Red Bull Kumite Las Vegas brought together top tier competitors from around the globe in Las Vegas, NV this weekend. Hosted in Caesars Palace, the two-day event saw 186 total attendees between two last chance qualifier brackets and the three main events.
Though the Kumite featured Guilty Gear: Strive, Street Fighter V and Tekken 7, only Street Fighter and Tekken had offline LCQs. Guilty Gear competitor Diaphone secured the eighth Kumite spot in an online qualifier.
Each Kumite champion received a title belt for winning the main events. Source: Red Bull Gaming
Tekken 7’s LCQ featured a handful of international players alongside American entrants. The 74-player bracket narrowed down to a top 8 of K-Wiss, Joonya 20z and Shadow 20z, Joey Fury, RiB, Acumajor, Infested and JDCR. Grand finals consisted of South Korean competitors JDCR and Infested in a best-of-five set. Though Infested reset the bracket with a 3-0 win, JDCR went on to win 3-1 as both claimed main event spots.
Street Fighter V’s LCQ had 94 entrants fighting for two qualifying spots. In a stacked top 8 of ChrisCCH, JB, Shine, Jot, Caba, LuiMan20, Nephew and Samurai, it boiled down to ChrisCCH and JB in grand finals. While ChrisCCH forced a bracket reset with a 3-2 win, the final match was a swift 3-0 as both prepared for the Kumite.
The first main event on day one was Guilty Gear Strive. Consisting of eight players, the finals highlighted talent from the United States, Europe and Asia.
Pool A in the group phase consisted of Gobou, ApologyMan, BNBBN and Skyll while pool B featured Diaphone, SonicFox, Uriel Legion and Daru I-No. Through the pool phase, Gobou and Diaphone looked unstoppable with 3-0 records in their groups. The two later faced off in grand finals of the single-elimination final bracket.
Though Diaphone’s road spanned all the way back to the last chance qualifier, nobody expected Gobou’s surprise Goldlewis pick in grand finals. With a final score of 5-2, Gobou was the first competitor to win a title belt at Red Bull Kumite. While Gobou played Zato-1 throughout most of the event, his late switch to Goldlewis showcases Strive’s roster diversity at this point. As a relatively new game still, top-level players are always finding different ways to stay ahead of the competition.
Gen won Tekken 7 at Red Bull Kumite Las Vegas. Source: Red Bull Gaming
Following an exciting GGST main event, Tekken 7’s finals closed out day one. Knee, Gen, Anakin and Book made up pool A while pool B consisted of Super Akouma, JDCR, Infested and Cuddle_Core.
Knee’s 3-0 record in pools advanced him to the top 4 bracket along with Gen, Super Akouma and JDCR. Knee had a commanding 4-0 sweep of JDCR to qualify for grand finals, however it was Gen hoisting the title belt in the end. Gen’s dominant performance with Fahkumram took down Knee’s Steve and Devil Jin picks, further solidifying his presence as a still-young prodigy in the Tekken community. Though Gen is just 20 years old, his history as a top competitor stretches back to Evo 2014 where he met JDCR in grand finals.
Street Fighter is historically the primary focus of Red Bull Kumite. Unlike the other two games, SFV featured 16 total competitors in its main event. The players broke off into four pools to decide the tournament’s top 8.
Pool A was comprised of Uzura, RonaldinhoBR, Yossan and NL while pool B was JB, MenaRD, iDom and Big Bird. Pool C featured Brian_F, Mono, Problem X and GO1 and pool D finished off with Oil King, AngryBird, Punk and ChrisCCH.
Day two’s round robin groups set the stage for a momentous SFV top 8. NL, MenaRD, ChrisCCH, Brian_F, iDom, Yossan, Problem X and Punk all fought hard for their spots in the final single-elimination bracket.
Problem X claimed the final title belt at Red Bull Kumite Las Vegas. Source: Red Bull Gaming
Battling their way into grand finals, Problem X and NL were the last two standing. Though starting at a 2-0 deficit, Problem X switched to M Bison and proceeded to defeat NL 5-2 to claim victory at Red Bull Kumite Las Vegas. Problem X is now the second European competitor to win a Kumite in 2021, following Mister Crimson’s victory in London.
Closing out yet another successful Red Bull fighting game event, the Kumite in Las Vegas proved once again why high-stakes invitationals add so much to the community. While most tournaments are open-bracket events welcoming all competitors, the spectacle of higher production invitationals allows the most talented players to shine bright on a major stage.
Featured image courtesy of Red Bull Gaming
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