Street Fighter 6 returns to the Evolution Championship Series with over 5,000 competitors in the main bracket for an unprecedented third consecutive year. After an intense Grand Finals, including a bracket reset that went down to the final round, Punk claimed his first ever Evo Championship in 2024 after defeating Big Bird.
These two and many, many more of Street Fighter's top talent will fight it out in Las Vegas in what will once again go down as the biggest fighting game bracket of the entire year. And there's a ton on the line. As always, there's the cash prize, but there are also qualification spots for Capcom Cup 12 and the Esports World Cup up for grabs. The competition will be fierce: only the winner qualifies for Capcom Cup, and only the top two will make it to the Esports World Cup, although there will be loads of Capcom Pro Tour points up for grabs for top finishers as well. Let's take you through Street Fighter 6's main bracket and the storylines and players to watch this year:
SETTING THE STAGE
This will be the biggest tournament by far since Street Fighter 6's third major patch. This patch, which introduced Elena to Street Fighter 6, also included an update to the perfect parry system. Now, players need to be holding the correct block direction when they tap parry in order to earn the benefits of a perfect parry, forcing players to be more intentional about their use of this strong defensive option.
This Evo will be the first Evo for Elena as well as a pair of DLC characters who were released later in Season 2's life: Terry and Mai, the guest characters from Fatal Fury. While the jury's still out on Elena given her recent release, Terry and Mai have already proven to be very strong, and are sure to have significant representation in Evo 2025's late bracket. Mai's zoning with her fans, which can be powered up even further after use of her Level 1 Super Art, is some of the strongest in the game. Terry received some tune-ups to his combo game in recent patches that have unlocked his power, and players like Leshar have shown that he can perform well even against world class players as well.
MAJOR STORYLINES
After earning his first Evo championship in an emotional final game, final round victory last year, Punk returns to Las Vegas as the reigning champion. That victory qualified him for Capcom Cup XI and allowed him to lay low for most of the rest of 2024 as a result, but he never let anyone forget that he's one of the best Street Fighter players in the world, and possibly the best. He led Team FlyQuest to victory in the Street Fighter League US championships, adding yet another prestigious trophy to an already overflowing collection. Punk is coming off a 33rd place finish at Evo Japan this past May, but don't let that fool you: he had the same placement at Evo Japan 2024 just before coming out on top of over 5,200 competitors in Vegas a couple months later.
Nobody is playing hotter entering Evo 2025 than Leshar. Three weeks after running through losers to win COMBO BREAKER, he won CEO 2025, staving off a valiant bracket reset from NL to become the first player to win back-to-back Capcom Pro Tour Premier events. Leshar's Mai is strong enough to handle most competition, but he has also proven to be one of the most versatile players in the game, counterpicking Ed against Itabashi Zangief to win COMBO BREAKER and switching to Terry to answer NL's Akuma at CEO. Leshar seems to excel with whatever character he chooses, and has been one of the most consistent players in Street Fighter 6 since the very beginning, as the only player to place in Top 8 at both Capcom Cups for Street Fighter 6. Leshar has already reached the finals at Evo Japan, placing 5th in 2025. Can he match that, or even exceed it, at his first attempt in Vegas?
For two Street Fighter titles in a row, Tokido launched into overdrive in the second year of the game. Last year's 7th place finish at Evo Vegas was just a prelude. In November 2024, Tokido won his first CPT Premier event, winning CPT Japan over his training partner and Street Fighter League JP teammate Leshar. While he was unable to crack Top 8 at either of his prior American majors, COMBO BREAKER 2025 and CEO 2025, he already has a big victory this year at Asian Champions League 2025 this May, where he took down Higuch, Moke and Rainpro en route to a $12,000 grand prize. Already one of the greatest fighting game players of all-time, Tokido will look to add on to his impressive 29 prior Evo Top 8 finishes. That includes wins in 2002 (Capcom vs. SNK 2), 2007 (Street Fighter II Turbo) and 2017 (Street Fighter V). Can he add a fourth title in a fourth game to that list in 2025?
