Archive / Ramblings / Evo 2025 (8/4/2025)

Second year of going to Evo. I didn't really plan on anything unique compared to last time besides entering Xrd in addition to Strive.

Unlike last year, my pools started in the later half of Friday. Other than that it was basically the same, doing a few casuals and looking around the Artist Alley.

I didn't play as many casuals this year. I'm not entirely sure why, but if anything it was probably just the fact I was running on ~3 hours of sleep since my flight in got delayed by 5 hours or so. But what I did play was enjoyable.

As with last year, I came to Evo looking for one thing: SpaceDey's new Unika keychain. A great addition to my collection. I probably would have looking around more but the aforementioned lack of sleep made me a bit unmotivated until later in the day.

I have a weird relationship with Xrd. To put it simply, I have absolutely no idea how to play this game. However, that does not apply to Bedman. I'm not a high level player by any means, but I can get a solid gameplan going that does the job well. The problem with this is that without any practical knowledge of matchups or really any gameplay, the only thing I know how to fight or defend against is Bedman himself. Good thing there were a lot of Bedman players in my pool for some bizarre reason.

VS

0 - 2

My first match just happened to basically be the only criteria under which I could win, being a Bedman mirror. It was fun.

VS

2 - 0

...it went how anyone would expect it to go. That being me getting completely demolished. I simply don't know how to fight Elphelt and my assorted Bedman tricks simply won't work here. Perhaps this was a good warmup for him.

VS

2 - 1

We were perfectly equal in skill. Very fun set that ended on a last hit last round situation of us just spamming Task A at each other until an inevitable timeout. Unfortunately I made one too many mistakes in that last round and had slightly less health, and was therefore knocked out of the tournament.

BREAD ON FIRE

97TH

out of 135
(Top 71.8%)

1 - 2

Ultimately the results in Xrd never mattered to me that much. It just isn't a game alI focus on. But I am happy to not have gone 0-2 at least. It was enjoyable overall and I will definitely do it again next year. Perhaps if +R becomes part of the Extended Lineup I would play that too?

Everything has improved in my favor since last year. Bedman? has gone from bottom 5 trash to respectable midtier. My own skills have gone from barely passable to mostly functional. This is the year. I just have to avoid my bad matchups.

VS

3 - 2

...ah. A Chipp. While not necessarily the absolute worst thing to fight as Bedman?, I personally struggle a lot with the Chipp matchup.

But this set didn't end as a 0-3 knockout like I thought. Instead it was probably the most exhilarating 3-2 I have ever played. THIS is a true battle. Two players of equal skill going back and forth down to the last hit of the last match. I wouldn't have even been upset to have lost this in the end. It was a really enjoyable challenge. Easily one of my best sets.

VS

3 - 0

This one comes down to overconfidence. I figured that if I was able to triumph over one of my worst matchups, I could pretty easily take down Unika, the only character besides Bedman? that I have (however briefly) mained. But I was wrong. I simply played a bit poorly and therefore was knocked into the losers bracket. That isn't to discount the Unika player's skill, of course. I think we were probably about equal in ability, I just wasn't playing at my fullest potential and that is why it was a 0-3 instead of a 2-3.

VS

3 - 0

Terrifying but very manageable. There was both a Slayer and a Potemkin in my pool and I was terrified of having to face either just due to how few mistakes you can afford to make. But ultimately I think I handeled this well.

VS

3 - 1

Again????? Last year my Evo run was cut short by an Axl. Same exact thing this year. I think I am cursed.

By the end I was beginning to turn things around a bit, but it was too little too late.

...this can only mean one thing, of course. Next year I will train. There will be no Axl that can stand in my way. Revenge will be achieved.

BREAD ON FIRE

385TH

out of 1514
(Top 25.4%)

2 - 2

Like last year my goal was to get out of pools. That didn't happen. Instead I got the exact same placement as last year, being just a single match away from achieving that goal. But I suppose I should just be happy that I didn't do worse or anything. Overall it was an enjoyable tournament and I can't wait to do it again next year.

With no second day of matches, today was entirely dedicated to watching Top 8s in the arena. Except Granblue. It isn't that I didn't want to watch it, I just couldn't afford to stay up until 11 when Strive started early the next morning.

Regardless of what anyone (including myself) says about every other aspect of the game, I will continue to argue that Mortal Kombat is a pretty good spectator game. And it was as enjoyable this time as usual.

I still have no idea what is going on in this game, but every year I can parse it a bit more. Still fun to watch regardless, though I do wish the characters on display were a bit more interesting. Like I know Waldstien is a low tier but I just wish he somehow made it in.

Very enjoyable. I guess I didn't really see the appeal in this game before now. I figured that the amount of infinites and relative lack of character diversity would make it boring. Instead it is a really interesting game with terrifying consequences to messing up and a clear amount of passion even after all this time. I still would personally never play it, but watching it was great.

I planned to watch every game, from 10am to 11pm. And I did. It cost me the chance to have dinner, but who cares.

Also, my plane home started super early the next day. Meaning I would have needed to wake up at 3am the next day. I just didn't ever go to sleep. It seemed useless.

Starting off with the reveals: Lucy was actually better than I expected! She has improved a lot since the state I played her in. The aesthetics of her moveset have improved drastically, and she has gained the extra push in complexity that I thought she was severely lacking beforehand. Not the least of which is her hacking super, which previously did literally nothing. Very interested to see how she comes out. As for Strive 2.0, I will be discussing my full thoughts and predictions for that here.

But besides that, the bracket was enjoyable. Many people have echoed this sentiment, but the fact that there was a point where rooting for Ram or Johnny was morally correct was insane. We need this balance patch BADLY.

Also can we just ban Crawl?. Why do they always choose it as the music. It is mediocre at best. There are so many incredible character themes in this game and you choose CRAWL??

Same applies to Council of Three, of course. Perhaps Strive 2.0 will make it more interesting?

I have very little to say. It's pretty similar to my thoughts on Uni2, except this game was way easier to understand. I just wish the selection of characters on display was more interesting. Still fun to watch, I just feel like it could have been more.

I rewatched the Armor King reveal after the fact and it just isn't the same. The crowd's reaction to everything he did was fantastic and I am sad I didn't take a video of it myself.

As for the gameplay itself... too much Anna. I guess it is a bit better than last year's Dragunov hoard but still not ideal. Having the grand finals end with Anna vs. Nina was nice though.

Aside from my undying hatred for Cammy and everything she stands for, this was enjoyable. I don't keep up with the balance of this game that much but seeing Blanka win (who I assume to be low or mid tier) was very enjoyable.

I only wish there was more Ed. I enjoy watching his gameplay. Of course there are other characters I also enjoy but they have little to no chance of showing up in a top 8. Ed is just my favorite among the good characters.

A very good experience once again. Of course I wish I did better in the tournament, and I kind of regret not exploring the Artist Alley as much as I could have, but overall it was very fun and I look forward to next year.