Killer Instinct World Cup is an annual fighting game tournament held in Texas, specifically focusing on the 2013 Killer Instinct reboot. The event's first incarnation was in January 2016 which featured Killer Instinct with a total of 32 qualifiers. The finals uses a double-elimination format and includes various tournaments as qualifiers such as EVO and Combo Breaker.
History
2016 season The 2016 Killer Instinct World Cup Finals was announced by Ultra Arcade's Brandon Alexander in December 2014, which initially had a $10,000 prize pool with 16 qualifiers, but was eventually increased to a $30,000 prize pool with 32 qualifiers. Four last chance qualifying spots were held as well. The tournament was won by EVO 2015 Champion Jonathan "Rico Suave" Deleon, who primarily used Shadow Jago in the tournament, however used Omen against Matt Rebelo in Winner's Finals due to the lack of TJ Combo matchup experience and Glacius in Grand Finals as a hard counter to Lenin "MyGod" Castillo's Sabrewulf. The EVO 2014 Champion, Emmanuel "CD Jr." Brito has notably tied for last, despite being seeded 3rd in the bracket. The #1 player in points rankings Kenneth "Bass" Armas was notably upset in the first round of the tournament to one of the Last Chance qualifiers Joshua "Waterhorses" Vargas, while managing to blast through Loser's Bracket, while bowing out to FlipSid3 Tactics' Darnell "Sleep" Waller. However, one of the most unexpected placings was Canadian player Rebelo ending in 3rd place while being sent to Loser's by Rico Suave in Winner's Finals, followed by being eliminated by MyGod in a Loser's Finals runback from an early Winner's Bracket upset.
Killer Instinct World Cup took place at the Fountain Bleu in San Antonio, Texas on January 30–31, 2016.
Killer Instinct Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Jonathan Deleon Rico Suave Shadow Jago, Omen, Glacius 2nd Lenin Castillo UA|MyGod Sabrewulf 3rd Matt Rebelo UL|Rebelo TJ Combo, Shadow Jago 4th Darnell Waller F3|Sleep Kan-Ra, ARIA, Glacius 5th Kenneth Armas UA|Bass Spinal, Cinder 5th Josue Herrera BH|Grief Sadira, Orchid 7th Keyshawn Johnson cR|Cupcake Sabrewulf, Maya 7th Joshua Vargas Waterhorses Glacius 9th Blake Whitworth YOMI|JagoBlake Jago 9th Nicky Iovene NS|Nicky Vengenz Fulgore 9th Christina Freeland PAG|PinkDiamond Maya 9th Paulo Duarte AKG|ShinPaulo Thunder 13th Larry Dent III LCD Orchid, Maya 13th Paul Ramos Paul B Sabrewulf, Hisako, Riptor 13th Deion Thompson Thompxson Jago 13th Chase Graves UL|ZergKiller Aganos, Spinal
2017 season The 2017 Killer Instinct World Cup was announced on April 5, 2016. The season would include more offline qualifiers than the previous season, as well as once again being a 32-man finals. In 2017, the KI World Cup issued a ban towards taunting and teabagging, following its frequent practice by NuckleDu in Street Fighter V. This would spark controversy from the fighting game community with members such as Echo Fox pro SonicFox and Iron Galaxy Studios dev Adam "Keits" Heart speaking about their disdain regarding the ban. Lab monster Javits used Daigo Umehara's playstyle from EVO Moment #37 as a reference to mention that enforcing such rule would be impossible. The teabagging ban would later be revoked following the controversy surrounding the rule, while there is still zero tolerance policies for threats and sexual harassment.
The event took place from March 10 to 12 of 2017. The Kilgore DLC raised more than $50,000 towards the 2018 season's prize pool.
The 2017 edition is the most recent completed Killer Instinct World Cup on record.
Killer Instinct Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Darnell Waller F3|Sleep ARIA, Kilgore 2nd Calvin Phelps Storm179 Hisako 3rd Deion Thompson BH|Thompxson Jago 4th Nicholas Iovene Circa|Nicky Fulgore, Mira 5th Joshua Vargas BH|Waterhorses Glacius 5th Dayton Jones UA|Wheels Sabrewulf, Tusk, Orchid, Gargos 7th Jonathan Deleon Rico Suave Gargos 7th Demandre Pressley MT|LetalisVenator Aganos, General RAAM, Omen 9th Kenneth Armas UA|Bass Spinal, Mira, Cinder 9th Rob Doherty HW|Valoraxe Cinder 9th Samuel Mora TBS|Sickle Glacius 9th Larry Dent III LCD Maya, Orchid, Gargos 13th Latrell Thomas BH|Amenty Mira, Maya, Gargos 13th Damien Walton Selfless|Fiyah Liger Riptor 13th Damian Gonzalez Raven is Raw Spinal 13th Matt Rebelo STDx|Rebelo TJ Combo
References
External links Killer Instinct website Ultra Arcade Facebook Page