MenaRD just keeps adding to his legacy. He became the first repeat Street Fighter champion at Evo Japan with his win at Evo Japan 2025. Not only is it a testament to his skill, but also his ability to adapt to the shifting meta of Street Fighter 6. After a dominant Season 1 with Luke and Blanka, Mena won the CPT Premier event Cream City Convergence 2024 in August with Zangief. Then, over six months later at Evo Japan, he used three characters: his constant, Blanka, along with Zangief and M. Bison to win the bracket. MenaRD is one of the most decorated and feared players in Street Fighter. Basically the only thing he hasn't done yet at this point is win Evo Las Vegas. Will 2025 be the year?
Big Bird's brilliant run at last year's Evo Vegas ended with a devastating final round loss to Punk for 2nd place, the second time he's found himself on the doorstep of becoming an Evo Champion. Although he hasn't made it beyond 17th at either of his open bracket appearances thus far in 2025, his victory at Red Bull Kumite proves that he's still one of the most fearsome players on Street Fighter's biggest stages, taking out MenaRD and EndingWalker in the process. Ever since Rashid's release, Big Bird has pushed the character to his limit, and he's more than capable of making a repeat run to the final stage at Evo in 2025.
Kakeru didn't just win Capcom Cup XI, becoming the second millionaire created by Street Fighter 6. He demolished everybody in the final bracket, not dropping a single game until Blaz finally proved he could bleed in Game 2 of Grand Finals. But he calmly closed things out, adding another major Street Fighter 6 win to his Gamers8 crown from 2023. Although he has spent some time dabbling with DLC characters like Akuma, M. Bison and Mai, Kakeru's return to his original main JP -- prompted by advice from his wife -- paid off like no character decision ever before at Capcom Cup. The JP that pushed him to a Top 6 finish At Evo Vegas 2023 and a 2nd place finish at Evo Japan 2024 makes him one of the favorites to make it to the finals here in 2025.
The international nature of Street Fighter 6 has created strong warriors from every corner of the world. There's too many strong players to highlight everyone with a chance to go deep at this year's Evo, but here's a quick lighting round of other players you should be prepared to watch at Evo 2025:
Blaz shocked the world with a second place finish at Capcom Cup 11. At 15 years old, the Chilean qualified through the World Warrior system and wound up taking wins over Vxbao, iDom, NoahTheProdigy, AngryBird and Leshar before finally falling to Kakeru in Grand Finals. Despite the fact that his character, Ryu, has been around for more than twice as long as has, Blaz controls him like a longtime veteran. He's coming off a 5th place finish at COMBO BREAKER, showing definitively that Capcom Cup was no fluke.
With a 2nd place finish at Evo Japan 2025 and a 5th place finish at CEO 2025, Ryukichi enters Evo 2025 as the points leader on the Capcom Pro Tour. Wins over Momochi, Kobayan, Blaz and Kilzyou in the process prove his strength. Can one of the world's best Ken players keep up the consistency in Vegas?
NL was one game away from taking a CPT Premier event in June at CEO 2025, takind down Punk before falling to Leshar for 2nd. With a 7th place finish at Evo Japan 2025 already under his belt, the Akuma player is having one of the hottest 2025 seasons of anybody out there.
Never sleep on Itabashi Zangief. Ever since Zangief received buffs in Season 2, one of the greatest grappler players of all-time has done exactly what you'd expect, becoming one of the biggest threats to turn a bracket upside-down with huge upsets. After winning East Coast Throwdown in 2024, he began the 2025 CPT season with a 2nd place finish at COMBO BREAKER 2024, with wins over Tokido, Shuto, Bonchan and Dual Kevin in the process.
Dual Kevin is proof you can maintain consistency in Street Fighter 6. After placing 13th at the Esports World Cup, Dual Kevin didn't finish outside of the Top 3 at a major offline tournament until Capcom Cup 11 over six months later. That stretch included a win at F2Con and 2nd place finishes at Cream City Convergence and Blink Respawn. He's still looking strong in 2025, with a 3rd place finish at COMBO BREAKER.
Angry Bird's travels to international tournaments have been few and far between over the last year, but he has still popped out for some big results on big stages: 5th at the Esports World Cup with wins over Kakeru and Gachikun, and 4th at Capcom Cup with wins over NL and Tokido. After finishing 7th last year, The first Street Fighter 6 Evo champion will look to make his third consecutive Top 8 at Evo 2025.
All these players and more will scrap it out at the biggest Street Fighter 6 tournament of the year starting August 1st in Las Vegas. Make sure to subscribe to Evo on YouTube so you don't miss any of the action.
