EVO 2019 is almost upon us, and we are in for a wild weekend in the Mortal Kombat 11 scene as the best players in the world duke it out. Unlike other games, MK11 has released only recently, in April of this year, and this has meant that the meta has evolved at a faster pace than games with an established roster of characters.
SonicFox
Dominique "SonicFox" McLean, representing team Echo Fox, is no stranger to the competitive scene with four EVO championships under his belt. He has dominated Injustice: Gods Among Us in 2014, Mortal Kombat X in 2015 and again in 2016, and most recently with Dragon Ball FighterZ in 2018. While SonicFox has a capable roster of characters to choose from and has been known to simply mirror his opponent to great effect in previous tournaments, there is also a good chance we will see some high-level Shang Tsung play. SonicFox, like other professional players, have been fine tuning their strategies with the newest character to the game, and we may be in for some expert zoning this weekend.
Scar
Brad "Scar" Vaughn is a player to keep an eye on who represents Endemic Esports, having come in second place in numerous tournaments over the years to SonicFox. We have recently seen Scar perform strongly with Sonya, and we are likely to see her used often. After taking home the top spot at Combo Breaker 2019, there is no reason to doubt that Scar could win EVO 2019 with a similar performance.
A F0xy Grampa
Denom "A F0xy Grampa" Jones represents Problem X Promotions and is currently the number two seeded player for MK11, so of course we should expect nothing short of outstanding work by him. Asides from being a technically excellent player, A F0xy Grampa is one of the few professional players to use and excel with Kung Lao, which should give us a nice break from the weekend full of Geras mirror matches we may see.
Daddy
Leif “Daddy” Boisvert should be in attendance at EVO 2019, though all eyes will be more focused on whether or not he can control his emotions at this tournament. After defeating Scar at CEO 2019, Boisvert began a tirade of profanity and taunts, which many considered extreme in its inappropriateness. As EVO 2019 is one of the most anticipated events of the world celebrating the best players, we all hope that Boisvert can control his temper this time, or that he face some consequences for his inappropriate behavior, something that was completely absent after the outburst at CEO 2019.
GRV Dragon
Ryan "Dragon" Walker, representing Gravity Gaming is a top-seeded player and a former EVO champion for Injustice 2. Cetrion has been Dragon’s player of choice at recent events, and despite losing previously to SonicFox, showed off an impressive use of the character not often seen in the competitive scene.
Hayatei
Alexandre "Hayatei" Dubé-Bilodeau, representing Panda Global, recently showed off his skill at Viennality 2019 versus Sayed "Tekken Master" Hashim Ahmed, favoring Erron Black at the finals event a few weeks ago. Despite coming in second, Kayatei is one of the better Erron Black players in the world and should be a real threat at EVO 2019.
Tekken Master
Sayed "Tekken Master" Hashim Ahmed, currently playing for NASR eSports, is another Kung Lao player who dominates with the character. He is constantly participating in the pro circuit and from 2016 onwards has finished strong at most tournaments, hitting the top three spot at EVO in that year and excelling at other competitive events.
Tweedy
Tommy "Tweedy" Tweedy, currently representing Aspire eSports. With a top three placing at Combo Breaker 2019 and taking first place at Kumite in Tennessee, Tweedy looks to be a real threat, often using either Baraka or Geras. He does not seem to like the Baraka mirror match, so it would seem, and he tends to favor Geras in those instances.
Who Will Win?
The competition is fierce as always, and the game has now been out for long enough that there are few surprises left in terms of which characters are strongest. As SonicFox is currently the number one seed, it would surprise few to see him take another championship this weekend at EVO 2019.
At the same time, A F0xy Grampa has been showing a strong domination of opponents in the past two months with little to slow him down, so he too is another player who could win easily. The rest of the players mentioned above are all in the top 20 seeded worldwide, and any of them could take home the top spot.
For now, we can say that at the very least, the competition should be interesting so long as each set does not revert into a Geras mirror match for the entire weekend!