Free Step Dodge

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...

Would you like to write your own prediction post on who you think will win NEC 17? Be sure to comment as I plan to follow up this post with other opinions. This is obviously for fun and to hype the upcoming event. Any rude or suggestive comments to other players will not be tolerated.

If you have been watching the offline scene since 2012, you have got to be impressed with BladeZ on some level. Not because of his win streaks but because of his care and studious nature. He also has the ability to take up many surprise characters: such as Alpha at NEC 13, or beating Master with Momiji at TFC -- and how about the Eliot victories at Summer Jam? A character people thought would never have a chance at offline events taking out Kwiggle? No way!


Bladez is also someone that's known for his shenanigans and tricks as displayed in Sweet Revenge vs. Bladez at TFC...

NEC is not only an event, but it's a celebration to how long we've been around; and for how long we have been dedicated to Team NINJA's steep learning curves and incredible universe. To commemorate this event, at NEC 17 -- the most hype competitive tournament you will see, Team NINJA is giving away gifts including:

• I'm a Fighter PS4 DLC for Kasumi and Marie Rose (for entering the NEC DOA5LR tournament)
  
• Gold 20th Anniversary Pin (for entering the NEC DOA5LR tournament)
• Black 20th Anniversary Pin (TOP 32)

NEC 17 starts next Friday, and if you are not ready... are you ready now? The higher-ups of Team NINJA will be at...

As the final stop in the 2016 Battle Royal, NEC has been on the mind of the competitive community since early this year. As the most consistently well-represented major in the Dead or Alive tournament scene, there is always a great interest in the event, and not just because of the tournament itself. There have been announcements, giveaways, and, most relevant to this article, some really fun exhibition matches. This year will be no different! Today we are announcing an international exhibition match pitting the finest the US has to offer against our friends and community members from other parts of the world.

Being that exhibition matches do not need a whole lot of explanation, I'll just get right to the roster.

Representing the United States of America:
Crazy Steady (California)
SYN Static Shock (Texas)
Kwiggle (Delaware)
XCalibur BladeZ (New York)
Master (Texas)
Rikuto (New York)
H00dless (Illinois)

Representing the Global Community:
Soy (Korea)
Ebabil Guney (Australia)...

For all of our members, both those slowly coming out of a tryptophan-induced food coma and everyone else, we are here today to announce something that many of you have asked about:

A SALE!

Starting tomorrow, the 25th of November (specific time will vary timezone to timezone) a coupon code will go live on the Free Step Dodge Store. This code will apply throughout the entirety of the store and is good for 15% off of your entire purchase. The coupon code that you will be using is FSDTHANKYOU and will apply for the duration of the sale period ending the 28th of November. Grab yourself that 'We are Fighters' shirt you've been eyeing (conveniently pictured here) or check out some of the newer designs that have launched since the shop opened. Buying the 'I'm a Fraud' shirt so that you could give it to someone you beat in a tournament as a gift would also be a cool...

Team NINJA will certainly be watching the community at NEC 17 which will be the grand finale to our 2016 Battle Royal. Last year history was made within our community when JC Akira flew from Japan to destroy everyone with his vicious Akira. It was a bloody massacre.


Though it has been a year, and people have had time to study -- NEC 17 provides you with the proving grounds to see how much you have improved. This tournament has everything from the prize, to the prized fighter and will probably be the most competitive event the Community and Team NINJA...

GUTS has been doing a great job of representing DOA offline for a while now, and Last Round returns to the event this year. Expect to see some talented members of the community you don't normally get to see plus tournament regulars such as @LordXav1er.


Facebook Event Post

Dead or Alive 5 Event Streamed by Kombat Network (DOA starts at 5:11:40)

Live streams provided by:
Team Sp00ky Sabin (Art Sanchez) https://www.twitch.tv/teamsp00ky
Bifuteki https://www.twitch.tv/bifuteki
Punch-Kick-Block https://www.twitch.tv/kpblive
Game Underground https://www.twitch.tv/gameunderground
Kombat Network https://www.twitch.tv/kombatnetwork

Congrats Kwiggle at winning your third TFC!

The Fall Classic seems to get our competitive community all wound up as we have come to expect a serious level of competition from this event, and it has delivered year after year with exciting gameplay, artistic flow and explosive matches. Starting off in the pools we see character diversity, great competition and sportsmanship, new players and great offline growth. Tomorrow the hype continues with Top 8 streaming via Funky P @1:30 EST.

Quick Thoughts: Shockwave's Pai was awesome! We rarely see the character used at offline events and we got to see some great tech from a veteran Pai player. @coldpieceaj made a great comeback against @shazzmatazzles; great change to Sarah and great matches. Jennings was the first player to use Mai at a tournament to my knowledge, and it...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and in honor of this month I have decided that 20% of the price for the White & Pink Hoodies in the Free Step Dodge Shop will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at the end of the month. That's about $12 for every White & Pink hoodie sold. There are two options currently available for hoodies: Zipped and Pull Over.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organization which has raised $569.4 million to support clinical and translational research at...

While this might be a rumor for now the history posted on Steamdb would suggest that Core Fighters is definitely coming to the PC platform. Now while PC play has been a bit controversial in some areas, it would appear that Team NINJA is still supporting Steam players, giving everyone a chance to play a fighting game for free (with option of paid DLC characters) that is actually worth your time.

This might not come as too surprising since Team NINJA has accrued over 7,000,000 downloads on systems, and the recent release of Mai has also brought players from past versions of DOA5 back in as well as curious King of Fighters fans.

If you haven't played DOA5 yet, and would like to try it out please keep coming to FSD for all the latest updates on Core Fighters for PC, and you can also join the...

Three years ago the community blew the damn roof off at TFC with some truly kick ass matches -- and I believe it was one of the first times in our offline history that we were very strongly viewed by other people from the FGC displaying not only talented players, but incredibly fluid and well animated gameplay played at its finest.

Now here we are in 2016; and another TFC is upon us. Our community is a lot bigger now than it ever has been, and we are continuing to see players like you evolve their tactics over the years. Remember that this TFC has free DOA5LR entry; so now is the time to show how far you have come along.

This will also be the very first tournament to host our new character Mai Shiranui...