I agree and I also posted huge praise for Zangief right after HDR came out. I thought he had major potential in the right hands and Snake Eyez has amazing execution (I put him up there with Jodim as far as Zangief goes).
That being said, where were all the Honda counter picks? 
Awesome matches between Snake and DGV and even Afro. I was hoping somebody from the active HDR roster takes it and I predicted right. New blood prevails!
p.s. I think this should be the final nail in the coffin that Snake is not a turbo userā¦!
Congrats to snake eyes. I knew he was gonna take it when we were playing casuals in the room and he was whooping everyone on friday night.
Huge congrats to Snake Eyez and DGV and everyone else who did well - not just the arbitrary top 8, I mean everyone who won matches, because I know how double elim is totally unfair for ranking below the top 2. 
Awesome to see some true HDR players take it as well. I was rooting for all current players over anyone else, and by the time it got to the finals I didnāt know who to root for. Couldnāt lose.
Also great job to all EVO staff for a really great feed and commentary etc. And what amazing matches to watch! Just shows why HDR is so darn good. 
Shame to see no DeeJay play from Afrolegends thoughā¦ Of course I just wanted to see some DeeJay in the finals for any reason
HDR isnāt on GGPO.
XBox Live is always plenty busy for me, and it has a lot more USA players than Europe.
Great news and congrats to Snake Eyes. Iāve mained the bottom tier brothers (Gief and Hawk) ever since HDR came out, so I was really happy to see a Zangief player take it all.
So I look through the local thread an-
Good shit Snake Eyez.
Itās Street Fighter, not Tier Fighter; Snake Eyez won at Evo, not Zangief. Give the player credit, not the character. Zangief isnāt magically 80x better than he was 3 days ago because someone won a tournament with him.
Craziness is what he DID with Zangief. He basically read people like books. I have never, in my entire life, seen something like what Snake Eyez did to John Choiā¦ not once. At the end of the day, I am surprised, Afro didnāt use or switch to Dee Jayā¦
As for the Honda counterpicksā¦ I guess from what I hear when he plays versus Honda he knows something other people donāt because it doesnāt look like the tier list says it should lookā¦
Although it is a good point, Zangief may be quote low tierā¦ but he has favorable matchups against the two most popular high tier characters in Ryu and Balrog. And when he got past Tokido I said to myselfā¦ he really could do it.
I actually thought he was going to beat DGV in winners final and push the DGV / Afro losers final but DGV clutched that set out and I really thought Afro was going to pick Dee Jay and zone him to deathā¦
Snake Eyezā¦ congratulations, you are officially āThe Manā for the next 365 days. Now youāve got the target painted on your back and trust me, weāre all gunning for ya now!
Iāve been repping Pad 'Gief on the east coast here since HDR came out.
Itās about time someone took the hint and ran with it - I just donāt have the smarts or reflexes in my old age to read people so well.
Not trying to take away from Snake Eyezā accomplishments, he did very well against some of the best players, but Zangief is only bottom tier when it comes to high level matches IMO. IDK what his matches in pool play were like, but Iām willing to be that he didnāt face a single high level Honda or Dhalsim like Thelo or Cole. If he had, Iām sure that he would at least have been sent to losers if not knocked out. I heard that damdai counterpicked Snake Eyez with Honda, but damdai is not exactly a Honda main, and a competent Zangief player is capable of beating a Honda player who doesnāt know what heās doing. Itās not an automatic win for Honda.
Again, not trying to take away from Snake Eyezā performance, heās a great Zangief player, but Iām sure there was some good luck involved in his path to the finals. About the same type of good luck that Thelo had in last yearās EVO. And also Iām pretty sure that Kuni had some unfavorable matchups, since heās one of the best Zangiefs in the world, yet he wasnāt even in the semi-finals.
I believe Damdai tried to counter snake eyes with Honda and lost.
Very much agreed here! Honda does have a lot of tools to deal with this match up.
congratulations to Snake Eyes ā¦ incredible zangief play!!!
I Agree with this. 100%
I think we need to focus on the fact that **āSnake Eyez really showed some great decision making during his matches.ā ** He won Evo b/c he played really well, and he made the right choices at the right time. That is really what won it for him. He played perfectly.
Snake Eyes apparently went on a rampage against high-level players on Friday night in room casuals. His title is not accidental.
Agree with rufus, youāre not good in high level because of luck, youāre good because of skills, Snake Eyez knows his character so well, so, i think he just used the right tools in the right time.
Congratulations to Snake Eyez, the new king of the hill.
This was no accident that Snake Eyez won. He is also almost as good with Ryu and Ken as he is with Zangief. In fact he is the best Ryu vs Ryu player on Xbox Live from what I have seen and yes he did Ryu vs Ryu against DGV and won the set.
It doesnāt matter that he didnt face pure E Honda mains because he would have beat them anyway. Also since he has ryu mastered he could just pick ryu against honda. It was cool though that he won evo with only zangief.
Donāt bash him for using a pad because he can use a stick equally well. His stick broke a while back and never replaced it and just got a pad. He used pad ever since effectively. In fact for him to use that pad he was using to that level should be nothing but props.
Zangief is still low tier he just took his Zangief to the level of Pony or Jodim now through practice. The difference is why someone like Blanka canāt win or has a much harder time is Zangief has his average to favorable matches vs some of the top tier and can be dangerous.
Some characters that still have an advantage or slight advantage over Zangief and they are E Honda, Cammy, Guile, Chun-Li, Fei Long, Vega, Blanka, Dhalsim, Dee Jay Sagat, and T Hawk.
M Bison may be even but who knows with his new reversal. Zangief may have slight favor over Ryu and Ken. Zangief is clearly favorable over Balrog with Zangiefs new changes and Balrogās changes.
Look at the list of bad match ups. Zangief is low tier and some of those match ups are really bad for Zangief. He is just a dangerous low tier character. You have to look at the skill of the player here and not the character.
To sum this up Snake Eyez is the man now and showed the most skill at Evo and beat a whos who list at Evo. He beat Damdai, John Choi, Tokido, Afro Legends, DGV, and others that I may be forgetting or do not know about.
Congratulations Snake Eyez you won the most hype tournament of the night. All the other tournaments seemed boring in comparison.
you forgot thisā¦
? Losers Finals: Snake Eyez (Zangief) eliminated Daigo Umehara (Balrog) 2-1.
I am pretty sure Cole and Afro Legends took out Daigo.