What makes an EVO champion?

Evo Championship Series
1

Hi all,

In the wake of EVO I’m currently writing an article analyzing the intricacies of what it means and what it takes to reach the top in a tournament such as EVO, and I’d love some community feedback.

As a basis for this, let’s take a look at the results of arguably the main event of EVO, Street Fighter 4. As I look at the results I try to understand exactly why they came to be.

Xian comfortably took gold this time around. But why? We all know he has been tearing it up this year with his Gen, but what did he do or have that gave him the edge? One would immediately look towards player skill and time invested. But I’m confident that other players in the top 8 such as Daigo and Infiltration put in just as much time. Both of these players have come out on top in the past, so what did they lack this time around? Compare this years results to last. Last year Infiltration won, while Xian was taken out much earlier on, however this year Xian made it all the way to the top. What changed? Of course Xian improved, but then what happened in a year that made him go from simply a high level player to EVO champion?

Is it how people practice? Their environment? Is it merely a case of what happens on the day, with various random factors thrown in, or can the answer be approached from a more logical standpoint?

What would be interesting to know is not just what makes a player become better or take a championship, but also what causes a decline in ability. While Daigo’s current achievements are nothing to be sniffed at, it’s clear he’s been underperforming compared to his achievements a few years ago, where he would consistently take first place seemingly effortlessly at times. What has changed?

Another interesting case study is Tokido. He’s one of the most versatile players out there, consistently placing high in a number of games, yet despite this versatility he placed higher in SF4 than he has at any time in recent years at a major. If one were to assume that time invested in a single game contributed heavily to one’s overall skill, what allows Tokido to be able to acquire such skill over such a large number of games?

I’d love to hear the communities thoughts on this, as I think it’s interesting to consider, especially when you have a plethora of talented players putting in equal time, effort and focus, yet the results are always unpredictable.

2

Who played better that day.

3

Winning.

4

Beating people. Sometimes a little bit of luck, too.

5

It’d be awesome if you could follow simple community rules. On top of that, who are you writing for, why are you writing it? I’m more than hesitant about your intentions when writing this. Wouldn’t you be better off with an interview of KDZ, Mango, Reynald, Flocker and Xian?

6

Having no life. You cannot kill that which has no life.

7

But you can definitely beat it at MvC3.

8

Unemployment.

9

“WHAT MAKES AN EVO CHAMPION?”

Depends on the game. Not gonna go into much detail about that since #sensitivity.

10

Race

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Time spent, how much of that time was spent well (you can put dozens of hours into learning a couple impractical combos that you might have a single opportunity to pull off in 5 matches, or you can put them into learning what the startup for every character’s moves looks like and practicing reacting to mixups so you can play effective defense), how often the player was able to practice against highly skilled opponents, but most of all I’d say adaptability. How well can someone figure out what the other player is doing, devise a counter, and then implement that counter and capitalize on the momentum shift before the other player changes tactics.

12
  1. quality competition
  2. personal time invested learning specifics and training responses to situations
  3. being Asian
13

Using an unorthodox, relatively unpopular, underused, underdog character like Gen.

14

I guess the variety is a somewhat considerable factor.
Every year they fight they same people. Ryu,Rufus,Akuma,Seth.
By throwing in Hakon, and Gen you really get them on their toes. They aren’t prepared to fight those different characters.
Good question though.

15

New answer:
Colluding.

16

Wrong thread.

17

apparently winning a side tournament with a low turnout.

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Persistence.

19

Get 10-0’d.