We are in the year 2025 and Dead or Alive 6 is still hanging on by a pretty strong thread in the offline tournament scene thanks to a great international effort from Japan representing DOA6 at EVO Japan and now North America representing the underrated fighter at EVO 2025. Our number one prerogative here at Free Step Dodge was to make sure that members in the community were willing to come out to Las Vegas whether the fighters are locals or are some distance away. You can see just by observing the official standings page that the mission was a success, and that Kwiggle came back for one of the biggest comebacks in his decorated Dead or Alive career.
There were some rumors of Team NINJA being involved which led to the idea of players thinking there would have been some kind of game announcement. That was definitely not the case here; this was an incredible DOA tournament that tested the current popularity of the game in the biggest way that it possibly could have been tested on God's green earth. No, it wasn't a main game at the show, but it was still at the biggest show, and this was a fantastic way to demonstrate that we can do things the old school way and without the help of the conglomerate.
The fact that the tournament was powered by Koei Tecmo and Team NINJA through prizes and promotion proves that good faith is being shown to the community despite the absence of a new game. Koei Tecmo still greenlit prizing for the event which they didn't have to do.
This EVO side tournament almost had 40 participants, and that's not too bad given that fighters only had a month to prepare for the event; I think I would go as far as to say the numbers were actually pretty good. The tournament wasn't streamed, but the results seemed to be kept secret for nearly a week. Lord Xavier and Uncle Viz added production to the matches, so you weren't just getting replays, but an overall experience with their commentary included between sets. There was some star power added to the panel as well with Emery Reigns making an appearance alongside promotion of the XFS Tournament series.
The spectator interface is really nicely done; and it was implemented to ensure that you know who is fighting and what matches are taking place. This is a common mistake when only recordings are offered, it usually means you're bound for a mess; but they've done well at presenting the overall package here. From the leaderboard graphics to the camera transitions - the editing was actually really nice and when it's done like this, I can trust it to be done like this again. Production made this look like a completely acceptable way to issue tournament content if streaming wasn't an available option.
Pool Highlights
Dragonfly and Shaz opened up the pools for us spectators and they put on a decent set, but you could tell right away that Shaz was playing DOA5, and that's fine because we love DOA5, but you got to use that meter. If this was DOA5, Dragonfly would have been in imminent danger as Shaz uses Ein, and her Ein was one of the few winning matches at offline tournaments back in the DOA5: Ultimate days. Her gameplay here still shined. I like the way she pokes at her opponents, but Dragon's Tengu came in with the full bag of tricks and he secured a convincing victory because of it.
Pools continued with Gendo showing off a bit with Brad Wong on TaichiFlow's assertive Leifang that just exudes the very essence and attitude of the character. Xavier and Uncle Viz both mentioned they didn't know who Gendo was, but they saw a spark in his gameplay even if he was beaten down by Taichi he stepped in with some solid gameplay and tech that had spectators talking while wishing the character was showcased more often.
Scarlet Hurricane came out with Tina and showed Dragonfly's Tengu the meaning of high-damaging reads, and while Dragonfly puts up a great fight with his character, Scarlet has definitely done some heavy lab training, and it was showing in his consistency throughout the set.
My favorite recurring character in pools was none other than Omen, who probably would have left Rikuto proud with his latest Bayman spectacle. Somehow this hardened player was able to exude the same level of pressure as AquariaVerse and TaichiFlow's pernicious Leifang. Both of these players had a go at Omen in individual sets and they both felt identical in the sense that they were moving quickly, there was little defense implemented; little zoning - just a bunch of smashing.
I loved Omen's Tank Roll depth; and what I loved even more was how he adapted to both of them after getting beat once by each with waves of kicking while being pinned at the wall. He proceeded to adapt with this movement, and he turned the tables masterfully on both of them. This is the kind of gameplay you hope to see at tournaments - heavies demolishing sound technicians. Both of these Leifang players were using sound strategy, but Omen was able to flip the table on both of them; and he did so with brute force,
Top 8
Hoodless vs MCD
Hoodless vs MCD When you see a matchup like this your interest is definitely perked up if you've been watching any of the more recent tournament series. MCD is practically undefeated at the monthly Z-Axis tournament and he's always getting into it with Dragon NINJA, another outstanding offline player. Hoodless being known for his participation this year with his own Hoodless tournament series and also an almost undefeated record at the 'Hold That' tournament series.
