Best Players at Evo 2022

What have we left with after a big fighting esports event is over? For instance, what do we have after Evo 2022?

Yeah, there could be some announcements that motivate us to play a favorite game more. Pro players might earn some interesting opportunities for their careers. Tournament organizers might get some lessons for their future events.

But in general, the whole community has left mostly with emotions after Evo 2022. Those emotions are wonderful, exciting, inspiring… This emotional experience is priceless — it enriches the lives of those on the venue and those watching streams.

So, let’s take a moment to appreciate the people who make those emotions possible — the players who participated in Evo. They create fighting esports miracles and power the competitive environment.

We at DashFight decided to thank the players who made the Evo emotions especially strong and colorful. We did an awfully hard job and chose the best players of the whole event — one for every game covered by our platform.

The task is difficult because all the Evo participants are heroes, especially those who reached the Top stages. Of course, our opinion is strictly subjective, and you might have a different one.

Soulcalibur VI

Incendiate is one of the most prominent members of the Soulcalibur community. He grinds a lot to take his skills to the next level. His performance at various tournaments inspires others to play SC6 — even if Incendiate doesn’t win, as it was at CEO 2022.

Evo turned out to be difficult but successful for the player. In the Winners Semi-Final, Incendiate sent Linkorz to the Losers. Then, he had a very close and tough match against MasterCJ in the Winners Final. And then…

Incendiate demonstrated his ability to switch between characters. He took Ivy instead of Xianghua and got super impressive 3:0 victories against Xephukai and twice against MasterCJ. Incendiate is a Champion and really the best Soulcalibur player at Evo 2022.

Read more about the Soulcalibur 6 tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Killer Instinct

Is luck a real thing? Sometimes, a player catches a wave of success, defeats every opponent, and remains in the Winners bracket for the whole tournament. But sometimes, a player gets into trouble and falls into Losers — to return to the Grand Final requires special strength and motivation. 

Carnitas played very well throughout the whole Killer Instinct tournament, but something went wrong in the Grand Final. Tyme2Dul just destroyed the opponent. Carnitas found his way back through the Losers Final against Roman22s, but then the power of Tyme2Dul turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Still, Carnitas fought so well! We definitely want to highlight him as the best KI player at Evo 2022.

Read more about the Killer Instinct tournament at Evo 2022 here.

MultiVersus

NAKAT & VoiD

Although the entire MultiVersus bracket had its fair share of top players competing, it is almost an indisputable fact that the highlights of Friday and Saturday were hogged by this duo. NAKAT's Wonder Woman Gameplay was a sight to behold. Many times he dominated the space given and made sure not to give an inch, an effort that VoiD then made more valuable by using his Tom & Jerry to great effect, jailing opponents and setting up hard-to-escape scenarios that would result in a quick KO. The meta might have involved Velma and either Bugs Bunny or Superman. But NAKAT and VoiD rejected it and proved to the world that they were going to make their team work.

Beyond that, emotionally, this was a wonderful team to watch compete. The fact that they lost in winner finals and seemed beyond energized to go back up to the grand finals was electric. Their final 6-0 run of grand finals and win was nothing short of inspiring and a great send-off for a game that had just started to get going.

Read more about the MultiVersus tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Skullgirls

Skullgirls tournament finals were the real opening of the Evo 2022. While the other games were going through pools or didn’t even start, Skullgirls stole the show with an exciting Top 8 bracket, full of world-class performances. We know already that in the end SonicFox packed another Evo gold medal for themselves, and they did it in style, performing dominantly all the way through the tournament. However, there was another player to make a statement and despite finishing 2nd, he deserved an honorable mention. 

dekillsage played his heart out at this tournament. That night it seemed like he was the only one who'd be able to stop his friend and teammate SonicFox. Especially after he knocked out the only non-American player, a Combo Breaker 2022 and Evo 2021 Online winner, and SonicFox’s archnemesis, penpen.  And he did it twice, in the winners' semis and later in the losers final, which guaranteed him a top-2 spot. However, during the first grand final set, it seemed like dekillsage would rob SonicFox of this gold medal. He demonstrated such a dominant performance against his opponent, it looked like he’s able to read their every move and counter it. dekillsage didn’t win in the end as SonicFox adapted and secured first place in a tight 3-2 set. However, dekillsage clearly has won the crowd and its hearts. 

Read more about the Skullgirls tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Dragon Ball FighterZ

There is no doubt that Wawa is the best DBFZ player in the world at the moment. In a spectacular style, the guy won the World Championship. At Evo, he fell into the Losers Brackets but then returned from a 0:2 situation. Wawa is one of a few who can easily switch teams and be as effective in fights as possible.

Still, everyone knows how cool Wawa is. Everyone knows how cool Nitro is in his attempts to de-crown Wawa. Everyone knows that mathematically optimal Yasha is one of the best players in the world. But let’s highlight a somewhat less obvious hero of the DBFZ tournament at Evo 2022.

Kayne is a rising star of fighting esports! He’s been playing Dragon Ball FighterZ since the game's release, and his results are pretty solid. In 2022, Kayne made a few powerful statements at top-level esports tournaments. He was second at Combo Breaker. Alas, due to the lack of a sponsor, Kayne is limited in traveling possibilities, and he could not participate in CEO.

