Within Red Bull’s converted gaming house, the 15 best players in the world shared the stage in Paris. Over the next two days, the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour would draw to a close in the French capital.
This event, the World Tour Finals, was the culmination of a multitude of events which began in Madrid in June, and featured Japan, Singapore, Dublin, and even Las Vegas. Players who attended these events could win ranking points that would allow them to qualify for the World Tour finals.
And so, eight months removed from the inaugural tournament in Madrid, the top 15 players in the world gathered in Paris, with some even meeting some of their fellow competitors for the first time.
In the red corner: the players from Japan, led by Evo champion Goichi "GO1" Kishida and Shoj "Fenritti" Sho, the number one and two ranked players in world respectively. And in the blue corner: the United States, with their two main threats Jon "Dekillsage" Coello and Dominique "SonicFox" McLean leading the way.
The hosts were relying on a good performance from their sole representative, Marwan "Wawa" Berthe, who was previously victorious at Ultimate Fighting Arena in Paris. At just 18 years of age, the Frenchman took down the ferocious SonicFox in winners semis, before vanquishing his compatriot Kayne in Grand Finals to bring home the UFA trophy.
“I’ll never forget UFA. I had just signed with AS Monaco FC and I was full of confidence,” recalls Wawa. Since October, the best DBFZ player in France has produced a string of fine finishes: fifth at Red Bull Spain 2019, followed by a victory at Red Bull Saga on Japanese soil in early December.
“I never thought I’d make Top 3 at Red Bull Japan. In fact, I thought Top 8 was being quite optimistic. There were a lot of good players in the tournament who I never thought I would be able to beat. I started to feel the pressure from the quarter finals onwards.”
Being the most recent player to win a stage of the Tour, Wawa was expected to do great things at the World Tour Finals — moreso given that it was based in Paris, just four months after Wawa’s win at UFA. For the Frenchman, of all the players at the Finals, his main threats were obvious: GO1 was the most dangerous, while SonicFox the most unpredictable.
For SonicFox, unpredictability is unavoidable. The American is known outside of the FGC for their humour, their fair play, and their pro-LGBT stance. SonicFox was hounded by a relentless media as they strolled into the Finals arena. Journalists waited on the American’s every word, only relinquishing their pursuit of a quote mere hours before the start of pools.
However, the losing Evo 2019 finalist showed no signs of fatigue in their play, dazzling the other finalists with their mastery of the game. Even when playing casuals against their Japanese adversaries, SonicFox describes the person behind the player with their trademark flair.
"Taking this on helped me as a person, not as a competitor. Because I'm playing the game, and it's only me that does that." Then, they pause the game to emphasise their next point: "Right now, a lot of people don't take the opportunity to be themselves. This is even more important than the competition, and LGBT rights should be upheld all over the world. That isn't the case, So I want to talk about it as, to be honest, there's still a lot of things to do, step-by-step...."
Then, the American dives right back into their match.
Welcome to France, Tachikawa
Before the World Tour Finals had even begun, hundreds of people gathered at the Finals stage in Pavillon Baltard to take part in the Last Chance Qualifier, which rewarded the winner with the final spot in the main event. The winner of this event would round out a Top 16 which had been formed through months of tough competition.
It was an enticing prospect for the best players France had to offer, who flocked to the capital to duke it out. After a gruelling path through some of the best players in the nation, it was up to the second place finisher at UFA, Kayne, to take on the Japanese player Toru "Tachikawa" Tachikawa.
“French players are some of the biggest threats in the world,” says Fauster, a fan and a commentator for the French scene at the event. “When you think of the major players in Dragon Ball FighterZ, there’s Japan, the US, and France. There’s a good reason the World Tour Finals are taking place in Paris, after all.”
As for the favourite to win the Last Chance Qualifier, Tachikawa, the Frenchman also had a lot to say:
“Simply put, Tachikawa is doomed to always finish second. Everyone knows he’s a good player, but out of all the top players, he also seems to get upset the most frequently, and by a range of different players. He didn’t qualify last year; he made it to the finals of the LCQ but couldn’t win a single game there. But this year he’s been grinding, and he’s been to all the big tournaments.”
Tachikawa won enough points to be tied for 15th place before the World Tour Finals. In case of such ties, the tour defaults to “your head-to-head record,” according to Fauster. Given a loss to the Singaporean player Nicholas "Seo" Choo, Tachikawa was forced to try his luck at the Last Chance Qualifiers for a second year running.
This time round, the “eternal bridesmaid” snatched victory from Kayne, vanquishing him 3-0 in the LCQ Finals. Surrounded by the vibrant French scene in an arena designed to evoke the Tournament of Power, Tachikawa was unable to hold back the tears. His story, his road to the finals, couldn’t have been written more perfectly.
