Hosted by The Gaming Stadium (TGS), Pinnacle 2021 was Canada’s first in-person event since the pandemic started. With Pinnacle starting on October 8th and concluding on the 10th of the same month, the event featured tournaments for some of the highly admired games by the fighting games community such as Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Melee, Tekken 7, Guilty Gear Strive, Street Fighter V and more.
With over 600 participants and tournaments held for 14 different fighting games, the tournament went by in a blur. This tournament was the first bigger scale open bracket for JWong, Kizzie Kay, and Punk in a while and the community was anticipating some good action-packed match-ups.
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
The Ultimate Marvel vs Capson 3 tournament saw a total of 23 participants with Jwong being the event’s fifth seed. Despite losing his first match against Flux, JWong showed his veteran skills and put them to great use defeating everyone in the Losers bracket. On his way to the Grand Finals, JWong met Punk, one of Panda’s very own. JWong came out on top, defeating Punk 3-1, and moved onto the Grand Finals where he got beaten 3-0 by Jibrill.
Street Fighter V
The Street Fighter V tournament saw a total of 41 participants and was rather uneventful for the Panda players. Punk had dominant showings through his bracket and met JWong in the Winners Finals. Punk made good use of Akira, the latest DLC character, and overwhelmed JWong’s Karin with offensive, safe pressure. Punk won 3-0 in the Winners Finals.
Despite the heavy loss, JWong made quick work of Bruce, beating him 3-1 in the Losers Finals and once again meeting Punk but this time in the Grand Finals. JWong won the first set 3-2 but the final set of the tournament was a nailbiter, with Punk clinching the victory in Game 10.
Guilty Gear: Strive
The Guilty Gear: Strive tournament saw a whopping 196 participants. With Pinnacle being Kizzie’s first offline event back, all eyes were set on him. But JWong had other plans and made quick work of Kizzie in the Semifinals, knocking Kizzie down to the Losers bracket.
Both these Pandas met once again in the Losers Finals and despite the 0-3 record against JWong prior to this match, Kizzie clutched it out winning 3-2. Supermoon’s Ramlethal was so formidable that he only lost two games that too in the Grand Finals to Kizzie. Supermoon emerged victorious against Kizzie but this tournament proved Kizzie’s worth as more than just a content creator.
Panda is glad to be participating in a LAN event with the community surrounding the players and we are looking forward to future events!