Originally posted at https://www.echofox.gg/news/ceo-2018-recap
The road to EVO is almost at a close. Before the FGC heads to Vegas for EVO, the prelude starts at Florida for CEO 2018. It was a momentous event with the collaboration with New Japan Pro Wrestling. CEO is the first event where a wrestling organization teamed up with an esports organization. Together, they brought an NJPW house show to the event where NJPW stars such as Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Jushin “Thunder” Liger performed for the FGC. In addition to the house show, Echo Fox looked to continue their dominance in the FGC with top place finishes in CEO 2018.
Coming off recent championships, Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman looks to capitalize on his momentum with another championship at CEO in Smash Melee. Mew2King qualified in the winner’s bracket of the top twenty-four. Along with Mew2King, one of his arch nemesis, Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma also qualified in the winner’s bracket. Mew2King had a big obstacle to face against Hungrybox if he were to advance to the winner’s finals. Unfortunately, Hungrybox’s Jigglypuff proved to overwhelm Mew2King and he was sent to the loser’s bracket. Mew2King fought his way back to the loser’s finals where he faced Justin “Plup” McGrath. Plup was brought to the loser’s bracket following a loss from Hungrybox. Both players wanted another chance at Hungrybox, but unfortunately, Mew2King didn’t get that chance. Despite this loss, Mew2King had a strong showing and finished third in Smash Melee.
In Street Fighter V, the competition was deep ranging from Seonwoo “Infiltration” Lee to last year’s Capcom Cup winner, Saul Leonardo “MenaRD” Mena Segundo. Justin Wong was unable to attend the event after falling ill right before games began. This left Victor “Punk” Woodley and Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi as the only Echo Fox representatives. Punk was unlucky at CEO and did not qualify for the top twenty-four by finishing in thirty-third place. Tokido qualified for the top twenty-four but through the loser’s bracket. He faced Chris “CJ Truth” Jayson as his first opponent. To everyone’s surprise, CJ Truth won the set against Tokido. This ended Echo Fox’s Street Fighter run at CEO. With both EVO and the ELEAGUE finals on the horizon, Echo Fox’s Street Fighters will be ready for anything that comes their way.
Dragonball FighterZ was a great showing for Echo Fox. Four players, Victor “Punk” Woodley, Yusuke “Momochi” Momochi, Jon “dekillsage” Coello, and Dominique “SonicFox” McLean, qualified for top twenty-four. SonicFox was the only player to qualify on the winner’s side. In the loser’s bracket, Momochi and Punk ended their runs early against their first opponent. As for dekillsage, he continued his run by defeating Jonathon “Cloud805” Morales and Naoki “moke” Nakayama. His run ended when he faced Ryo “Dogura” Nozaki, who’s been one of the best Dragonball FighterZ players as of late. In the winner’s bracket, SonicFox did his best to overcome his Japanese opponents on the road to grand finals. Unfortunately, he was brought to loser’s bracket after a loss against Fenritti. In the loser’s bracket, SonicFox could not defeat Kazunoko, who later became the Dragonball FighterZ champion. SonicFox ended his run at fifth place.
In other games, Kim “JDCR” Hyun Jin and Choi “Saint” Jinwoo finished third and ninth place respectively. SonicFox notched another fifth-place finish in Injustice 2 while Brad “Scar” Vaughn finished in ninth-place. Lastly, Leonardo “MKLeo” Lopez Perez proved to continue that he is the best player in Smash for Wii U. He beat world class fighters Tetsuya “Raito” Ishiguro, Brian”Cosmos” Kalu, and Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey to secure another championship.
CEO 2018 was a great showing for Echo Fox and gave the players good momentum going into EVO. Look for the team to play with a purpose as they strive for championships next month in Las Vegas.
