Free Step Dodge

Summer Jam has always provided this community spectacular talent with a lasting highlight reel of crazy moments. The window is closing on time to pre-register for this Battle Royal tournament with a $1,000 pot bonus and a sponsored trip to NECXVIII for 1st place paid for by Team NINJA. Now is the time to put all of you skills to the test. It's time to break bones and smash bodies.

From Lopedo's pre-release victory to XcaliburBladeZ dethroning Kwiggle's Christie with Eliot -- anything can happen at Summer Jam, but it can also be a huge game changer for future tournaments in the season. Let it be known in the comments if you are attending! For everyone...

ESL put on two DOA events this week, one in Japan and one in Europe. The Japanese event went fine and there was no controversy there; but the European event went down a different path that involved one of the most popular competitive players getting screwed by a random.


There was little to no moderation in this event so the player was quite the crafty exploit. @Gehaktbal also provides proof of his lagless victory in another video. This is something all players should be prepared to do if they plan on participating in any online event as they become a more popular option for those that can not travel.

Since DOA5 launched, most of us have not been all that privy to online tournaments. We've all tried a few out and it's pretty tough to compare that experience to an offline because you can't. Though as our game continues to grow there should be more outlets for our power and ESL looks to become one of those options despite the recent controversy with the European Cup.

Like in DOA World Online Tournaments, there is a moderator present to watch the matches, and the first thing you may notice is that both players have maximum connection speed for this event. Anyone that is familiar with this style of tournament will tell you evidence is very important; especially video.

You're going to see good play despite being online. Good evasion, tactics and mix-ups complete the Japan cup and here are some of the replays for their events...

Dead or Alive in Dallas has been an ongoing event for years now as detailed in the DID13 trailer and while the event was streamed on the 10th of this month it is important that the community documents every event possible to not only display the talent but to also to keep the tournament flow going as we continue to cement our legacy in the FGC.

This year at DID13 the numbers were not as high, but there are still plenty of high quality and close matches throughout. We see appearances from: BlackMoonRisingX, Dareaper214, xHuntress and more devoted players from the community. Though it was a hard-fought battle with plenty of Last Rounds, Master won this event with Hayabusa against Black Moon's Leifang.

You can view this entire tournament via Master's stream replays on Twitch. Hopefully he exports the event to his...

While it may not come off as a surprise, it's important to mention that the beast, JC Akira will be making his way back to the States for NEC XVIII after earning the opportunity at the pre-tournament EVO Japan. This is the second tournament in Team NINJA's 2017 Battle Royal and was also an International affair. Top 4 might be all that is available now, but more recordings of the event are expected to be released on FSD's YouTube.

The Japanese players continue to impress everyone with their defensive strategies that now bolster higher speed and better reaction times made evident by JC Akira and Kobun (Hayate) in the first match of Top 4.

Run that Back plays as Mai and stays true to the name with impressive speed and well-utilized range against Tanni's Zack who was able to adapt for the next game with incredible zoning and defensive strategies. Run that Back moved on to fight Kobun...

Team NINJA is coming out with a lot of new, successful content and while Nioh might be a huge priority at the moment it's nice to see patch updates are still coming out for DOA5 almost five years after it was released. This patch doesn't add a lot, but it does change a few things up and the community is talking about it.

@DestructionBomb: Minor balance changes. Zack's 33P/7K launch after blown back was removed and even more character adjustments. Raidou and Naotora small improvements, Hayabusa's WR4K unfinished or interrupting the P will now leave Hayabusa in a...

Click to expand...

A short while ago, we let you know about some changes behind the scenes at the FSD Shop. We are happy to announce that those changes have now been implemented and we are ready to go at full speed again! So, what changed?

• Shirts are now CHEAPER! In short, shirts now start at $26.
• The shirts themselves are now unisex, so you no longer need to worry about design and color differences for a different shirt.
• There are some subtle differences to some of the designs but many are now available in additional colors.
• There are additional sizes! Sizes are now available up to a 4X.

Those of you that follow us on Facebook most likely have seen this, but we also have a new design that is pretty excellent. Check it out below and order yourself some new shirts...

The Dead or Alive tournament season has just begun, and we've had some insane tournaments including the conclusion to the first Battle Royal event of the year: Final Round XX, a tournament so juicy that all of its content can't possibly be covered in a single results story. We follow up to the Battle Royal smash by continuing to promote the tournament scene outside of...

What a hype event. Not only were there great matches, but an intense atmosphere to follow up with the heated Winter Brawl tournament that took place last month. The pools were also very well diversified seeing the likes of Raidou in Top 8 and Killy's Tina taking the show. This was an unbelievable event, and Killy has successfully obtained his golden ticket to NEC XVIII and is now one of the biggest threats in the community.

This is the beginning of a new Battle Royal -- and while it might not be our biggest yet it certainly will have the finest quality after a revitalizing NEC XVII, solid turnouts, new players and hype tournaments like Winter Brawl 11 to keep us locked into DOA5.

What I find awesome is the confidence Team NINJA has shown in our game and in us as they already have plans for a 2018 Battle Royal made evident by the NEC XVIII grand prize. There are a lot of rumors pertaining to DOA6 and my guess is that it will be announced after the NEC XVIII tournament.

