EVO 2013 King of Fighters XIII Finals

The crowd roars and cheers for their favorite top player to win and be crowned the King of Fighters XIII champion. As someone who has played a little bit of King of Fighters, I have a newfound respect for these top players.

The input scheme for the moves are so precise and complicated that it takes a lot of time and dedication to get good at this game, let alone reach competitive level. Gotta have a huge love for the game to get far in competing. With that said, KoF XIII was a great game to start out the finals of EVO 2013 on Sunday.

The loser's bracket is an uphill battle for anyone this close to the top. You are fighting against the best players in the world and you cannot lose once or you else are out. Many top players have fallen because of one slip up or one dropped combo, so you have to be at your top game at this level.

Many of the matches between these top players had moments of 'oohhs' and 'aahhs.' One such match was against Cafe ID| Mad KOF, last year's champion of KoF XIII, against Hee San Woo. It was down to the wire with both players having their favorite characters knocked out one by one, but it was ultimately Hee San Woo who was victorious, putting the former champ into this loser's bracket.

There was a clear favorite to win, and it was not Hee San Woo. Sure, he had some fans in the audience, but the one that got the most support was Reynald. Not only did he take out MadCatz very own Tokido, but he also knocked Mad KOF out of the competition.

Now that the past champion was out, the question now became who was going to be the new king? Would it be the crowd favorite Reynald or the powerful Hee San Woo?In the last match of the competition, these two competitors went head to head.

At first, it looked like Hee San Woo was going to take it with the immediate two-set victories. Just one more and he would be crowned. However, Reynald was not about to give in, and he ended up taking the next three sets, resetting the bracket and taking the competition to the grand finals.

Whoever won the first three matches would be crowned the King of Fighters. It just goes to show that if you back Reynald into a corner, he will fight back. He did just that as he took the first three sets in a row, winning the competition and became the champion of King of Fighters XIII at EVO 2013.

A great start to an ultra hyped competition! Stay tuned for more finals coverage of EVO 2013!

EVO 2013, finals, King of Fighters XIII, KoF13, Reynald