When GO1 dedicates himself fully to a fighting game, can anybody stop him? If his performance in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves this summer is any indication, the answer is a hard no. Despite a Top 8 full of legendary fighting game players who had already established their skills in multiple games, GO1 followed up his COMBO BREAKER 2025 and Esports World Cup 2025 championships with yet another victory, claiming the trophy at Evo's first FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves bracket.
The win is GO1's second Evo Championship, joining his win in DRAGON BALL FighterZ at Evo 2019. Despite how unstoppable he's seemed at times in this game, he had to clutch out three straight Game 3s to earn his way into Winners Semifinals against Bar_BarXII, Xian, and kubo. He looked like he was going to roll to the title on Sunday after taking out KojiKOG and E.T. without dropping a game to reach Grand Finals, but E.T. pushed it to another gear after making it to Grands. E.T. won the first set 3-1 and pushed the bracket reset to a final game, but GO1 was simply too clutch. He closed out the Game 5 to join the illustrious ranks of players with multiple Evo Championships.
E.T. had already established himself as one of the greatest SNK players of all time well before FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves released, but his play this weekend proved his story is still far from finished. He had to get through a couple of tough sets to qualify for finals, winning 2-1 against Pako and POONGKO to earn his spot in Top 8 Winners side and guarantee an Evo medal in his fourth game, alongside medals for THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII, XIV, and XV. He kept his foot on the gas Sunday, taking Winners Finals 2-0 over Laggia, and bouncing back from a 3-0 defeat against GO1 to eliminate Fenritti 3-1 in Losers Finals. Even though he wasn't able to close out the victory against GO1 in that stellar Grand Finals, he won't only go home with an Evo medal. With GO1 already qualified for the SNK World Championships, E.T. will also take Evo 2025's qualifying spot with his incredible run this weekend.
Fenritti only continues to add to his legacy as one of the most talented players to ever touch a fight stick. After dropping to Losers side against KojiKOG, he had to take out tournament favorite Xiaohai just to make it into the finals. After a 2-0 victory over the 2024 THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV Evo Champion, Fenritti came into Sunday's finals with all the momentum. He went on to win six straight games, eliminating kubo, Laggia, and POONGKO before finally falling to E.T. for third place. He adds another Evo medal to an unfathomably stacked collection, joining medals earned for BlazBlue: Centralfiction (1st at Evo 2017, 2nd at Evo Japan 2018), BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (5th at Evo 2018, 5th at Evo 2019), and DRAGON BALL FighterZ (3rd at Evo 2018, 3rd at Evo 2019, 5th at Evo 2022).
POONGKO, somehow, is still finding his way onto the finals stage at Evo. He made one of the biggest upsets of the entire weekend, sending the tournament favorite Xiaohai to losers. After falling to E.T. himself in the next round, POONGKO picked himself up and took out Kindevu 2-0 to punch his ticket to an Evo final bracket for the fourth time, and the first time since 2016. He would pick up two more wins on Sunday, eliminating Xian and KojiKOG, both with 2-0 scores, before falling to Fenritti for fourth place. He adds a FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Top 8 medal to his collection, joining his medals for 3rd place in Street Fighter IV at Evo 2011, 7th place in SFIV at Evo 2012, and 3rd place in TEKKEN 7 at Evo 2016, only reinforcing his status as a living fighting game legend.
KojiKOG dropped just one game to Yurikov on his way to qualifying for Top 8 on Winners Side, locking in his status as the highest placing solo Billy player before even playing a game in the arena. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep up the momentum on Sunday, dropping 2-0 to GO1 in Winners Semifinals and 2-0 to POONGKO in Losers Quarterfinals. The fifth place finish still earns KojiKOG his fourth Evo medal in his third separate title, joining his medal for his 4th place and 7th place finishes in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle from 2018 and 2019, respectively, as well as his 7th place finish in Pokkén Tournament in 2016.
Laggia was utterly dominant over the first two days of competition this weekend, dropping just one single game to Mike Ross en route to qualifying for Top 8 on Winners side. It was by far the best the 2024 SNK World Champion in THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV has performed in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves so far, as he had already guaranteed that he would match his fifth place finish at CEO 2025 before even stepping onto the finals stage. Regrettably, he wouldn't be able to keep that momentum going on Sunday in the arena, as he fell 2-0 to both E.T. and Fenritti to go out at fifth place. Still, Laggia's incredible Friday and Saturday performance earned him his third Evo medal, to go with the ones he earned for 5th place in THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV at Evo Japan 2019 and his seventh place finish in THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV at Evo Japan 2024.
For the first time in five years, kubo returned to the Evo finals stage thanks to a brilliant run in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves. He dropped just two games in his run to Winners Quarterfinals and clutched up Game 3s against Scunsion and Reynald. GO1 was too much for him and sent him to Losers bracket, but a 2-0 win over Supernoon earned his spot in Top 8. The last time kubo appeared on the finals stage, he took it all the way, winning BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle at Evo Japan 2020, but a repeat wasn't in the cards this weekend, as he fell to Fenritti to end his run at 7th place.
Nobody had a more stressful path to the finals stage than Xian. After falling to GO1 in Winners Top 24, Xian won three straight last-game sets with his Gato to claw his way back, taking out Shadow X, NYChrisG, and Nemo to make it to Sunday. He was dispatched right away by POONGKO, but Xian will add a third Evo medal in a third different game to his collection, his first in 12 years since he won Street Fighter IV and took fifth place in THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIII at Evo 2013.