Though our next focus should be Final Round XX, and while online registration might be closed...

Winter Brawl 11 was such a hype tournament it left you wanting more, right? This post-interview features pro players: @Blackburry, @Kwiggle and @Sly Bass not only talking about why they play DOA, but also why they pick the characters they pick and their history with the franchise. I thought that Kwiggle's reasoning for picking Christie was very interesting as he originally was a Kasumi main visioning something else for his character.

The interview and production was created by @Rojikku - a fierce competitor at Winter Brawl 11, and a consistent tournament goer constantly looking to expand his game. Let's keep the tournament hype going all throughout the year and before you know it we will be at the next chapter with Dead or Alive 6.

This cold winter just got a little warmer with the raw intensity and close competitive games at this year's Winter Brawl. Congratulations to XcaliburBladeZ for making it through to the end with a first place prize. He not only defeated NEC Champion, @Rikuto after losing to him previously, but won against a bevy of other serious fighters with many tournament highlights of their own and a very clear focus -- taking...

Winter Brawl is upon us! This is a good thing for quite a few reasons. First, one of our larger tournaments of the year going on brings us all together in a pretty awesome way, both in person and around the site itself. Second (going to stop my list here because I'm lazy), more eyes means it would be financially irresponsible to not have a sale. Surprise! We're having a sale!

Don't act surprised, because you're very much not, but please click through to the store and take advantage of the 15% off running through the weekend. We appreciate it and you'll look hot.

In addition to the sale, we do have a bit more to share on the store. Foregoing a cliche bit about 'circumstances beyond our control' we'll just say that our principal shirt provider went under and got...

Thanks to Team NINJA I was given a few PSN codes for the latest costume set to be given away at Winter Brawl XI and possibly on stream during Top 16 and Top 8. Details to come soon but be sure to be on the lookout!

Competitive Dead or Alive 5 will be live on the show floor of the Clarion Hotel in Essington, PA next weekend. For those not able to participate in this major you can still watch on Twitch:

Saturday Top 16 - Top 8 9pm EST via FunkyP
Sunday Top 8 - 4pm via Bifuteki

Competitive Dead or Alive 5 will be live on the show floor of the Clarion Hotel in Essington, PA next weekend. If you have been considering Winter Brawl 11 now would be the time to prioritize your plans for this tournament as pre-registration ends this Friday. For those not able to participate in this major you can still watch on Twitch:

Saturday Top 16 - Top 8 9pm EST via FunkyP
Sunday Top 8 - 4pm via Bifuteki

@Blackburry, @Jaeger, @LordXav1er and @Sly Bass will be competing so you already know there are going to be plenty of awesome matches. The community also looks forward to seeing new offline competitors as they continue to emerge at events. If you are competing in...

If you haven't seen Kumite in Tennessee '17 yet the complete Top 8 is now available in the media section. Hoodless won this tournament against Sonic Fox in a great last round fight using Zack in the Christie matchup. We also continue to see consistent improvement in @coldpieceaj and a great effort from Memphis Legends, a very intense match between Lucky Loops and Havik complete with taunts and some great play and commentary from Lady Kohaku.

Update: The Top 8 has been removed from YouTube. Replaced with the Grand Finals.

And a Happy New Year of training for Team NINJA's 2017 Battle Royal! There is a new DOA5 Champion, and he goes by the name of @Rikuto. The best Bayman player not only took the title from JC Akira but the mid-boss also completely eviscerated one of his most challenging opponents. Last year we studied Akira, but 2017 looks to be the year of Bayman.

The forum is a great place to study and contribute to the community, but my favorite place happens to be the tournament category in the media section, which now has over 800 videos for your viewing pleasure.

Not only did Rikuto take out Bladez for title, but the reads were just unstoppable and Rikuto was on fire the entire time. He has successfully defeated the thorn in his side. After his epic tournament win the 2017 BR was officially announced.

1. Rikuto
2. XcaliburBladeZ
3. Master

The Top 16 Bracket
Day 1 Pools Replay

Tanii (Hitomi) and Kahliah (Tina) start off Top 8 and set the pace for the rest of this tournament. The first match went in Tanii's favor though both characters utilized their strengths. Kahliah was able to slow the second match down in the wrestling ring winning in the end using great patience and great holds. This is an example of how...

In honor of the Battle Royal 2016 finale we are running a 20% off promo this weekend! Enter the code 'DOAISBAE' and you will have your entire purchase discounted. The code will be live through the end of the day.

• Stream Host Every Single Day: Bifuteki
• Friday Exhibition Match 7pm EST
• Saturday Pools + Semi Finals 12pm-6:30pm EST
• Sunday Finals 1:30pm-3:30pm

NEC is always a competitive tournament and has been a community event staple since 2012 for the offline DOA community. This year we are going to get things started with an amazing exhibition that could possibly lay some ground for what will happen tomorrow in pools.

If you take a quick look at the pools, you will see why @LordXav1er said they are "stacked." Pool 1 has an interesting setup that almost replicates pools from last year. Most players would probably see...