Xavier mentioned that when MCD started he was just a kid and that he grown into the premier Dead or Alive Jann Lee and I couldn't agree more. His skill with the character is unparalleled within DOA6 in particular and he's learned to challenge himself with every game he plays, and I think that's taken him a long way. But their first bout at the Chinese Festival? Hoodless completely destroyed MCD to a point where I was in complete shock.
It was like Anakin vs Dooku in Attack of the Clones. You have this incredible Jedi that is not just powerful, but a student of the game that gets completely outclassed in a riveting display. I like this comparison because Dooku had fabulous footwork and Hoodless' movement on those Dragon Gunners was unquestionably the best evasion of the move I have ever fucking seen. MCD took back some control in game 2 but and you could feel his frustration mounting a bit, but Hoodless didn't just come to win the tournament he came to make statements to players that dominate in other territories. Hoodless wins this set with considerable technical fashion in mind.
Scarlet Hurricane vs Omen This was an exciting set to me because I absolutely love the matchup, and these players delivered on every value that makes a great DOA6 bout. During their first match at the 'Muscle' wrestling ring this was a brutal exchange with each player respecting one another's throw game in favor of scouting pressure points in the match. Tina was connecting with better throws, but Bayman was paying better attention to the ring rope damage and edged her out with striking pressure.
If you don't believe in Dead or Alive 6, I strongly implore that you watch their first match and continue on. Omen takes first match triumphantly, but it's not without some insane resistance from Tina. BOTH of these characters roll and boy did they roll to the highest degree with Tina's forward roll and Bayman's famous Tank Rolls; this in of itself was a spectacle. Tina caught up to his level in game 3 and secured a visually glorious win that I'm not sure my words can justify.
Omen slowly brought it back in the final game of this set, and while he did win the final game 3-1 rounds, they both proved something to everyone watching and that was that unique movement evasion of characters is really well done and executed perfectly in DOA, and when it's done right in a high level match where both players have years of practice you can get something that truly looks like something out of an action movie. DOA is constantly living proof that fighting games don't have to be like the 'other games' which in my opinion have largely become, boring, snoozy combo fests with minimal animation and outlandish seizure inducing effects that hide a lack of creativity.
Oops... I did it again. Sorry. Moving on! But seriously... tell me one thing about this match that was unsightly or not fun to watch and I'll sit here and wait for the response. Go in depth with it and give me something to really sink my teeth into. I'm waiting!
SasameYuga vs XcaliburBladeZ Now while this set was one of the more decisive of the tournament, it does seem to also slowdown; especially compared to every other battle presented at EVO which have leaned towards high pressure and high risk. BladeZ has extremely effective forms of defense and we see that a lot here. He's not hitting his biggest combos because he's playing it as safe as he can. Yuga is poking around and getting damage in but he's not winning enough rounds.
Yuga is also the first player to switch character in top 8 from Hitomi to Kula Diamond. This switch seemed to benefit Yuga, and his damage was starting to come out better than it was with Hitomi. He got a round over on BladeZ which is no easy feat, but he struggled at getting around Mariposa's offensive holds, defense and combo timing. This won XcaliburBladeZ the convincing set.
MCD vs XcaliburBladeZ BladeZ has a superpower of being able to pull any character he wants out of the random bag and this time around Phase 4 was selected. Well, actually I think he probably planned to pick Phase 4, but it doesn't change the fact that his character pool makes him one of the most dangerous players to fight at DOA tournaments. MCD is the polar opposite with a desire to play Jann Lee exclusively and be effective no matter what trial may arise.
MCD is a lot more comfortable in this fight than he was with that lunatic Hoodless. This match really allowed him to show why he dominates his territory back at home and that he's ready to main event more tournaments that are outside of what he's accustomed to. While MCD (and BladeZ) dropped combos throughout this set, MCD was showing better combo-play than BladeZ was. I mean we will definitely consider the fact that Phase 4 is harder to use, but I think it should be addressed that this was a battle of seasoned technical veterans; and it demonstrates that everyone drops combos no matter what the skill level actually is.
