Guilty Gear -STRIVE- at Battle Arena Melbourne 2023: Faust Supremacy

Battle Arena Melbourne 2023 played host to an ARC World Tour qualifying event which gave the winner a ticket to the Grand Final next year in the United States. 

The winner, in what can be considered an upset, was Leo. from Japan who wowed everyone by using Faust to win the tournament against one of the best Guilty Gear players in the world, Latif. 

It was a fun tournament and the Grand Final was a thing of beauty as Leo. dragged the game into a reset before defeating Latif in a nail-biting finale.

This was also a runback as Latif had started top 8 by defeating Leo. and sending him to Losers'. But, Leo. defeated Wumbofuze, Saf, and Metallic Cake, 3-0, 3-0, and 3-1, before getting another 3-0 against Latif to take the game to a final set. 

All this using Faust who while a lot of fun to watch, is not considered top tier material. 

The win means that Leo. is in ARC World Tour Finals while Latif will have to try again at Brussels Challenge, or Evo 2023. 

Leo.'s win is quite remarkable as while he's known in the Guilty Gear circuit, he isn't considered a mainstream top player. He was shocked at his win especially against Latif and he took to social media to thank all his fans and supporteers and it was really wholesome to see all the positive responses over his incredible play throughout the weekend. 

On the other hand, Latif was quite upset at his loss which is understandable considering his disappointments at Evo Japan, and Frosty Faustings were he took 2nd place in the latter tournament. Latif is the EMEA winner for the ARC World Tour, but with this year's event being unified, he would want a chance to be the champion of the world. As mentioned earlier he still has several chances to qualify and you can be certain that this is not the end for him this year.

Top 8 for BAM13 GGST