Thanks to the Dead or Alive 6 community and tournament organizers of Japan there will be a side tournament at EVO Japan 2024 this year. If you're a night owl we strongly encourage that you spectate this tournament tomorrow (April 27th 12am PT) at the official YeSU YouTube Channel. Don't forget to check out the bracket!
@Jotamide will be a participant at this tournament and is willing to share his tournament experience the following week! Remember to have little to no expectation for any type of Dead or Alive 7 announcement and just enjoy the showcase that the fighters put on for you after years of practice with Dead or Alive 6!
If I made any mistakes with player names in the notes, please let me know as there are some rough translations on YouTube for Japanese content. The Front-Page Photography Banner is by @TheIndustrialCowboy! Please be sure to give our valued community member a follow-on Twitter!
Tournament Notes
Miyasika starts off strong with great pool presence - showing off adaptive gameplay against his opponents, insane wall pressure and also solid use of Ayane's launchers without dropping combos. Mid-way through pools, Lemonade's Tina was able to defeat Miyasika's Ayane bringing the best out of the fighter while also giving the reality check that Tina is one to be feared and is easily one of the best characters in the game. Patience pays off in Dead or Alive 6 and no fighter understands this better than one who selects Tina regularly.
Second pools match featured Daburu (Kula) vs Watto (Kasumi) and it was an exceptional set if you like Kula Diamond. Watto was trying his best and he had basic fundamentals down with Kasumi, but Daburu was on another level with that pressure, special freeze and Kula's awesome offensive holds. Kula's popularity within the Japanese base is unprecedented compared to USA & UK and it shows not only with usage of the character, but also with the advanced elements of her combat.
Linerback made a strong pools impression as most expected; he has stuck with DOA6 for a long time and has improved immensely. His Mai received a lot of praise from the commentators and spectators alike due to his stylized pressure and breathtaking combos.
Konpyo's Lisa checked all the boxes at this tournament with outstanding spacing, combos, brutalizing cancels, crushes and of course loads of Huracarranas. Watto's Kasumi was once again taken to her limits, but this time against a plethora of wrestling throws and moves. To this day Team NINJA continue to be the masters of wrestling move design and animation, giving you more professional wrestling throws per character than any other fighting game on the market, and with Konpyo's gameplay; you are likely to see every last one.
You can't go wrong with Uji's Bayman and he was most certainly present at this tournament to dominate his foes with crushing, bone-breaking offensive holds and advanced counters. A lot of people consider Bayman to be one of the worst characters in this game and I just don't see it. Whenever Bayman drops in the player commanding him seems to be a jack of all trades with DOA's meta and strikes fear into his opponent(s).
Other great grapplers such as Flack & AKA make top tier appearances at this tournament, and before you know it; it really does become a bit of a wrestling spectacle and by spectators it has become somewhat of a preference for Dead or Alive 6. Konpyo & AKA vs Flack were some of the big highlights of the tournament and these were some of the more clutch sets that should be studied by competitive players.
Linerback and Mai were the strongest fighters of the tournament and won the grand finale against Uji. Linerback's dedication to the game is what strikes true as the most impressive accomplishment because he has shown that despite some of DOA6's backlash and hate that there is complexity and immense skill required to win what some would call an average game. The Japanese community should be praised for looking past putting everything under a microscope while doing the best they can to see to the survival of the franchise.
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