The King of Fighters XV tournament at Combo Breaker 2024 surprised us with the number of character swaps made to adjust to different matchups.
It seems like SNK decided to change their approach to the regular fighting games esports event SNK World Championship — at least for the 2024-2025 season's start. The King of Fighters XV (KOF XV) doesn’t have traditional qualifiers with standing points. Direct invites to the finals are given to winners of really big tournaments, such as Evo Japan and Combo Breaker.
In fact, only two of the KOF XV competitors have qualified for the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals. ViolentKain joined the party after his victory at Combo Breaker 2024. It’s interesting to take a look at his run, and specifically at how the champion and top players were shaking up their KOF XV teams from match to match and even from game to game.
The KOF XV results at Combo Breaker 2024
It’s not a secret that the game is popular in the Latin American (LATAM) region, specifically in Mexico. Three Mexican players occupied the winners side of the top 8 brackets — and eventually, they took the top 3 placements.
Wero Asamiya and ViolentKain defeated their opponents in the semi-finals and then faced each other in the winners final. Wero Asamiya won that match, but ViolentKain did not agree with such an outcome. After a close match against Koopatj, Wero Asamiya and ViolentKain played again in the grand final.
Just look at the combinations of characters the top 3 players used for their KOF XV teams! It sure is important to have the right point, mid, and anchor to be efficient in specific matchups. But the top-level competitors went above and beyond with this concept, shaking up their team building for each round and causing the same actions by their opponents.
Interestingly enough, ViolentKain, Wero Asamiya, and Koopatj did not bring too many characters to the table. They just tried out different variations with the same “ingredients.”
Related articles
It turned out that ViolentKain was slightly better in this shake-your-team game. He reset the bracket and then won the grand final reset.
ViolentKain is the KOF XV champion at Combo Breaker 2024. Congratulations!
Placement Player Team | 1st Tengu X Crew | ViolentKain Iori, Ryo, Kyo / Geese, Ryo, Rock / Geese, Ryo, Iori / Kyo, Rock, Ryo / Ryo, Iori, Rock / Ryo, Rock, Iori / Rock, Ryo, Iori | 2nd CintaNegra Esports | Wero Asamiya Geese, Ryo, Yuri / Yuri, Geese, Ryo / Geese, Yuri, Ryo / Ryo, Yuri, Geese | 3rd Koopatj Yashiro, Ryo, Benimaru / Yashiro, Isla, Benimaru / Geese, Benimaru, Rock / Yashiro, Rock, Benimaru / Rock, Geese, Benimaru | 4th Rylander Clark, Kim, Heidern | 5th Nemesis | RocklandKyo Shun’ei, Benimaru, Iori | 6th Team Nests | Yurikov Meitenkun, Blue Mary, Isla / Isla, Blue Mary, Meitenkun | 7th Dechimo Angel, Kukri, Geese | 8th Brightside Yuri, Benimaru, Isla |
KOF XV SNK World Championship 2025
ViolentKain won a direct invite to the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals. The only other participant is ET, who won the KOF XV tournament at Evo Japan 2024.
We still don’t know when the next qualifier will happen and how many participants will be at the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals event. May we have traditional qualifiers later this year? Will the upcoming fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves be part of this league? Stick around on esports.gg for all fighting games news and announcements.
