The Summer of The FGC: Dreamhack Dallas
On the weekend of June 3rd, Dallas played host to Dreamhack, a cornerstone event in the gaming industry. Dreamhack is a three day event that allows fans, industry faces and pro-players to come together and celebrate esports competition, gaming and creatives alike.
Featuring numerous panels, covering a variety of topics from industry shop-talk to fan Q&A’s, there is always something to do on the jam-packed convention floor. This year's cosplay competition was a standout and came fully equipped with a $2,500 prize pool for the contestants. At Dreamhack Dallas there’s something for everybody, and if you’re a fan of esports and competitive gaming give it a look.
For more Dreamhack details check out their official website:
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Dreamhack is a diverse event and a number of games and genres are given the spotlight on the mainstage. For the FGC (fighting game community), it’s an early entry in a stacked summer of tournaments. This weekend hosted tournaments for all the main FGC titles including Tekken 7, Street Fighter V, Melty Blood: Type Lumina and BlazBlue: Central Fiction.
The newly released King of Fighters: XV (KOF) featured prominently, which is great news for the franchise as it’s steadily been picking up steam competitively. KOF is becoming a game to look forward to as bigger and bigger tournaments approach.
Without question, the two main games at Dreamhack 2022 were Guilty Gear: Strive and Super Smash Brother’s Ultimate. Both games boasted the highest tournament entrant numbers with 133 and 214 respectively.
Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate, although considered by some as only FGC adjacent, has a large and vocal competitive community that never fails to turn out at major events. If you're one of the millions who love Nintendo’s characters and are looking to dip your toe in competition, Smash Bros. Ultimate might be the game for you.
Check out the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Top 8 and the rest of the Championship Sunday here to get in on the action:
For FGC esports, the summer of 2022 is the summer of Guilty Gear: Strive. The return of these events and the maturation of Strive seem to have come together at the perfect time. We are witnessing a high level of competition at every event and although not as big as a Combo Breaker or EVO, Dreamhack Dallas wasn’t lacking in top-end talent.
Check out the full tournament breakdown here:
PG|Kizzie Kay, Intel|Razzo and MOIST|Hotashi all arrived in Dallas. Unlike at Combo Breaker, our top players played to their pedigree with each of them making the top 8 on Sunday. Among the familiar faces was a host of local talent. The standout among the locals was unsponsored player Power of Armor, who valiantly fought their way through the stacked top 8 with Axl before going out at 5th. The crowd was on their side throughout and they finished their tournament run representing Dallas to the end.
For more Power of Armor look here:
We also got to see bc|LordKnight in this tournament after disappointingly not being able to play in Combo Breaker a week earlier. LordKnight is, without question, an FGC icon with a long history of tournament wins across multiple games. A champion of Millia Rage, commonly considered a weaker character amongst the Strive community, LordKnight never fails to impress with his incredibly precise neutral game, tricky mix-ups and limitless game knowledge. Ironically, in a game of top tiers, it was a Millia mirror match that cost LordKnight his tournament life going out tied for 5th after losing to DH|Orion. If time has taught us anything, it’s that we should never count bc|LordKnight out for long, and with changes on the horizon everyone should look forward to him pushing the limits of his character and the game in competitions to come.
bc|LordKnight is also an excellent FGC content creator making informative and entertaining fighting game videos. For more LordKnight look here:
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The standout performers from this weekend were Intel|Razzo and MOIST|Hotashi whose matches in the winners and grand finals were electric. Hotashi took the winners finals set in a nail biting last game last round scenario and his performance in the tournament was characteristically dominant.
However, all eyes are on Razzo this weekend because after losing to a familiar face in Hotashi, they simply refused to be declined. Returning to face Hotashi once more in grand finals, Razzo would have to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on the loser's side of the bracket. Clearly, they were unfazed as Razzo simply dominated Hotashi winning two back to back sets 3-1 and 3-0. This marks a huge step in the development of this young talent as they battled their demons and won convincingly.
Changes are on the horizon for the Guilty Gear community as Dreamhack Dallas marks the last tournament played on the Season 1 patch. With Season 2 coming June 10th, we’re all waiting for the metagame to shift as character balance and system changes are implemented. In the tournaments to come, keep an eye on which players are able to adjust and who falls off. Consistency is king in FGC esports and with game altering changes coming soon it’s time to put our top players to the test.
By: Simon Mancuso
