The organizers for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) have revealed their new online event following the cancellation of EVO 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dubbed EVO Online, the non-physical event will take place over the course of five weekends and will include majority of the previously announced lineup. In addition, four separate open online tournaments will be added to the competition, bringing back a couple of fan favorites in the process.
Here is the official EVO Online lineup which includes the four open tournament titles:
- Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Tekken 7
- Street Fighter V Champion Edition
- SoulCalibur VI
- Granblue Fantasy: Versus
- Samurai Shodown
- Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath
- Killer Instinct
- Them’s Fightin Herds
- Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Right away you might notice that something is missing, and you’re correct. For whatever reason that has yet to be explained, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was removed from the official lineup. While there might be a number of reasons as to why the organizers made this decision, the prevailing theory right now is that it was cut due to the game’s poor online infrastructure. Since this will be an online-only event, it would be difficult to maintain a sense of competitiveness if the game was losing connections throughout fights. It’s important to note that this is all conjecture since the organizers themselves have yet to make a statement.
Another game that looks like it was cut is Marvel VS. Capcom 2, which was supposed to feature past champions from previous EVO tournaments. In its place is the “2ournament of Champions” which has yet to be clarified if it’s the same game or something completely different. All of the other titles previously announced were retained in the lineup and will host their own competitions. As for the additional four games, they’ll be open to anyone who wants to take a crack at it. These games include the recently announced Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Killer Instinct, and Them’s Fightin Herds.
Seeing Killer Instinct back in a competitive format is refreshing, to say the least, as the game is known for players to continually put out combo after combo in stylish fashion. The inclusion of Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath is nice to see as well, as is the addition of the fan-favorite Skullgirls 2nd Encore. Them’s Fighin Herd’s is a fighting game with characters that look similar to My Little Pony, and a surprisingly good brawler to boot which makes it worthy of having an EVO tournament. We’re looking forward to seeing who takes advantage of this new format and wins their respective competitions.
As we said earlier, EVO Online will take place over five weekends: July 4-5, July 11-12, July 18-19, July 25-26, July 31-August 2. The organizers will more than likely announce more details on how to enter in the coming weeks.