At Evo, the guy defeated such opponents as Punk in the Top 128 part and Shanks in the Top 24 part. All of his matches till the Top 8 part are flawless, 2:0.

Kayne was very strong in the final fights of the tournament. Even in unsuccessful matches, Kayne was a super difficult opponent — both Nitro and Wawa had to activate their full power to win. A surprising and very impressive victory of Kayne was over legendary Fenritti, and again, it was a 2:0 match.

Please, keep an eye on Kayne! The guy is dedicated to DBFZ and esports competition, and he obviously has a bright future in the industry.

Read more about the DBFZ tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Mortal Kombat 11

Sometimes, when you watch someone play sports, you can sense greatness. Within a team, an individual, there can be certain something that makes you go, “This was just unbelievable!” All the people that sat at Camp Nou when Leo Messi debuted for Barcelona felt that. It was obvious from the very first glance that young Max Verstappen was destined for greatness in Formula 1. The very same feeling was in the air when last year, at CEO2021, Mortal Kombat 11 viewers watched Scorpionprocs and Nicolas dismantle their opposition with ease.

Evo 2022 was a confirmation of that. Sure, Nicolas dropped the ball and didn’t manage to come out of the losers to make 3rd consecutive major finals with his brother, but his level of gameplay forced Rewind to use every ounce of his talent to beat him. But the real MVP of the tournament was obviously Nicolas’s brother, Scorpionprocs. He was simply imperious in his play, masterfully using multiple characters at his disposal. This weekend, he got crowned as an Evo champion – an achievement that many can only dream of. But with him, you still get a sense that this is only the beginning.

Read more about the MK11 tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Tekken 7

It’s no secret that Knee is just godlike. If you ask people who they think is the best Tekken player, you will likely hear “Knee” more than any other name. However, his performance at Evo 2022 was something else entirely. The man was on a different level.

Instead of choosing one of the newer DLC characters or other tried and tested top tiers, Knee went for the good old Feng that some might remember from his amazing set against JDCR back in TWT 2017. 

It didn’t matter who he played against. Meo-IL, perhaps the best Geese player in Korea, couldn’t even touch Knee. His defensive instinct, sharp movement, and careful use of Feng’s evasion were one of the key highlights of his Evo 2022 run.

The only one who posed a challenge to Knee is a man whose own performance deserves an honorable mention. KHAN is one of the big-name players from Pakistan who previously placed 4th at FV Cup 2019 and CEO 2021. 

If it weren’t for Knee, he easily would’ve won the entire tournament, as on his to the Grand Finals, KHAN had to eliminate none other than Arslan Ash. Not only did he do just that, but he did it with a decisive 3:1 score.

Thanks to KHAN, we were able to witness an incredibly tense Grand Final between two masters of the game, but in the end, Knee was simply too out of this world. This victory is also the first time that Knee won Evo for Tekken 7, if you don’t count Evo Japan, of course.

Read more about the Tekken 7 tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Street Fighter V

When it comes to the best player for Street Fighter V at Evo 2022, you cannot look beyond iDom. He has been in fantastic form all year long winning at Combo Breaker 2022 with a clutch finish against Caba. He was also on hand to win CEO 2022. Not satisfied with that, he also took the Reb Bull Subway Showdown in convincing fashion. Many thought he would take Evo too and if you watched him play, there was no reason why not. What more, his trajectory in the tournament was truly spectacular to watch. Thrown into losers by none other than Ryan Hart, iDom went on to take down body after body including JB, former Evo champion Xian, Angry Bird, Global Esports Tour 2022 winner, Mister Crimson, fighting game god Daigo, Evo winner and legend, Tokido, Capcom Cup winner Gachikun, all before destroying Kawano in Grand Final 3-0 to reset the bracket. It wasn't just about the people iDom beat, but the way he beat them, especially when using a less-fancied character in Laura.

It was an incredible run that deserved a win, but iDom can take solace in putting together one of the greatest spectacles in modern times. We can't wait for all the video essays analysing this stupendous feat.

Read more about the Street Fighter V tournament at Evo 2022 here.

Guilty Gear -Strive-

UMISHO

Guilty Gear -Strive- was a tight contest at Evo 2022, simply being the event's champion doesn't necessarily make you the best for the event. It would have been Slash on a regular day, but this isn't an ordinary day. The GGST bracket had some of the best players in the world gathered in one place. Slash's May completely steamrolled the competition, while Leffen showed tact by adapting his game plan to eliminate any threat. However, it takes more than just a character to win a tournament of this scale. There is an endless cycle of mind games to open up your opponents' defenses, whiff punishes, character weaknesses, and the struggle to execute commands in split-second decisions. Slash from the winners' bracket was sent to losers by UMISHO, and the losers bracket was a shark tank, but sharks stand no chances against dolphins. UMISHO, on the other hand, has a perfect sense of the weaknesses of Happy Chaos, blending it with game mechanics to earn Positive bonus or circumvent Negative penalty. UMISHO knows when to go into close quarters combat and when to zone the enemy completely. Slash didn't reset the grand finals bracket against UMISHO.

Read more about the Guilty Gear -Strive- tournament at Evo 2022 here.

The world of esports has very short breaks to enjoy the emotions from previous tournaments — new events are right around the corner. We have only two weeks to process everything Evo and get prepared for VSFighting X. It would be interesting to witness the performance of the players from our list.