Canada Cup, A Fighting Game Community

ReckPro Gaming

8th annual Canada Cup has passed with it came an Esports event that comprised of many upsets and close matches, you would think you were watching a Sunday afternoon football game. My previous post focused more on the Street Fighter tournament at FGC events. As a whole you just can't tell what will happen in any Esports tournament, examble being that many of the top North American players got knocked out early, ItaZan was knocked out of SF and a fricken "Double-KO" in Grand Finals of Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, or "MvC:I". Just.....what?!?! *mind blown*. That particular round and the crowd reaction shown below. A cheering crowd as Canadian player Teemo forced a bracket reset (more on that later) then proceeding to upset Richard Nguyen in the Grand Finals; which won him possession of the Mind Stone. What does that mean? MvC:I didn't come out in time to have a proper full season, instead Capcom decided to hold a "Battle of the stones" event where the past 7 champions, 6 stone bearers won at premier events, and 3 Online regional tournament winners will enter a Top-16 tournament in December. The catch: As a stone barer it grants you a tournament changing trait specific to each stone (Power, Soul, Mind, Reality, Space & Time). As for the mind stone, it grants Teemo the ability to choose his opponents' characters and in-game stone they will have to use. seemingly the most powerful stone of them all, the crowd lost their mind during the announcement. However, with the Reality Stone power still unknown we would beholden to find out this weekend when it is announced at the Latin America Finals if it trumps even that of the Mind Stone. 

MvC:I - Teemo vs Richard Nguyen Double KO at CGC

Fighting Game Community event, eh!

These events are not easy pace either, walking around in my GamerzUnited gear I wanted to see everything only to realize I couldn't. There are dozens of monitors & players with even more spectators filling up the whole business center; add Multiple big projector screens for  prime-time matchups. Throw in multiple halls running tournaments at the same time and you have a massive player/fan based event. One of these FGC events can host 10-15 game tournaments at a time, with everyone running to either follow a game or their favourite player. The excitement and cheers draw you in and hooks you into a large circle hovering over a screen as two battle it out in Guilty Gear X. Getting to watch characters like Marth take on Fox in Smash Bros. and Mew2King taking first place in Melee while hearing the crowd engage with the action as Canadians Kage and None made an epic bid to get to said Grand finals, it is an experience you never expect to get at an Esports event. 

We real excited to watch some Esports

"What is this Grand Finals you mention?" well, Esports tournaments work on the basis of double-elimination, losing once will send you to the losers bracket still allowing a chance to win should you beat the bracket. At the end of winners and losers bracket is their respective finals which sets up a Grand Final between the winners and losers bracket finalist. Coming from the losers bracket requires that you win the first set which is called a Bracket Reset, essentially putting the Winners finalist into the losers bracket, then it is sudden death in the last set to determine the Champion. FGC events have been running for around a decade and this year Canada Cup had 11 tournaments all with a cash pot to win from; Smash bros. handing out $5000 and $1000s for other tournaments, SFV had a pot of $15,000 and just under 300 participants, it's no wonder why it has such a large draw. It's a weekend unlike any other where you'll see the best of Marvel Vs Capcom, Blaze Blue, Guilty Gear and more all competing to claim victory. All this pales in comparison to EVO and Capcom Cup in December where that tournament pot hasa $100k increase this year to.............$600k.........I'll wait for the jaw to close.

The Event ahead

For most tournaments, they end there at the event until the next event comes and a new prize pool to win from is established. Capcom goes a step further having players play throughout the year at premier, regional and ranking events (typically online events) gaining Pro Tour points. These events scale in awarded points of the premier events EVO(evolution championship) top-256 garners the most potential points with 1000pts for first vs 400pts at premier events to first place and top-64 earning points. In comparison ranking events only award points to the top-16 with first place receiving 160pts. Top-31 players are decided by points whilst the 32nd spot is decided by a last-chance event the day before the Capcom Cup. Awesome, cause you can guarantee nothing but upsets, cheers, devastations, heated emotions and undoubtedly many "Pop-offs" (Still very personal). it's obvious why it remains one of the highest viewed Esport in FGC. These events are the result of the consistent dedication of organizers, players putting in more hours than ever, and all the fans continued support of ESports. Having a bolstering number of new players popping up and many fans picking up controllers it's looking like the Esports trend and gaming as a whole isn't going to slow down anytime soon.