The world's largest fighting game tournament " EVO 2024 " was held from July 20 (Sat.) to 22 (Mon.), 2024 (Japan Standard Time), and the winner of the main tournament title " Tekken 8 " was decided by Ash!
The "Tekken 8" division is attracting a lot of attention!
Tekken 8", which will be released in January 2024, will be the first newest title to be crowned World Champion at the EVO!
The remaining players in the Top 6 are...
- ZETA KEISUKE (KEISUKE)
- Falcons ATIF (ATIF)
- TM | RB Arslan Ash(Ash)
- Dragons Raef(Raef)
- TeamYAMASA | NOBI(NOBI)
- KDF | ULSAN (ULSAN)
Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. The strong players from Japan, Korea, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia remained. In particular, Ash is a world-renowned super player.
Mr. Fukushi and Yojin BΩY (@youjin_boy ) will provide live commentary in Japanese.
In the first round, Japanese player KEISUKE suddenly entered the tournament!
However, ATIF player from Pakistan advances to the tournament with a complete victory without allowing a single round to be taken.
Next up was Ash, the leading contender for the championship!
Saiga NAKThe audience cheered loudly in support of Ash. Ash showed his boldness and won without dropping a single round!
KEISUKE made his return to the Router's side. He had a close match with ULSAN, the only Korean player in the Top 6.
However, in the end, ULSAN's Dragunov engaged and overwhelmed him!
KEISUKE was defeated at this point.
NOBI, who made it to Top 6 on the Loosers side, is now on the stage! He will face off against Reaf from Saudi Arabia.
Reaf is the best player in Saudi Arabia in both name and reality, but NOBI overwhelmed the match with his aggressive style of aggressive use of the Heat Gauge! NOBI advanced to the Routers Semifinals with a score of 2-0.
During the interval of the game, the players were poinging goodies.
#EVO2024 インターバルにグッズあげちゃう！ pic.twitter.com/7clZzzpoME
— Saiga NAK (@saiganak) July 21, 2024
The winner's final is a showdown of Pakistani players.
The battle between the two teams is just as exciting as the final match.
In the matchup between Ash and ATIF, Ash won 3-1! Ash won 3 to 1! He was the first one to advance to the Grand Final.
NOBI competed in the Routers Semi-Finals.
ULSAN, who had won against KEISUKE, beat ULSAN 2-0, and the Japanese player got his revenge!
Then came the Loosers Final! ATIF from Pakistan and NOBI from Japan will battle it out to advance to the Grand Finals.
NOBI won the Top 6 without losing a single set. However, his opponent was a fierce competitor from Pakistan who had won the TEKKEN World Tour 2022 and CEO 202. ATIF won three sets in a row to advance to the Grand Final!
The Grand Final was once again a showdown between these two players.
Saiga NAKIt must be said that there is inevitably a wall between the world and Pakistan. Both players showed a tense game that had not been seen in their previous dominating matches, and Ash won the Grand Final 3-2.
Saiga NAKAsh responds to the cheers of the audience.
Saiga NAK- First place: Ash
- 2nd place: ATIF
- 3rd: NOBI
- 4th: ULSAN
- 5th: KEISUKE
- 6th: Raef
The final results are as shown below. The history of the first EVO of Tekken 8 began with Ash.
Interview with Ash
Saiga NAKThis is a joint media interview, so it includes questions not from the SaigaNAK editorial staff.
Q. You won your fifth title at the EVO. What is the secret of your success?
I don't know, but I always pray to God (Allah) before every match. I think that is my biggest motivation and the reason for my success.
Saiga NAKQ. You are widely known as one of the best Tekken players.
I think "Tekken 8" is very hard and is my biggest triumph to date. It had some rough patches in the beginning, but now I can proudly say that we are at the top of our game. My only plan is to keep playing Tekken 8.
Q. In the fourth set, when ATIF chose Feng, there seemed to be some confusion on Ash's part.
I didn't think he would choose Feng. We used to be training partners and played against each other all the time, but I had never played with Fen, which he uses. I don't know if he was intentionally hiding Fen, but maybe I was lucky.
Saiga NAKQ. What makes Ash players so strong? How do you train?
I don't know. I just have a passion for the game and for winning. When I was a kid, it was normal to get first place in class, and I was the kind of kid who got very angry if I got second or third. I play fighting games with that kind of passion and just go for the victory.
Q. It must have taken you six months to adapt from "Tekken 7" to "Tekken 8," did anything change in your training?
I think it's all about the way you think. When I look at other professional players, I feel that they are losing because they can't adapt to the meta. I also think it is a matter of ego. I think it's necessary to learn from scratch and suppress your ego.
Saiga NAKRight after the main tournament "Tekken 8," it was announced that the 2025 EVO will be held in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Las M. Bisons, and Nice, and in 2026 in Singapore.
Q. Let me ask Ash, a five-time EVO winner, how do you feel about the EVO being held in a new location?
To be honest...I don't really like it. I feel that the prestige of the EVO title will be lost if the number of events increases. Of course it is good for those who live in Europe, Japan or Singapore. But winning EVO is a great honor, and the more champions there are, the less people know who the real EVO champion is. So it's a bit confusing now.
Sorry, this article is only available in Japanese and 繁體中文. at the moment.
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