Mortal Kombat 1 returns to Evo after making its debut in 2024. The 642-entrant bracket came down to a Grand Finals between SonicFox and Nicolas. It was a hotly contested set, coming down to a decisive fifth game, but SonicFox came out on top, taking home their seventh Evo championship, including their fifth in an NRS title and their fourth in a Mortal Kombat title.
Evo 2025 will be by far the largest Mortal Kombat 1 tournament of the year, but there's more on the line than just bragging rights. The winner of Mortal Kombat 1 at Evo will qualify for Final Kombat at the end of the year, the culmination of the game's year-long circuit, and circuit points will be up for grabs for the Top 32 finishers. Today, we'll familiarize you with the players who look primed to thrive on the game's biggest stage.
SETTING THE STAGE
Mortal Kombat 1 has added a few characters since its last appearance at Evo. There's the final character of the first Kombat Pack, Takeda Takahashi, as well as six characters from Kombat Pack 2: Sektor, Cyrax, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, Conan the Barbarian, and T-1000.
These characters have already made their mark in the tournament meta. Sektor won gamescom LATAM, piloted by Brazilian player yTecZ, and Cyrax won COMBO BREAKER 2025, piloted by SonicFox. SonicFox also used some Noob Saibot en route to their win at 2025's Mortal Kombat 1 Pro Kompetition Mexico, even though Sonic finished off the tournament with Sindel. There was also more DLC representation in Top 8 of COMBO BREAKER: 3rd place finisher VideoGamezYo used some Ghostface alongside his usual Homelander, 4th place finisher FaysalKombat primarily used T-1000 alongside some Shang Tsung, and 5th place finisher TheMightyUnjust also made his way there with T-1000.
Characters like Johnny Cage, Homelander, Reiko and Ermac are still strong as well. Grand Finals of Evo 2024 was a Johnny mirror, after all. But the DLC has shaken up the meta a bit, and it would be a surprise if at least one of them isn't present deep in the bracket.
MAJOR STORYLINES
SonicFox is the clear favorite, with wins at the MK1 Pro Kompetition Mexico, Texas Showdown 2025, and COMBO BREAKER 2025 since taking Evo 2024 last year. But they do bleed. SonicFox missed Top 8 for the first time at an MK1 offline major at gamescom LATAM in early May, dropping sets to Brazilian player MateuzinMH and chilean player Scorpionprocs. They bounced back right away with a win at COMBO BREAKER, showing why they're still worthy of the title of favorite at Evo 2025. A win would push them to 8 Evo championships, which would tie them for the all-time lead with Justin Wong, so this could be a big Evo for SonicFox's legacy
If you've watched any Mortal Kombat at Evo this decade, you definitely know Nicolas. The Chilean's second place finish at Evo 2024 was his third straight Top 3 finish at an Evo, dating back to his 3rd place finish in Mortal Kombat 11 at Evo 2022. In two major tournament appearances since his runner-up finish at last year's MK1 bracket, Nicolas remains incredibly consistent, with a 3rd place finish at MK1 Pro Kompetition: Mexico and an 2nd place finish at gamescom LATAM. At this point, it's safe to expect Nicolas to make it deep into the final bracket. But can he go all the way this time?
Scoprionprocs, Nicolas's twin brother, has also been a top Mortal Kombat player for years, having reached the peak in 2022 with an Evo title in Mortal Kombat 11. In Mortal Kombat 1, he has remained one of South America's strongest players with incredibly consistent results. He won 2024's Mortal Kombat Pro Kompetition: Brazil and has only missed Top 8 at one major offline tournament since then. That was a ninth place finish at Evo 2024, and he'll be looking to push farther and reach the final stage this time.
Rewind has been a top player in NRS games for years. He is an Evo champion, the winner of Injustice 2 at Evo 2018, and he's remained strong in every NRS game since. He reached Top 8 twice in Mortal Kombat 11, placing 7th at Evo 2023 and making it all the way to Grand Finals at Evo 2022 before falling to Scorpionprocs. In MK1, he finished 7th at Evo 2024 and is coming off strong finishes at both COMBO BREAKER 2025 and CEO 2025, where he finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. His combination of consistency and experience makes him a favorite to go deep.
Zeeus truly emerged as one of South America's strongest Mortal Kombat players with a win at MK Pro Komp's 2024 Brasil Regional Final. He followed that up with a 3rd place finish at his very first Evo just over a month later. He has already qualified for Final Kombat 2025 thanks to his win at the 2025 Brasil Regional Final, where he took the bracket with Havik. Can he repeat his Evo 2024 performance as well, or even exceed it this year?
OnlineCale has reached an unprecedented level in 2025. The 15-year-old son of longtime FGC member and fighting game player OnlineTony, Cale had a solid competitive debut in 2024, capped off by a 17th place finish at Evo 2024. In 2025, though? He's evolved into a favorite to go deep into any tournament bracket he enters. Cale made a huge splash at Texas Showdown 2025, his first major of the year, with a third place finish. But the big one came at CEO 2025, where he used Kung Lao, Homenalder and T-1000 to win the whole thing over SnakeDoe, Rewind and Grr. Few players, no matter how experienced, are carrying more momentum into Evo 2025.
Can you tell that MKJavierMK is into Mortal Kombat? The Spaniard finished 5th at Evo 2024 and has since recorded numerous strong results, including Top 8 finishes at MK1 Pro Kompetition Mexico, viennality2k25, and most recently, a 2nd place finish at Brussels Challenge Major Edition, a result earned with solo Scorpion. Can he reach the final stage for a second straight year?
Dyloch's improvement since the Mortal Kombat 11 is hard to overstate. After 33rd place finishes in each of the final two MK11 Evo brackets, Dyloch placed 5th in MK1 at Evo 2024, making his first Evo final bracket. You could've seen it coming if you were paying attention throughout 2024, as he picked up wins at both Texas Showdown 2024 and CEO 2024. He has remained strong in 2025, with a 2nd place finish at Texas Showdown 2025 and Top 8s at both COMBO BREAKER and CEO.
SnakeDoe is another representative of the strong Chilean Mortal Kombat scene. He's relatively new to offline competition, but he showed up in a big way at his first offline major, winning 2Game Pro Tour's LATAM Finals. He will be entering his first Evo this year, but he has all the momentum he could want, as he's coming off his best performance since, a 2nd place at CEO 2025.
All these players and more will scrap it out at the biggest Mortal Kombat 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.
