Going into Evo, who woulda thought that Rog, Marlinpie, Clockwork, Richard Nguyen, Fanatiq and Zak Bennet would not make top 32.
And Pzpoy, TooMuchDamage, Meep, Hi Im Nastyy, Jan, Stone, Mr Naps and Kinderparty to make top 32, with all due respect
It's a matter of brackets man, most of those players are around the same skill level.
Fanatiq got hit by a tough bracket and was put up against the Mexicans, two wild cards no one had seen before. While Fanatiq was looking good last EVO, this year he might do even worse so don't hold your breath for him.
MarlinPie has always been a hot and cold type player anyway so this was not shocking.
Clockwork getting bopped by Mamespider was unexpected no question about it, I would've expected him to go higher.
Richard Nguyen between Vanilla and Ultimate got a little side tracked with real life stuff so his performance was expected. Now though he is looking in good shape with a strong team suited to his playstyle (btw you never asked me about Zero/Dante/Strider, I think that's like a 9/10 minimum).
Rog had an absolutely shit team for EVO. People used to berate on me for calling out PRRog's bad team because he managed to still get wins but EVO was a wake up call for him. Immediately he went in the lab and came up with his current team. He should go much further this year that is for sure unless of course he gets hit by a tough bracket.
Zak Bennet got a tough ass pool which is what happened to Abegen as well. He was in a pool of death and not only that but he had to face off against another FB player IIRC. This year though because he got a bunch of seed points his pool should be a breeze for him, I like him for top 32 this time around.
The players who made top 32 from that list are good enough to make top 32 as they have placed before.
.
Whens the last time we've even seen Zak Bennet or Tokido play against competent players? Maybe Kuwait Battle Royale for Tokido? Not enough info to say either way, especially considering everyone else has levelled up too.
Nemo is good, just don't know if I have confidence in his matchup knowledge, same goes for every international player that isn't KBR.
Tokido recently played against Justin Wong at some International tournament (SEA I think?). He got bopped by Justin of course but was still looking decent. Zak Bennet is Europe's finest along with White Black. Zak Bennet has played against competent players before and has done well against them, at least in casuals and long sets though so you know he has the skill and tech.
Nemo has match up knowledge... I am more concerned about the fact that he doesn't like using snap back at all which will bite him in the ass. Dude just oozes confidences, not a single fuck is given when he is playing the game.