Evo 2024 Viewer's Guide: GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-
Guilty Gear -STRIVE- is back for the third time on the Evolution Championship Series main stage. Last year, despite stellar runs from Daru_I-no and NBNHMR, the franchise record 2,474-entrant bracket went to Leffen, who joined the rare group of players with Evo titles in two different franchises (Super Smash Bros. Melee, 2018).
That tournament was one of the last to be played on GGST's Season 2 patch. The game has gone through some significant evolution since then: four characters have joined the roster, and the game has received some major new mechanics. Today, we'll take you through the new landscape of Guilty Gear -STRIVE- and preview some of the players most likely to reach the finals stage this time around.
SETTING THE STAGE
The third season of Guilty Gear -STRIVE- has brought back four returning characters: Johnny, Elphelt Valentine, A.B.A. and Slayer, and they're all finding their way to impact the competitive scene. PepperySplash was the first to pilot one to a major tournament win, using Johnny along with his trusty Zato-1 to take Battle Coliseum 2023 in Brazil. Gobou, best known for his Asuka, has clutched out some big-time sets with his A.B.A. TempestNYC is still usually seen on Leo Whitefang, but his Evo 2024 Japan championship wouldn't have come without at least one clutch victory from his Elphelt.
And then there's Slayer, the most recent addition and one of the most demanded additions from past Guilty Gear games. Evo will be one of his very first major tournaments as a member of the -STRIVE- cast, but from his release, his potential to do absolutely ridiculous damage has been obvious. The only question will be how well players can optimize him in the less than two months between his release and Evo's main bracket.
Season Three also introduced new mechanics that interact with the Burst gage: Wild Assault and Deflect Shield. Wild Assault in particular has been meta-warping, giving characters brand new ways of approaching from a distance if they're willing to spend some Burst meter. Every character has ways to use this new mechanic, but some have benefited more than others. Take Goldlewis Dickinson, a character whose design always allowed for huge damage if he could just get in. Thanks to Wild Assault, he now has that way in, and he has become an utter menace as a result.
Characters that have taken center stage at Evolution in the past like Sol Badguy, Leo Whitefang, Happy Chaos, May and Nagoriyuki are all still strong, but Season 3 shook things up in a major way, and in this brave new world, there are a ton of players with a legitimate shot at taking Evo 2024.
MAJOR STORYLINES
Three players will be trying to become the first to win two Evo Championships in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-.
TempestNYC placed 33rd at Evo 2023 -- an incredible performance for most, but he apparently took it personally. Since then, Tempest has placed no worse than third at an offline major, and has added trophies from CEOtaku, Fighting Spirit, and COMBO BREAKER along with his first Evolution win at Evo Japan 2024. Leo has been his go-to for a few years now, but don't doubt the depths of his pockets. He has gone to Elphelt and Sin in big moments over the past year and won, and the fact that he has the confidence in himself to make those kinds of calls is a big reason why he keeps adding trophies to his collection.
UMISHO dropped Happy Chaos for Sol Badguy at the peak of the former's power. And what happened? She just kept winning. Since placing 4th with the protagonist last Evo, UMISHO has earned wins at CEO 2024, East Coast Throwdown, Frosty Faustings, and the small but absurdly stacked Lord Knight Master Invitational all while rarely ever missing out on Top 8s. This time, she's looking to take Sol to the same heights she took Happy Chaos to in 2022 when she won Evo's debut -STRIVE- event.
Leffen, the reigning champion, hasn't taken another major since his Evo 2023 win, but has still made his presence felt with placings like 2nd at Brussels Challenge 2024 and CEO 2024 and 7th at Evo Japan 2024. The players above him may all have more impressive recent results, but write off Leffen at your own risk. When he won Evo 2023, it had been over a year since his last major win as well (Brussels Challenge 2022). Whether it's with Happy Chaos, A.B.A., or a new addition to his character roster (Slayer, perhaps?), Leffen is always a threat to show up on the biggest stage in fighting games.
