Evo 2019's Registration Tells A Lot Of Interesting Stories

Evo 2019’s enrollment has started, and thanks to the occasional update from the head of the event Joey “Mr. Wiz” Cuellar we have an idea of what tournaments are filling up fast. Based on the most recent update last week, we have a lot of surprising things to talk about. In fact, we have five takeaways on what’s happening with Evo 2019 so far, and what could happen in the future. 

Evo 2019 Reg Scoreboard Early Bird Edition!
1st - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2nd - Street Fighter V
3rd - Tekken 7
4th - Under Night In Birth
5th - Samurai Shodown
6th - Mortal Kombat 11
7th - Dragonball FighterZ
8th - Soul Calibur 6
9th - Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle#Evo2019

— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) April 9, 2019

Holy Smash Bros!

With the departure of Super Smash Bros Melee from the Evo mainstage and a brand new game replacing it, we are not surprised to see Super Smash Bros Ultimate performing well in registrations. What we did not expect is for Nintendo’s latest rumbler to be leading all other games by a healthy margin. It won’t take top billing -- that slot still belongs to Street Fighter V and will for a long time -- but with support like this Smash Bros could become another flagship Evo title.

UNIST Impresses

The announcement of Under Night: In-Birth EXE Late[st] to the Evo mainstage surprised a lot of the fighting game community...but it did not surprise the UNIST faithful. Tournaments have been steadily growing in recent months, even more so with the game’s official release in North America, and it’s clear Evo saw fit to strike when the iron was hot. Now the game sits 4th in registered players, ahead of games like Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat, and that’s very impressive.

BBTAGgers, where are you?

Perhaps the most underrated tournament of EVO 2018 was BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. The brand new 2v2 fighter wowed the crowds with intense, nail-biting action, and its return for a second year on the main stage should have brought an even bigger turnout. Why, then, is BBTAG sitting in last place for player registration, behind two games that haven’t been released yet? It’s a worrying sign for the future of the game that registration would fall so quickly, and I hope the game’s community are just biding their time.

SamSho-ing up in droves

Some of us forgot the Samurai Shodown reboot even existed when Mr Wiz dropped his bombshell: Haohmaru and company are coming back to Evo in 2019. At first we weren’t sure how the greater community would react to the news, but as SamSho sites comfortably in the middle of the registration pack we’re feeling pretty good about it. If there’s any game that’s primed to be the surprise hit of Evo 2019, it’s Samurai Shodown.

Someone Call Shenron

Last year during the Evo 2018 Dragon Ball FighterZ finals, amid the Cell screams and announcements of Cooler, we noticed a slightly unnerving trend: the matches felt repetitive. We lost count on how many times Bardock performed his Level 3 super move in the Grand Finals alone. We wondered if that repetition would end up costing the game in the long-term, and now with DBFZ sitting in 7th place that wonder is coming to fruition. We hope DBFZ can turn it around and put on a good show, but we’re not holding our breath.

Of course there's still months left before EVO actually happens and plenty of time for surges in any given game. It's worth noting how strong a showing Tekken 7 had last year and the King of Iron Fists looks set to be just as good in 2019 (we're certainly stoked to see more pandas). As we trudge towards August 2, 2019, there's still plenty of time to get involved. Check out how to get registered or head straight over to the EVO website to get further details on the action.

For more on the FGC, here’s a look at Alex Valle’s new series on learning fighting games, as well as Mark “MarkMan” Julio’s recent find regarding Evo Moment 37.