EVO 2021, the traditional biggest fighting games tournament, has just ended this year, after being held exclusively online due to the pandemic – Here are the results of the Guilty Gear Strive NA tournament finals, and the trailer for our new DLC character, Jack-O’.
This year’s Evo was held exclusively online, with tournaments separated by regions. It definitely felt different than usual, and the lack of a venue just turns down the hype, even if you don’t go there yourself. Hopefully, events will be back in full force soon.
In particular, the North America region tournament finals for Guilty Gear Strive were held this August 15, with several prolific players including SonicFox, Deb and Hotashi.
Guilty Gear Strive EVO NA Tournament 2021 results
The top eight brackets were:
And here are the results:
Personally speaking, I was rooting for Empress Romolla aka Deb as a fellow average Umineko enjoyer, but I’m definitely happy with these results as well. I pretty much love every FG player. It’s also interesting to note Hotashi is usually an Elphelt player on Guilty Gear Xrd, but she’s not part of the Guilty Gear Strive roster, and so Hotashi has been playing Nagoriyuki instead, the game’s first brand-new character.
You can watch the grand finals match, Hotashi (Nagoriyuki) Vs SonicFox (Leo) on Twitch.
Some of the reactions from Hotashi, other players, and the FGC on Twitter:
No real talk that shit was mad FUN @hotashis CONGRATS!
I’ll try to overcome that matchup SOMETIME AAAA
— SonicFox (@SonicFox) August 15, 2021
Very stoned and very happy. Love you all dearly, and I'm so proud of my friends for their accomplishments this past and current week. You're all doing so great and it makes me really happy to see everything turn out positive.
— DEB (@SuperDEBico) August 15, 2021
hey youre welcome i saved us all from "sonicfox won evo without giving a damn about strive" discourse
give me some damn credit will ya
(ggs sonixfox i appreciate your kindness)
— Hotashi, the Savior (@hotashis) August 16, 2021
it was a furious battle and im glad we could do it like that. truly glorious
— Hotashi, the Savior (@hotashis) August 16, 2021
Personally, I definitely agree with that last point Hotashi brought up, seeing how weird or futile some discourse on fighting games seem nowadays. Like the one on Melty Blood‘s character designs being “bland”. I’m guessing with all the events getting canceled we all talk and give importance to whatever topic comes around no matter how weird it is in the first place.
Jack-O’ is the next DLC character
Once the tournament ended, Arc System Works revealed the second DLC character coming to Guilty Gear Strive. It was already teased beforehand that the second character would be one that was already playable. Jack-O follows Burger Sheriff, who was the first DLC character. She’ll release on August 27.
You can find the English version of the trailer right here.
Guilty Gear Strive still has 3 characters to be revealed in its first Season Pass. I’m personally hoping Jam will make a comeback.