Of course, there are plenty of challengers looking to become a new Guilty Gear -STRIVE- Evo Champion.
Verix has put Senegal on the fighting game map with his Nagoriyuki play. He's only had a few travel opportunities since emerging in 2022, but he has absolutely made the most out of them. Since placing 5th at Evo 2023, Verix has pushed things to another level, winning Ultimate Fighting Arena 2023 and, most impressively, the Arc World Tour 2023 Finals. Now, he'll get a chance to improve on last year's fantastic Evo debut.
Slash is May's strongest soldier. He came all the way from Saudi Arabia to place 2nd at Evo 2022 and has been a fixture in Top 8s ever since. This year alone, he's taken Brussels Challenge 2024, placed 2nd at the Arc World Tour Finals, 3rd at Frosty Faustings and 7th at COMBO BREAKER. Evo 2023 was one of the rare tournaments where he placed outside the Top 8 at 25th place, and he'll be trying to right the ship this time around.
Zando improved from 33rd place at his first Evo in 2022 to 7th at Evo 2023. Then he swapped out his trusty Ramlethal Valentine for Asuka after Evo and didn't miss a beat. His Asuka has placed 7th at CEOtaku, 4th at the ARC World Tour Finals, 2nd at COMBO BREAKER 2024, and most recently, it earned its first trophy at Italian major Only The Best 2024. He's one of the strongest players in the world no matter which zoner he's controlling, and he'll try and keep up his trend of improvement at Evo 2024.
Tyurara has been the top placing Ky Kiske player for three straight Evos now (Japan 2023, Vegas 2023, and Japan 2024), placing 5th, 5th and 3rd respectively. Despite consistently appearing in the final stage of brackets, Tyurara didn't pick up his first major win until earlier this summer at Battle Arena Melbourne 14. After coming so close at the last three Evos, you know he has the trophy in his sights this time around.
MiguMiguDokkoi first showed up in Guilty Gear -STRIVE- with a 13th place at ARCREVO Japan 2023, but he fully announced his presence as a top player with a 4th place finish at Evo Japan 2024. He wields a pair of zoning menaces capable of flooding the screen with projectiles in Jack-O and Asuka. With wins over players like Supernoon and Evo Japan 2023 champion GOBOU at Evo Japan 2024 and precious little footage available for players to study, MiguMiguDokkoi has to be one of the scariest players in this year's bracket.
RANG13 has established himself as South America's best Guilty Gear -STRIVE- player, and earlier this year, he was able to prove it on another continent, taking 7th at Evo Japan 2024, the only South American player to make a Top 8 at an Evo -STRIVE- bracket. He's also establishing himself as one of the best Goldlewis Dickinson players in the world. He became the first to take the Secretary of Absolute Defense to an Evo Top 8 in Japan, and we'll see if he can do the same here in America.
Bean will get the chance to compete for his second Evolution Top 8 thanks to his win in the Road to Evo North America bracket. He piloted Chipp to 7th place at the first Evo for -STRIVE- back in 2022. The Defend The North 2022 champion had been laying low in 2024 for the most part, but his Road to Evo win shows his Chipp still has the juice.
Tiger Pop is a constant presence at the top of European -STRIVE- brackets, so it's only fitting that he earned his trip to Las Vegas through the Road to Evo Europe bracket. Although he's dabbled with A.B.A., most of his results have come with Happy Chaos, most notably 1st at Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022, 2nd at Ultimate Fighting Arena 2023, and 3rd at VSFighting 2023.
Tatuma earned his trip to Evo by defeating GOBOU in the East Asia Road to Evo bracket's Grand Finals. The Japanese Sol player's offline results have been sparse, but recently, he's notched placings like 13th at Evo Japan 2024 and his first major top 8 with a 7th place finish at ARCREVO Japan 2023. This will be his first trip overseas for -STRIVE-, but anybody who can run the gauntlet that was East Asia's Road to Evo bracket should be feared.
