Over the course of this year tournament entrants and interest in the game has slowly but surely risen. Success in early majors in 2018 certainly helped propel the excitement brewing in the community, but an equally fervent fan base has garnered interest by lauding praises of its strong and and flexible system, in-depth tutorial and the welcoming player base. "Play UNIST" and other similar messages are not uncommon tweets to see popping up in the FGC twittersphere.
Additionally, in the span of just three months, the Under Night community will have had 3 of it's largest events in the history of the game, in very different parts of the country. 173 entrants in Chicago at Combo Breaker 2018, 112 in Orlando at Community Effort Orlando (CEO) 2018 and now 210 rolling into Las Vegas for AnimEVO 2018.
Needless to say, the community for this game has certainly been growing as of late and this time we've even pulled entrants from Europe, Japan and South Korea! I'll try to document our growth with a little more depth in the Year in Review for 2018, so please look forward to that later down the road!
~ * ~ * ~
But, we'll move on to the event itself! This is what we know so far--- The organizers for the event from the animEVO staff are DJCream and Brett. They have teamed up with Aksys Games to run the tournament from their booth at EVO! It will be run on Friday, August 3rd starting at 10am PST. There will be four waves of pools followed by Top 24 and it will be streamed on Darkandark's Twitch Channel. Top 4 will be played on an official EVO side stream on Saturday, August 4th around 4pm PST on Twitch.tv/EVO2. Pictures provided by AceKingOffsuit.
- UNA1 and UNA2 (10am PST)
- UNB1 and UNB2 (12pm PST)
- UNC1 and UNC2 (2pm PST)
- UND1 and UND2 (4pm PST)
- Top 24 to Top 4 (6pm PST)
- Top 4 (Saturday, August 4th @ 4pm PST)
The brackets have been put up on Smash.gg here.
Tournament Favorites
- Clim: It feels like it wouldn't be fair not to first mention the Merkava/Phonon from Western Canada, as he's fresh off of two big wins at Combo Breaker 2018 and CEO 2018. A powerhouse in multiple anime games and historically a threat in any event he enters, one has to wonder if he will extend his dominance over the US here as well. An interesting note for viewers at home, this will be his first interaction with the West Coast UNI field since Anime Ascension 2018 in April where he finished 5th, losing to Arizona's Squish and Northern California's Tari. Both of these players will be in the field of competitors this time around.
- Squish: It seems difficult to talk about the top levels of NA UNIST without mentioning Squish in the conversation. 2017 into early 2018 was marked by his amazing Akatsuki play as he traded tournament wins with the East Coast Hyde, Infinity at CEOtaku 2017 and Frosty Faustings X. The late winter didn't cool his momentum as he stormed through Winner's Side at Anime Ascension. Eventually, he was upset in Grand Finals from losers by NorCal's Lolimaiko to place 2nd. Work related issues held him from Combo Breaker and CEO, but he was recently flown out to spar with some of Europe's best. Seemingly refreshed, he's poised to make another strong run at EVO.
- Lolimaiko: The much beloved "old man" from Northern California who has fantastic control over one of the more technically intensive characters in the game: the charge motion, goth-lolita robot, Vatista. Alongside the two previous entrants, Maiko has been a threat in the West since the previous version of the game. Curiously, Lolimaiko ended up winning Anime Ascension after admitting that he did not have much time to practice after registering a mere two weeks away from the event. At that tournament, he managed to defeat a long time demon and navigate an odd match he ended up losing at CEOtaku 2017 against Trill's Chaos--- twice! With more recent practice, maybe he will be able to take his 2nd major in as many tries.
- Tari: The laid-back tyrant who stands at the top of what is almost certainly the strongest region in North America, Tari boasts mastery of another of the more difficult mechanical characters in UNI; the iaido swordswoman, Yuzuriha. This year has seen him able to travel a bit more than in the past; specifically to AA and CB 2018. At Anime Ascension, he was upset in Top 16 by the eventual winner Lolimaiko and lost a close 2-1 set to NA's premier Chaos, Trill. A clear favorite to win Combo Breaker, he took a surprising upset to Chicago Hilda RoyalHeart in pools before being dispatched by New England's Redblade to finish at a surprising 9th. Still, he boasts one of the last major set wins over a red-hot Clim. It would be wise to keep an eye on him in this tournament as well.
