Believe in victory, Skyfarers! Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising returns to the EVO mainstage for the second time, and this time around, the roster and talent pool are bigger than they’ve ever been. Cygames’s Granblue Fantasy Versus franchise has been an EVO mainstay for the past few years, but last year, North American Granblue finally got a chance to defend their home turf, with Aarondamac taking his first EVO trophy. In the year since, the competitive landscape has shifted pretty drastically - let’s dive into what you need to know going into this year’s iteration of EVO!
This year’s Granblue bracket is a Platinum stop on the Arc World Tour, which means that the winner of the event automatically qualifies for the finals in 2026. It just so happens that neither of the two automatically qualified players - EVO Japan champ Kausaugi and COMBO BREAKER champion Xerom - are in attendance this weekend, which guarantees that no matter what, the winner of this bracket will secure their spot at the finals. Last year’s Arc World Tour finals featured a matchup familiar to those who’ve been following Granblue for the past few years - a classic Gamera vs. Tororo matchup. Gamera’s legacy is unmatchable - a three (and a half) time EVO champion; two for the original Granblue (2022/Japan 2023), one for SamSho (2019), and one for Rising’s beta tournament in 2023. Last year’s EVO marked a unique set of struggles for Gamera, and the normally consistent king of Granblue found himself out at an uncharacteristically low 17th place. Since then, Gamera’s found himself in a slight crisis on his long journey back to form, cycling between Djeeta, Versusia, and Beatrix. With recent nerfs to both Versusia and Bea, all eyes are on how Gamera adapts to the new competitive landscape, which characters he pulls out, and whether he can reclaim the throne of EVO yet again.
Gamera’s main rival, Tororo, has a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it comes to EVO. Despite winning AWT Finals last year, Tororo’s had a bit of a mean streak when it comes to performing at EVO - silver medals at EVO 2024, EVO Japan 2023, and EVO 2022, alongside a bronze given to him by Gamera at EVO Japan 2024. Tororo has always been a single digit number of interactions away from etching his name in the pantheon of EVO champions, and he’s back again for another year to give it his all.
Aarondamac, last year’s champion, has taken a pretty prolonged hiatus from Granblue. This EVO is his first major for the game since the Arc World Tour finals, but of course, once an EVO champ, always an EVO champ. In the power vacuum caused by players like Aaron and Zippy going on hiatus, a new crop of North American talent has risen to the forefront, eager to make a name for themselves at EVO. In particular, Frosty Faustings, Arc World Tour, and Combo Breaker highlighted a series of breakout performances from Monarch. Monarch’s reputation precedes him as one of the best North American BlazBlue players of all time, but as of late, he’s gone all in on Granblue in an attempt to push Metera’s meta to the absolute limit. Monarch’s been constantly placing Top 4 at everything he’s been to for Rising - will this year finally be the one where he puts together both his years of anime and Granblue experience to win on the mainstage?
Last year’s Arc World Tour LCQ was defined by a single matchup - Vaseraga vs. Ferry. In particular, those two are polar opposite character archetypes - one a war of attrition disjoint zoner, the other a high damage big body - and both of the best North American reps of the characters, BEPaw and BlueSkyGuyBSG came to a head in an iconic grand finals. Since then, both of these guys have been embroiled in a rivalry exacerbated by both Vaseraga and Ferry getting large scale buffs in consecutive patches. Both players are at the top of the meta with their respective characters and both are playing at their best - most recently playing a classic Ferry/Vaseraga set where the outcome got reversed in BSG’s victory at CEO alongside his monumental losers run at the event proper.
But atop North America, however, is Zane, piloting Grimnir and pushing the meta of the character alongside Japan’s Zenith to the very limit. Zane has been on a tear recently, perched atop the AWT leaderboards with a silver at Combo Breaker and a gold at CEO. As it stands currently, he’s the most consistent North American player in the scene right now. Zenith, on the other hand, is making his EVO Vegas debut. Grimnir’s only going to get more complex and developed as the metas progress - can the top reps of the character use tricky movement to open up their opponents?
The rest of North America’s no slouch, either - Mexico’s scene, led by players like Insaa, Steel, and ScavengerZ and Canada’s legendary TNS farmer Havaniceday all have incredibly strong scenes regionally - and success is just the intersection of talent and this bracket’s massive opportunity. At the forefront of Granblue’s global travel is Ryazo. In the past year alone, he’s made the journey out to countless events in the States, Canada, Brazil, and Japan. In addition, tons of Japanese talent is making the trek across the ocean to make it out to EVO - besides the previously mentioned players, 2023 Arc World Tour Champion and Lancelot specialist Fukunaga is making his North American open bracket debut as well.
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising has had a loaded competitive history over the past year. Get ready to watch the natural conclusion of these storylines, the formation of new rivalries, an ever evolving meta, hundreds of competitors hungry for a chance to prove themselves, and of course, lots of dashing light attacks.