There were plenty of moments where MCD showed his versatility, and while he couldn't get past the confusion of Phase 4 in the first battle, he turned things around for the second fight and won a game over the legendary BladeZ. MCD has solid read skills, combined with sick combos while being a natural at getting Dragon Gunner and various throws that make the fight look like an old Bruce Lee film. His knowledge of Phase 4 obviously isn't going to top his matchup skill against Hayabusa (just watch Z-Axis) but despite this he was still ready to drop technical prowess all over the Kasumi clone.
BladeZ won the set, sure, but MCD won the players over with multifaceted components to his gameplay that make him stand out as a character purist. BladeZ continues to impress the community with insane power plays such as picking Phase 4 to begin with, combining that element with beautiful Phase 4 cancels and tech.
Nykko vs Omen Now I have what might be a bad omen for Bayman... he's fighting Leifang... again! Sometimes people forget how good Nykko can be because while his presence is known; he doesn't just show up at every event, and if you sleep on him just because he's one of the most chill people on the West Coast? Well, you might get put in a body bag on the low! They kick things off at Lost Paradise and you can see that Nykko's combo fundamentals are still strong and present, more impressive than that was his mind games that took Omen to his limits.
Throughout this entire set, Nykko refused to respect Bayman's meter, and when Omen was prepared for that to happen; well, what do you know - Nykko finally respects it. For Dead or Alive I think this proves that the game has a killer instinct element attached to it where you just know someone is going to fall for one of your tricks, and sometimes things backfire. But that feeling of a raw download has always felt more satisfying to me than a long-guaranteed combo that leaves the opponent in the air perpetually bored out of their mind.
Their second and last match of this set was at Seaside Eden and Nykko had EVEN MORE tricks up his sleeve. Are you kidding me. Did you see that break blow after the pointless parry?? IT WORKED! Omen was destroying Leifang for a while, but he finally met his match here and I really liked Nykko's combo selection. It felt like the spirit of Leifang emerged from Taichi & Aqua and they were rooting on their fellow character loyalist! Nykko deflates Omen with style and with the spirit of Taichi!
Winner Final
Kwiggle vs Hoodless
Kwiggle vs Hoodless We're now going into FT3 territory, and this match is built like Cody Rhodes vs John Cena at WWE Summer Slam from a fan perspective. John Cena was not always liked in the earlier parts of his career because he won every match similar to Mr. Kwiggle when the Dead or Alive 5: Last Round iteration started in 2015. People wanted a new champion for years, or perhaps even a new poster boy for years. Everything seemed fine with Hoodless taking the mantle until he started doing the same thing Kwiggle did, winning every match and every tournament.
From the end of Dead or Alive 6's Team NINJA version update support through the COVID Pandemic to trying to return back to a normal Grass Roots system; Hoodless has dominated Dead or Alive 6 for half a decade. While Kwiggle hasn't completely abandoned DOA we've certainly seen far less of him, so an imminent victory over Hoodless just doesn't seem possible, but that is what we get in the opening game. We get a squash match where Hoodless starts things off with Leifang and he quickly gets smashed to bits by Kwiggle, I don't remember Kwiggle having an optimal Mai, but we now know what he's capable of with that character.
Before the second match starts Hoodless doesn't hesitate to switch to Zack. Perhaps he felt Kwiggle would underperform and realized that wouldn't be case in this set. We see a dynamic shift as soon as game 2 starts. They fight at the museum and Zack begins to mix-up Mai with Kwiggle showing little resistance in his combat. The speed of the match slows down considerably giving you the most defensive plays we have seen so far in the tournament.
Zack is getting most of the heavy offense, but Kwiggle is still showing him some combo work with Mai where he can get it. Kwiggle is able to get something going at the end of round 3 when Hoodless messes up on a read; predicting incorrectly with a grab while he's facing the wall. Round 4 was extremely competitive with back and forth combo exchanges that gave Kwiggle a draw advantage putting the fight into last round. Hoodless catches Kwiggle messing up on some combos and fully exploits it with a successful rebuttal and his signature low sweep for the game.