“If you go purely off seeding, the final of the LCQ was already in the books. But instead, the planets aligned for Tachikawa,” says TPK, who is known as part of a commentary duo with Fauster. He shrugs, and goes on. “Kayne was about to 3-0 Tachikawa in winners finals, but he forgot to hit a button, he threw it away. Tachikawa then reverse 3-0’d him, then 3-0’d him again in Grands and that was it”,
The Top 16
In the wake of this insane outcome, Tachikawa’s visible emotion and gratitude to the host country immediately won over the French crowd, long before the Top 16 had even begun.
“It was clear in his tears, in his emotion, that he’d done it. His single-minded dedication that day proved to us that he wanted that spot in Top 16 more than anyone else,” adds Fauster.
Now a full-fledged member of the Top 16, the new crowd favourite continued to impress. The Japanese player finished top of Group A, beating out a fellow Japanese player in Tsubasa "Maddo: Imai. Tachikawa qualified for the winners' side of the Top 8, which meant that he would guarantee himself at least a fifth-place finish.
During his run, the last-chance qualifier would knock out Wawa in pools, with the Frenchman succumbing to a 1-2 record during the Group Stage. The AS Monaco player was unable to make it further in the tournament and was visibly tense when playing on stage.
For the French commentators, “players learn things about themselves [in these finals] that can be very cruel and difficult to take.” The number of times Wawa has faced off against Maddo “can be counted on one hand,” according to Fauster, who mentions that, despite recent successes, Wawa’s lack of experience is plain to see.
While some players fall, others are able to rise to the occasion. The tournament offered up plenty of surprises for its competitors. Case in point: SonicFox finishing bottom of their group without winning a single match. but all the while putting on a show as they are known to do.
The American then lent their voice to compatriot Dekillsage — far and away the best American player left in the competition — their iconic vulpine regalia complimented by the blue-pink-and-white of the Transgender Pride Flag.
The Japanese player Ryota "Kazunoko" Inoue, previously victorious at the second iteration of Red Bull Japan in 2019, was also unable to make it out of pools, falling to Fenritti in Group D. Joan "Shanks" Namay Millones, who challenges Wawa for the title of best player in Europe, also drowned in pools, this time to GO1. Yet the Spaniard can always count on his fervent supporters, whose chant of “Padre! Padre!” still rings in the rafters of Pavillon Baltard.
“Wawa and [Shanks] go back and forth as the top player in the region. Shanks has slowly become an European icon at the start of Season 2,” says TPK, who acknowledges that the Spanish community has a reputation for being the loudest, despite a sparsity of players.
“This tournament has kept all of its promises, it’s incredible,” gushes Fauster, still basking in the success of the event. “Season 2 was better than ever, even if the GO1–SonicFox rivalry never really got a fitting conclusion. We’re heading towards a fully Japanese ending here at the event.”
A Crowd on its Feet
During the event, GO1 and Fenritti were at the height of their powers. Unlike the Last Chance Qualifier, it appears quite possible that the World Tour Finals were in fact a foregone conclusion. Dekillsage, the American, achieved a wholly respectable third, while Tachikawa bowed out in a fantastic fourth place.
The unrestrained story of the Grand Finals paid perfect homage to an event full of surprises. In Game 1, GO1 punished his opponent, inflicting an immediate perfect on his compatriot. Fenritti wasted no time with his response, answering back with a perfect of his own.
The game was being played at a hundred miles an hour, but the two remained evenly matched going into Game 3. The Japanese duo split the next two matches, sending the arena wild in the process.
However, it was GO1 who came out on top, outclassing Fenritti in the final match of the tournament with his solid fundamentals. The current number one player in the world let out a cry of joy and raised his hands into the air.
Victory came six months after his win over SonicFox sealed his coronation at Evo 2019, the biggest stage in fighting games.
When talking about GO1, TPK is unable to hold back his admiration: “When you’ve got a record, and a legend sharing the stage with you, you have to improve every tournament. After automatically qualifying for the World Tour finals, GO1 didn’t go to any other tournaments to give other players a chance to qualify, all the while training in the shadows. He’s an unbelievable player.”
“There’s still a gap between the Wawas and the Tachikawas of the world; these sorts of players still have a ways to go if they want to take on the top four, who are just on other level,” according to TPK, who has done so much to promote the French scene himself.
Both commentators were extremely positive about the event, as flawless organisation by Red Bull and Bandai Namco meant that the World Tour Finals went off without a hitch.
“There wasn’t a single problem, it was all smooth sailing”, recognises TPK, who also spoke warmly of the French crowd during the Top 16.
“We had a great atmosphere at [Red Bull] Kumite, and you could feel the same atmosphere here. People flocked to the event from all over the capital. We need to do this again!” concluded Fauster.
The title of Dragon Ball FighterZ World Champion may once again belong to the Japanese, but Bandai Namco’s closing announcements for Season 3 capped off a perfect evening for the European crowd. Not even erratic weather conditions could prevent the Spanish scene from getting their post-tournament group photo.
Even outside, they were still the loudest people in the room.
Image credit: Red Bull
