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Killer Instinct World Cup

Killer Instinct World Cup
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2017
GameFighting games
Killer Instinct
Founded2014
FounderUA|Brandon Alexander
CountryUnited States
Most recent
champion(s)		Darnell "Sleep" Waller
(2017)
Official websiteKiller Instinct World Cup

Killer Instinct World Cup is an annual fighting game tournament held in Texas, specifically focusing on the 2013 Killer Instinct reboot. The event's first incarnation was in January 2016 which featured Killer Instinct with a total of 32 qualifiers. The finals uses a double-elimination format and includes various tournaments as qualifiers such as EVO and Combo Breaker.[1][2]

History

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2016 season

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The 2016 Killer Instinct World Cup Finals was announced by Ultra Arcade's Brandon Alexander in December 2014, which initially had a $10,000 prize pool with 16 qualifiers,[1] but was eventually increased to a $30,000 prize pool with 32 qualifiers. Four last chance qualifying spots were held as well.[3] The tournament was won by EVO 2015 Champion Jonathan "Rico Suave" Deleon, who primarily used Shadow Jago in the tournament, however used Omen against Matt Rebelo in Winner's Finals due to the lack of TJ Combo matchup experience and Glacius in Grand Finals as a hard counter to Lenin "MyGod" Castillo's Sabrewulf.[4] The EVO 2014 Champion, Emmanuel "CD Jr." Brito has notably tied for last, despite being seeded 3rd in the bracket.[5] The #1 player in points rankings Kenneth "Bass" Armas was notably upset in the first round of the tournament to one of the Last Chance qualifiers Joshua "Waterhorses" Vargas, while managing to blast through Loser's Bracket, while bowing out to FlipSid3 Tactics' Darnell "Sleep" Waller. However, one of the most unexpected placings was Canadian player Rebelo ending in 3rd place while being sent to Loser's by Rico Suave in Winner's Finals, followed by being eliminated by MyGod in a Loser's Finals runback from an early Winner's Bracket upset.[6]

Killer Instinct World Cup took place at the Fountain Bleu in San Antonio, Texas on January 30–31, 2016.[3]

Killer Instinct [7]
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st United States Jonathan Deleon Rico Suave Shadow Jago, Omen, Glacius
2nd United States Lenin Castillo UA|MyGod Sabrewulf
3rd Canada Matt Rebelo UL|Rebelo TJ Combo, Shadow Jago
4th United States Darnell Waller F3|Sleep Kan-Ra, ARIA, Glacius
5th United States Kenneth Armas UA|Bass Spinal, Cinder
5th United States Josue Herrera BH|Grief Sadira, Orchid
7th United States Keyshawn Johnson cR|Cupcake Sabrewulf, Maya
7th United States Joshua Vargas Waterhorses Glacius
9th United States Blake Whitworth YOMI|JagoBlake Jago
9th United States Nicky Iovene NS|Nicky Vengenz Fulgore
9th United States Christina Freeland PAG|PinkDiamond Maya
9th United States Paulo Duarte AKG|ShinPaulo Thunder
13th United States Larry Dent III LCD Orchid, Maya
13th United States Paul Ramos Paul B Sabrewulf, Hisako, Riptor
13th United States Deion Thompson Thompxson Jago
13th United States Chase Graves UL|ZergKiller Aganos, Spinal

2017 season

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The 2017 Killer Instinct World Cup was announced on April 5, 2016. The season would include more offline qualifiers than the previous season, as well as once again being a 32-man finals.[8][9] In 2017, the KI World Cup issued a ban towards taunting and teabagging, following its frequent practice by NuckleDu in Street Fighter V. This would spark controversy from the fighting game community with members such as Echo Fox pro SonicFox and Iron Galaxy Studios dev Adam "Keits" Heart speaking about their disdain regarding the ban. Lab monster Javits used Daigo Umehara's playstyle from EVO Moment #37 as a reference to mention that enforcing such rule would be impossible.[10][11] The teabagging ban would later be revoked following the controversy surrounding the rule, while there is still zero tolerance policies for threats and sexual harassment.[12]

The event took place from March 10 to 12 of 2017. The Kilgore DLC raised more than $50,000 towards the 2018 season's prize pool.[13]

Killer Instinct
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st United States Darnell Waller F3|Sleep ARIA, Kilgore
2nd United States Calvin Phelps Storm179 Hisako
3rd United States Deion Thompson BH|Thompxson Jago
4th United States Nicholas Iovene Circa|Nicky Fulgore, Mira
5th United States Joshua Vargas BH|Waterhorses Glacius
5th United States Dayton Jones UA|Wheels Sabrewulf, Tusk, Orchid, Gargos
7th United States Jonathan Deleon Rico Suave Gargos
7th United States Demandre Pressley MT|LetalisVenator Aganos, General RAAM, Omen
9th United States Kenneth Armas UA|Bass Spinal, Mira, Cinder
9th United Kingdom Rob Doherty HW|Valoraxe Cinder
9th United States Samuel Mora TBS|Sickle Glacius
9th United States Larry Dent III LCD Maya, Orchid, Gargos
13th United States Latrell Thomas BH|Amenty Mira, Maya, Gargos
13th United States Damien Walton Selfless|Fiyah Liger Riptor
13th United States Damian Gonzalez Raven is Raw Spinal
13th Canada Matt Rebelo STDx|Rebelo TJ Combo

References

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  1. ^ a b Alexander, Brandon. "Ultra Arcade Announces Killer Instinct World Cup for 2016, $10,000 Prize Pool Guaranteed". Ultra Arcade. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  2. ^ Hood, Lance. "Combo Breaker Granted Premier Qualifier Status for Killer Instinct World Cup". Shoryuken. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  3. ^ a b Gonzalez, Oscar. "Gamers Compete for $30,000 in Killer Instinct World Cup". San Antonio Current. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  4. ^ Walker, Ian. "Fresh Off World Cup Win, Rico Suave Still Looking to Improve in Killer Instinct". Shoryuken. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  5. ^ Jurek, Steven. "Rico Suave wins Killer Instinct World Cup". Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2016-04-26. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  6. ^ "Killer Instinct World Cup 2016 Bracket". Challonge. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  7. ^ Taylor, Nicholas (30 January 2016). "Killer Instinct World Cup results". Eventhubs. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  8. ^ Jebailey, Alex (5 April 2016). "Killer Instinct World Cup 2017 Season Announcement". Ultra Combo. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  9. ^ "Killer Instinct World Cup qualifier details revealed". The Daily Dot. 7 April 2016.
  10. ^ Bahn, Chris. "KI World Cup Issues Taunting Ban". PVP Live. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  11. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (24 January 2017). "Fighting game community in a flap over Killer Instinct teabagging ban". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  12. ^ Martin, Michael. "Killer Instinct World Cup teabagging ban was a 'troll'". Yahoo eSports. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  13. ^ Bahn, Chris. "Killer Instinct DLC Raises $50,000 for 2018 Prize Pool". PVP Live. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
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