But Kawano showed his growing character versatility, picking Luke and also getting a 2-0 victory over Justakid.įor Justakid, it was a very disappointing day at the office. He also got to play again against Justakid, whose Juri is perhaps the best in the world. He didn't show any nerves, and he took the game to give himself a leg up in the group. The score might have been a tad flattering, but make no mistake, Kawano IS the Evo champion, and his gameplay showed that. Kawano used his customary Kolin and defeated Philzz 2-0. Therefore, when he first stepped up against The4philzz, it felt as if he had something to prove, to remind people that he was the one who defeated the seemingly unstoppable iDom to win Evo last year. When the groupings first appeared, there was a temptation to perhaps consider Evo winner Kawano as in danger, especially with the pool of talent that he was up against. Group B is one of two 'groups of death' as it has a plethora of top-level talent, and the games we got were a reflection of that. But, seeing how dominant iDom has been, it is quite possible that there is only one spot left to fight for.

At the moment, it does seem like the top two spots will be fought over by iDom, Veggey, Oil King, and Takamura. Veggey got another shot against SolVNG and, this time, got a win leaving the two other American players in precarious positions. Group A also had Veggey, who faced Oil King but lost to the latter's Rashid. It was not enough against a determined Takamura who put himself on the board. Ronaldinho, unfortunately, lost his other match, which was against Takamura, despite pulling out a surprise Blanka pick. But this was nothing to iDom, who took the victory with no real trouble. SolVNG tried to deal with iDom's relentless pressure by using Falke, who has better zoning tools.

He did so in typically dominant fashion, winning both his games against SolVNG and RonaldinhoBR 2-0. Group A has the current Capcom Cup champion in iDom, and as expected, he was the favorite to top his group.

Day one results