ECT: The Pit happened this weekend in Brooklyn, New York. East Coast Throwdown prepared this event as an alternative to a full offline major this year. Instead, exhibitions and invitational brackets featured some of the East Coast’s strongest competitors in numerous games.
East Coast Throwdown’s production crew prepared for a weekend unlike any other ECT to date. Without full brackets to run, the team focused on a small handful of games at the BrookLAN venue.
Keeping with their tradition of metal visuals, East Coast Throwdown partnered with Shibori Threads for the event’s merchandise. ECT always places emphasis on creative designs for event merch, and this year was no different.
The Pit began with exhibition matches for Melty Blood: Type Lumina. The hot new fighting game saw many newcomers to the Melty Blood franchise this weekend, and The Pit was an excellent source of early competitive footage.
Crocs N’ Socks, Alps and Lord Knight claimed victories in Type Lumina, showcasing their knowledge of the new release as the competitive meta forms.
MK11 competitors at ECT: The Pit. Source: @ecthrowdown
Mortal Kombat 11 followed MBTL and featured a single-elimination tournament with four competitors. However, the main twist was each player drafting five-character teams instead of sticking to just one. Though Grr narrowly defeated K7 Showoff with a 5-4 victory, TheMightyUnjust took down Grr to claim first place at The Pit.
Guilty Gear Strive’s last chance qualifier followed MK11. Hotashi claimed a spot in the Strive invitational, taking down 3-1 in grand finals.
Tekken 7’s competition at The Pit threw five East Coast players up against Anakin in first-to-five money matches. As each win awarded a player $50, Anakin claimed $800 while B Rich, Ty, Shin Paulo, Fear, and NYC Fab won nine combined games.
Street Fighter V kicked off day two at The Pit. Despite not winning the Strive LCQ, Punk fought hard in the SFV invitational and made his way to grand finals against iDom. Yet again the two met in a championship match, this time with iDom winning again with a 7-5 victory.
As the final event of The Pit, Guilty Gear Strive showcased eight invited competitors for an intense tournament bracket. Though Hotashi battled his way from the LCQ to grand finals, Tempest won 3-1 to be crowned champion of Strive at The Pit.
Not only was The Pit a showcase of top-level players, but it also brought out the best in the East Coast fighting game community. Individuals received a special “Community Badassery Award” for their contributions to ECT and the FGC as a whole.
During The Pit, East Coast Throwdown announced the date for next year’s event. ECT returns to Stamford, CT on September 2-4, 2022 with hopes of a full-scale tournament.
Featured image courtesy of East Coast Throwdown
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