Evo Grand Finals matches are some of the biggest, most important matches played for any fighting game.
"In all of the years of Street Fighter 4 at Evo, Gamerbee has been the best performer."
They provide some of the higest prize payouts,
sure. But they also provide a look at the absolute highest levels of competition.
Two of the greatest players in the world,
facing off with everything on the line.
after having run a gauntlet of some of the toughest competition they've ever faced.
Evo Grand Finals are where the magic happens.
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And sometimes, that magic is made all the more powerful by something outside the players’ control.
Sometimes everything goes wrong ,
and the most important match of the year also becomes the craziest.
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In 2015, Yusuke “Momochi” Momochi was on top of the Street Fighter IV world.
He had won the 2014 Capcom Cup but he didn’t rest on his laurels.
He attended and dominated plenty of events on the 2015 Capcom Pro Tour
and off-circuit tournaments.
He won Shadowloo Showdown and South by Southwest
and then placed second at Final Round, the Topanga World League and Stunfest.
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Simply put, Momochi was one of the best players in the world,
heading into Evo 2015.
Meanwhile, a perennial underdog was having a pretty good year of his own.
Bruce “Gamerbee” Hsiang narrowly missed the 2014 Capcom Cup finals
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Not being there crushed him and he even considered retirement.
Gamerbee was long-considered Taiwan’s finest Street Fighter IV player,
and he always showed up at Evo.
Fifth in 2010, 17th in 2011, second in 2012 and ninth in 2013.
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Few players had that level of consistency,
and despite missing Capcom Cup, Gamerbee was still one of the best in the world.
He just wasn’t the international champion that players like Momochi were.
In fact, Gamerbee placed just behind Momochi a few times that year,
third at South By Southwest and fifth at Stunfest.
He was having a solid year, just not the best.
But Gamerbee always showed up at Evo.
Momochi had a pretty uneventful run through the bracket,
beating Gackt and Xian to make Top 8.
Meanwhile, Gamerbee made a pretty clean run through his pools, with only handful of wins
over notable players like Dakou and Pepeday.
Unfortunately, things came to a screeching halt when Gamerbee faced off against Infiltration.
Infiltration and Gamerbee had something of a history at Evo.
Infiltration capped off his 2012 win by crushing Gamerbee 3-0 in the Grand Finals.
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And while things were closer in 2015
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They still didn’t swing in Gamerbee’s favor.
Evo’s loser’s bracket is one of the most dangerous places in fighting games.
You suddenly have to play twice the number of matches to make it to Grand Finals,
and past pools it’s full of sharks.
And Gamerbee got thrown in with one of the biggest sharks out there.
"Wow this is a match to qualify for Top 8. It is gonna be Daigo Umehara against AVerMedia's Gamerbee."
"One of these guys is not making Top 8."
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Gamerbee made Top 8, but he still had a mountain to climb, fighting NuckleDu
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Tokido
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And Nemo.
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To earn a spot in loser’s finals, up against the man who put him there. Infiltration.
"And honestly Infiltration, can probably be considered one of Gamerbee's demons."
Infiltration and Gamerbee played a grueling, 30-minute set
thanks in part to Gamerbee’s pick, Elena, and her healing ability.
Elena’s Ultra 2, known simply as “Healing,” restores up to a third of her health based on how long she holds it,
and she builds the Ultra Meter to use it based on damage she takes during a round.
Yeah that’s right, she takes damage to fuel her Healing,
which gives her more health to take more damage to heal all over again.
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But after both players switched to more aggressive characters,
Gamerbee came out on top with one last timer scam.
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Gamerbee played the longest set of the tournament, but he still had one more obstacle.
Momochi, who was sitting in Grand Finals after beating Tokido and Infiltration,
and was poised to take the entire tournament.
but Gamerbee was on a roll.
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For the second set of Grand Finals,
Momochi swapped over to Evil Ryu,
a character who could dish out a lot more damage than Ken.
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And while it worked for the first round, Gamerbee continued to trade games with Momochi.
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While Momochi took the first round of the last game,
both players were so close to victory.
with all the pressure in the world on their backs, the unthinkable happened.
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Just as the second round of the final game started,
Momochi’s stick disconnected.
Evo rules state that in the event of a pause, intentional or otherwise,
the player who caused the pause has to forfeit the round.
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But Momochi had other problems.
Momochi didn't just pause the game, his stick broke.
Which according to his manager at the time,
Antonio Javier,
caused something of a crisis for his team.
"All of a sudden I'm sitting there like, 'Oh my god where are the rest of the guys, I need a spare stick
I need something that Momochi is comfortable playing on.'"
For Momochi, the issue was his stick breaking,
but for Gamerbee?
He had a ton of momentum going into the Grand Finals,
but he was mentally drained.
He had just played the longest set of the tournament.
And now? He was stuck waiting, taken out of the game, unable to stay warmed up.
"I can't imagine what they're going through."
Back in the Evil Geniuses camp, AJ and Momochi’s partner, Chocoblanka, were
struggling to find a new stick when the unthinkable happened.
"So I jumped up out of my seat ran through the aisles, ran into Choco who was doing the same thing.
Running through the aisles at Evo yelling, "Does anyone have a Razer stick!"
No one had one. So we went back to main stage after we run through the entire convention.
Not finding a single Razer stick. I see Tokido come up, and give him his stick."
Tokido, who both Gamerbee and Momochi defeated to make it to Grand Finals,
gave his stick to Momochi.
and with that stick in-hand, after five minutes and 17 seconds that must have felt like an eternity,
both players got back to the match.
"And the time will now count down."
"Here it is, last round."
"Evolution, 2015."
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Momochi emerged victorious, and Gamerbee, ever the bridesmaid,
stayed second.
He was comforted by Infiltration, and then his partner Julianna,
who was in tears over an Evo Gamerbee was so close to finally winning.
"And the crowd on its feet for Gamerbee, a lot of respect. He can come out of this in a very good position."
2015 was Street Fighter IV’s last year at Evo,
and while 2016 gave us an incredible Street Fighter V Top 8,
Gamerbee didn't make it. He was put in losers once again, by Infiltration.
But despite that Gamerbee is still going to tournaments.
SFV might not be his favorite game,
but Gamerbee always has the potential to come up huge,
to play underdog and triumph over impossible odds.
Gamerbee is one of the hardest working, most beloved people in the FGC,
and at Evo, even if he doesn’t win, he always shows up.
"Certainly he's earned a lot of fans for his incredible play here today."