Thousands of fighting game enthusiasts make their way to Las Vegas for the annual Evolution Championship Series. Evo is a prestigious tournament that creates some of the fighting game community’s most memorable moments and this year was no different.
The open-tournament format tests every player over several rounds with thousands of players competing for a prize pool of US$ 200,000. An additional purse of US$ 50,000 was contributed to Capcom to the Street Fighter V purse.
Even as would-be champion, Bonchan, was making his way through the Winners bracket, NASR’s very own Adel ‘Big Bird’ Anouche was on his own winning run. Big Bird used Rashid’s assortment of tools to beat players such as NVD’s Arman ‘Phenom’ Hanjani and CyBeast Games’ Keita ‘Fuudo’ Ai. Though he was eventually defeated by Derek ‘iDom’ Ruffin in the Semi-Finals and entered the Losers bracket, Big Bird was relentless and battled through the gauntlet making his way to the Grand Finals.
Big Bird started off on an equal footing with Bonchan almost forcing his opponent to crack under pressure. Bonchan eventually proved why he is considered the best Karin player as he overcame every opportunity of a comeback by Big Bird to be crowned Evo Champion.
Bonchan took home the US$ 31,706 prize and 1,000 points for the 2019 Capcom Pro Tour ranking, leaving Big Bird with a US$ 13,902 prize and 500 points for his tremendous play throughout the tournament and a realistic shot at the title.