The player made it to the top, defeating the biggest favorites on the way. The tournament also showcased how overpowered some characters are in the current meta.
The FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves (CotW) tournament during the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals was exciting and disturbing at the same time.
The level of competition was amazing! All the best players were here, and we could witness mind-blowing battles with some unexpected results.
Still, the character picks in the top brackets were too repetitive for proper battle balance.
Laggia wins the title and $1,500,000
The money prize at the SNK World Championship 2025 is one of the biggest in the fighting games esports. It was 2.5 million for FATAL FURY: CotW, including $1.5 million for the winner.
The Japanese player Laggia, who represents REJECT and Sanwa, claimed this amazing prize! His way to the top wasn’t easy, though.
Facing Xiao Hai, ZJZ, and GO1
To claim his Champion title, Laggia went through especially tough opponents. Zeng "Xiao Hai" Zhuojun is a menace within the SNK fighting games, one of the greatest competitors of all time. Xiao Hai won Evo France 2025. Tseng "ZJZ" Chia-chen is a two-time Evo champion, in 2018 and 2022. Goichi "GO1" Kishida is the FATAL FURY: CotW Esports World Cup 2025 winner and EVO 2025 champion.
- Laggia defeated Xiao Hai in the semifinal with a 3:2. The players exchanged rounds, and the winner was decided in the tough final game.
- In the winners final, Laggia won over ZJZ with a confident 3:1.
- GO1 was sent to the losers side by Tseng "ZJZ" Chia-chen, but he switched from Kain to Marco, made it to the grand final, and reset the brackets. Laggia still managed to win the decisive battle.
Laggia, a two-time world champion
It was pretty notable that many participants of the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals competed in all the games. SNK Corporation created a nice infrastructure for easy rotation between their titles.
Laggia is the FATAL FURY world champion in 2025. Also, he won the previous circuit for The King of Fighters XV. It’s a great achievement, and the player sure can take other big titles, so let’s keep an eye on his tournament performance.
Hotaru and Marco are in the building
One aspect of the FATAL FURY: CotW competition at the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals made the game and its esports aspect less exciting. There were too many Hotarus and Marcos in the top 8 brackets. Even beyond these characters, the picks were very limited.
- Four players in the top 8 were on Hotaru. Three of them finished in the top 4.
- There were two Marcos in the final brackets. GO1 started this trend back in Combo Breaker 2025, and it’s still strong.
- Billy, Hokutomaru, and Kain were all over the place during the tournament.
Still, some players picked even Ronaldo — Tyler "Diaphone" Kusich, and Salvatore — Charalampros "H-DOPE" Lamprou. There were Andy, Dong, and Preecha picks as well, but the top meta is still very one-sided.
With the addition of Chun-Li, the balance in FATAL FURY can change. Some nerfs and buffs may save the show side of tournaments. Meta adjustments can make the freshly announced SNK World Championship 2026 even more interesting to watch.
The esports dimension of fighting games never sleeps, but we have a break in the highest-level FATAL FURY: CotW competition.
The game is still featured at mid-tier events, such as Battle Coliseum 2025, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 16, and Frosty Faustings XVIII, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1.