Now that they are fighting at A.P.O and have some long, but narrow space to take from one another Kwiggle & Mai zone in on Hoodless' Zack with speed and ferocity. Mai coming in with launchers and combos while knowing when to slow down and bait Zack into holding. Kwiggle's momentum was now set for round 2 and they both open with a forward crush, but Mai beats Zack out and I think this moment put Hoodless into a state of shock and Kwiggle quickly took him out with a dance of strings. Hoodless rushes in hopes for a round, but Kwiggle turns up his defense and pecks away at Zack with throws until Kwiggle secures his second game.
This is Hood's last change to stay alive in the set and he's picked Rig and he's got 'Road Rage' as his stage. The pace is set and Hoodless completely dissects and destroys Kwiggle here. From situational combos, to extended car combos to slip stuns and crushes; Rig is on a different level from Hood's other characters and it hasn't been anymore clear than now in this pivotal moment from the DOA6 world champion. Hoodless commanded this bout keeping himself safe for another fight.
Match 5 takes place at the top of Crimson and Kwiggle dives in dialing up his pressure to the maximum knocking Rig to the ground to quickly complete the first round. Rig continues to fight back but Mai is on top of her hard knockdown in the fireworks for continued bounce and continued damage. Kwiggle fumbles a crowd combo, but the wall fireworks and ground fireworks continue to benefit his playstyle, and he is able to defeat the DOA6 world champion in a fairly convincing fashion. Kwiggle takes the set!
Nykko vs XcaliburBladeZ While Nykko has always sported great mind games, mastered fundamentals, good reads and everything else required to be a great Top 8 player, BladeZ has always been extremely assertive to some of the best players in Dead or Alive history. It doesn't matter how good you are; there is a chance you will definitely fall victim to the finesse and power of BladeZ and his ability to pick any character he wants fucks with players; especially for those who haven't mastered every matchup.
Nykko fumbles the first game as BladeZ warms up with La Mariposa at Seaside Eden (which seems to be, as the commentators point out, a Leifang staple stage) and destroys Leifang with proper decision making and successful baiting. Round 2 starts at 'Muscle' wrestling ring and despite being a favorite level of Mariposa; Nykko gets two rounds on the board over BladeZ with one of these rounds being a 'Great.' Nykko was able to achieve this by pinning Mariposa to the wall adding that electric rope damage to Leifang's already high combo damage.
Leifang keeps the pressure on Mariposa and finishes off this match with clean sweep rounds and a forward offensive hold on the ropes. Everyone loved seeing Nykko take a win on BladeZ, but we have to keep things rooted in reality as we proceed to the third game of this set. Nykko steps up his pressure, and he fights back against BladeZ at the colosseum forcing BladeZ to hold and crush. This process nets him two rounds on BladeZ, but in this best of three, Mariposa has the baiting down since Nykko gives BladeZ too much respect when she goes into a back-turned position.
This hesitation sometimes gets you killed in high stakes matches like this and Nykko was defeated by BladeZ, but he proved to the world that he belongs in Top 8 situations whether he's playing DOA5 OR DOA6.
Loser Final
XcaliburBladeZ vs Hoodless
XcaliburBladeZ vs Hoodless My first reactions to this matchup was: are they insane? Then it went to: this is going to be awesome! You have two characters that are underappreciated by mechanical standards alone, and you also have two characters that share a storyline and the copycat ability making them two of the most powerful characters in the history of the franchise. Another father vs daughter situation that isn't Tina vs Bass. Hoodless has proven to have the best Raidou (even over Deity) because there is nobody that knows DOA6 like Hoodless knows DOA6; but that doesn't mean he's untouchable. Let's fade-in to this FT3 that writes itself.
This set starts off at 'Road Rage' with BladeZ being pressed by a series of annoying lows that throw Honoka's legs off guard. Hoodless loves his lows and he's going bust on those knee caps until he's ready to launch you into combo damage. That's a strategy he seems to implement into his gameplay better than just about anyone else across all of the DOA games he has played. Go watch the 'Hold That' tournament series if you don't believe me. BladeZ gets buried in the first game, but it wasn't a complete download and his throw game was looking really precise during the course of his whooping.
