Predicting the Twin Galaxies Fight Club Card at EVO 2018

EVO 2018 is just around the corner, and with it comes a brand new FGC event: Twin Galaxies Fight Club. 17 of the top fighting game players will descend on the Esports Arena in Las Vegas for a one-night-only throwdown. Imagine if the FGC booked a wrestling pay-per-view style show, with longtime rivalries throughout the card and a massive double Main Event. That’s what TGFC is all about.

We’ve seen the card, and we have a few ideas on how this whole show is going to play out. Let’s go match by match and predict who will come out on top this Saturday night. The first rule of Twin Galaxies Fight Club is “we make bold predictions about Twin Galaxies Fight Club,” so let’s do it.

The Great Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Clash: Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez vs. Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez (Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds)

Two titans of Marvel vs Capcom will meet in the opening contest, but perhaps more interesting is the choice of vanilla Marvel vs Capcom 3 and not its Ultimate counterpart. Both players have traded wins in the past, and both have an EVO victory for UMvC3 under their belts, but the move back to vanilla MvC3 might cause them to switch up their games. In the end thought we’re leaning toward NYChrisG to take the set with his super annoying and super effective Morrigan anchor. Filipino Champ is a powerful foe, no disrespect to him at all, but we see NYChrisG’s hand being raised.

Meeting of the Melee Gods: Adam “Armada” Lindgren vs. Joseph “Mang0” Marquez (Super Smash Bros. Melee)

Armada vs Mango is the quintessential Super Smash Bros Melee rivalry, with their history going back almost a decade. When these two duke it out, the audience is always left captivated by their lightning fast and ultra competitive play. Their last encounter, just this past weekend at Low Tier City 6, saw Armada eliminate Mango from the competition before placing third. We see no reason why the results will change here, so we’re picking Armada to keep the wins coming.

Triple-Threat Brawl: Justin Wong vs. Sanford Kelly vs. Michael “YipeS” Mendoza (Marvel vs.Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes)

This is interesting because a triple threat in a one-on-one game is rarely seen and the TGFC hasn’t revealed the actual format yet. We’re assuming that two will go head-to-head, the winner will stay on, then the first loser will play the third player right afterward. This format makes the overall winner hard to choose, because it could very well be a one win, one loss draw. Despite this it’s hard to pick against Justin Wong in anything MvC2, even with two legends standing against him. We think Justin takes the trio here.

Coastal Rivalry - West vs East: Abraham “GoldenboyNeo” Sotelo vs. Desmond “Xecutioner”Pinkney (Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes)

Ah, a good ol’ “east vs west” throwdown featuring two of MvC2’s best players. For those unaware, GoldenboyNeo is a longtime Marvel player whose placed in the top 10 in nine of his last 10 tournaments, while Xecutioner has waited two long years to face him in the MvC2 arena. TGFC is finally going to deliver it, and we’re taking Xecutioner simply because the majority of Twin Galaxies editorial are East Coasters and maybe we’re a little biased. Honestly this one is too close to call, so arbitrary reasons like “we live on the same side of the country” are all we have for this one.

Fox Family Feud: Kim “JDCR” Hyun Jin vs. Choi “Saint” Jinwoo (Tekken 7)

Echo Fox partners, Tekken 7 rivals. JDCR and Saint have been battling back and forth for a few years now under the Echo Fox banner, and now they’re going to get the chance to bring this rivalry to TGFC. Last year EVO 2017’s Tekken 7 finals saw JDCR take the big prize over his teammate, something that surely has to stick in the craw of the Saint. We think Saint will redeem himself here at TGFC, leading to a potential mega rubber match during the EVO 2018 finals.

The Fight of Legends: Alex Valle vs. John Choi (Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3)

This one will get all of the longtime FGC followers’ hearts a-flutter, as the names John Choi and Alex Valle built this world into what it is now. Their prowess in Street Fighter games of yesteryear built the foundation for EVO, the FGC, and competitive gaming as a whole, and to be able to see them duke it out on a big stage like this will be a treat. This is another one that super close to call, but we like Alex Valle to bring it home...though we expect John Choi to put up one heck of a fight.

Co-Main Event: Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi vs. Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo (Street Fighter V)

The last two Street Fighter V EVO champions will clash in an epic war at the Esports Arena, and to be perfectly honest this one could go either way. Both players are at the top of their game, with Tokido’s Akuma and INFILTRATION’s Menat/Juri combo are too much for any pro to handle, and in order to predict this one we have to use a crucial element in the FGC: momentum. INFILTRATION’s last three tournament finishes are 2nd, 1st, and 1st, while Tokido is riding a wave of three straight first-place finishes, most recently at E-League. Here’s the thing about Tokido’s wins though: INFILTRATION never crossed his path. The two met at Final Round 2018’s Grand Finals, and Tokido ended up taking silver. Because of this, we have to take INFILTRATION to beat Tokido once again.

Main Event: Dominique “SonicFox” McLean vs. Goichi “GO1” Kishida (Dragon Ball FighterZ)

The minute we saw this match as the main event of the evening for TGFC, we were struck with a thought: there’s a great chance both of these players will be in Top 8 for Dragon Ball FighterZ the day after TGFC, and a good chance they could see each other in Grand Finals. Will they pull out all the stops on Saturday night, or will they leave some strategies close to the chest? That remains to be seen, but given that potential strategy implication we’re wondering who would be more willing to rope-a-dope his opponent in order to secure an EVO victory the next day. For our money that’s SonicFox, so we’ll choose GO1 to take the TGFC win.

Twin Galaxies Fight Club kicks off Saturday night after the EVO 2018 festivities are through for the day, and you can watch the entire event here. If you want to know where to get all of the EVO goodness, check out our viewing guide right here.