen's lone representative, that a character is always viable if the player and the mindset follow through.
Pokkén Tournament's outlook
If Evo was any indication, this will not be the end of Pokkén Tournament. The turnout was impressive, with over 1,000 players in the competition and plenty of international representation. The sheer number of Japanese players that dedicated their time and efforts to be the very best was inspiring, to say the least. The number of entrants notwithstanding, Pokkén Tournament displayed strong depth as a fighting game, as well.
There was a playstyle for every fan in the top eight. Whether it was KOG's defensive style with Charizard or the multiple ways that Mewtwo was played by Swillo, Potetin and Thulius, the tournament showed that player personality directly affects a character's game plan. Look no further than Suicune Master's tournament run; he played to maximize his opponent's mistakes and lived off of whiff punishes and successful baits. Then there were players -- such as Swillo, who beat Suicune Master -- that never left the engine idle and pressured opponents into mistakes through sheer brute force.
On the Japanese side, the aforementioned defensive style of KOG was offset by the offensive prowess and relentless pressure of Potetin (whether he used Mewtwo or Pikachu Libre) or just pure control like Buntan.
Strategies and playstyles in new fighting games are generally far from static, and Pokkén Tournament follows this rule. While there was some lack of character variety in the top eight, the many different approaches to the game that were on display energized fans of the game with their dynamism.