Second game begins at A.P.O and this is where we have a more intense game considering the incredible adaptation skills of BladeZ. Hoodless kept using 1P before following up with mid and high stun and this worked for the first game, and it worked in some cases here with BladeZ being more aware of it and with Hoodless realizing it was starting to be read. What cost Hoodless this set was ultimately what would have won him the set had he just kept doing his strategy despite it being read.
XcaliburBladeZ flipped the script on Hoodless by sticking to his strategy no matter what. His strategy being bearhug after bearhug. At one point he was able to get four of them in a row after already getting three of them in a row. It's one of those throws that throws people off and it's one of the best ways a player can reset not just the game but themselves. BladeZ secures the win for game 2, but it was not exactly a convincing win.
Their third fight takes place at Crimson and the whole match happens at the top of the map. Now the roles are oddly reversed once more with both players retaining their underappreciated characters. Honoka goes in for more hug 'n' lifts, but the throw strategy is being firmly acknowledged by Hoodless this time around. He's doing what I mentioned he should have done at A.P.O which is just to spam the shit out of that low sweep and by GOD did it work out here; especially at the end of the match when the mind game was already in play.
Game 4 has both players fighting at their peak with characters that aren't their mains, and they put on a great high level showing at 'Muscle.' Both players are dialing in and BladeZ is playing like a thief trying to crack open a safe. He's looking for what's going to work while eating a lot of damage from Hoodless in the process. What beat Raidou's solid 1P strategy ended up being BladeZ using H+K as a crush instead of going for a hold.
Both of these players fought hard, but in this matchup BladeZ found the winning combinations locking Honoka in as his final character and chance for this set. He strayed away from his throw game successfully and started looking for openings to poke and jab. With the last match BladeZ took everything that he learned in the previous bouts and applied it to convincingly get the third win.
Grand Final
XcaliburBladeZ vs Kwiggle
XcaliburBladeZ vs Kwiggle Now this is a familiar place to be that I remember very vividly from DOA5 with Kwiggle vs XcaliburBladeZ being, now, a missed experience within the community. These two always tear the house down, and they start their FT3 for a reset at Lost Paradise. Kwiggle opens the set with a round 1 'Great' and BladeZ follows up that horrible round with a round win of his own interrupting Christie's strikes with jabs while keeping the speed at the pace he chooses. Kwiggle uses Christie's speed advantage to win the next round - stripping Honoka of her defense to win. BladeZ misses forward P+K and is defeated by a poke.
Oh my God! He whiffed the booty! - Emery Reigns
This winning strategy continued in the next game as Kwiggle continues to keep his distance from Honoka at the colosseum while poking and lunging his way through BladeZ defenses. Honoka has some really cool copycat moves and among my favorite to see are Jann Lee's stance changes and while he implements those combos well with Honoka, these input abilities do not hinder Christie's insane pressure. Kwiggle continuously baits BladeZ towards the wall and just drills him with hard hitting combos and offense. He quickly secures his second win and all three rounds at the colosseum.
After this defeat BladeZ thought it would be right to switch to Eliot, a surprise pick at Summer Jam so long ago that turned into a full-time character that some consider his main. At A.P.O this turned out be a great character selection for him as he wins the first two rounds with precise reads, environment and combos. His defense has reset since switching from Honoka, but Kwiggle turns up Christie's pressure and speed since he doesn't want to give BladeZ a single opening in this tournament.
The rounds become more personal and closer. This is a classic matchup, but Kwiggle does know it better than he does with Honoka. You can see that with his reads and his holds that are now coming into play. Eliot responds with more delay and better defense, but Christie's speed is definitely a difference maker when you consider that Eliot is less safe. With all these variables against Eliot this is still a close match, but it is ultimately won by Kwiggle.
Congratulations to Kwiggle for his incredible tournament comeback and win over XcaliburBladeZ at the Grand Final. He takes home his share of the 1,100 USD prize pot and more memories fighting honorably with his friends. This EVO wasn't just a proclamation of DOA6's actual value, but it was the first time in a while that DOA fans and Team NINJA have shown good faith towards one another since the great fall of DOA6. Time will continue to heal this relationship as grass root tournaments continue.
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