The first Mortal Kombat 1 major is in the books, and SonicFox has reclaimed the throne.
Three days of Mortal Kombat 1 competition unfolded this weekend at East Coast Throwdown 2023. As the first Pro Kompetition event, the stakes were high on the road to Final Kombat, and even higher with a generous $10K prize pool bonus. The ECT 2023 Grand Finals set up a classic showdown between Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and Jarrad “NinjaKilla212” Gooden.
Although various Johnny Cages and one Raiden made their way into the top eight, it was SonicFox’s Rain and Cyrax combination that proved difficult for all to overcome.
SonicFox takes Rain to the top at East Coast Throwdown 2023
Ahead of the Mortal Kombat tournament at East Coast Throwdown 2023, most expected SonicFox and NinjaKilla to cross paths. As fate would have it, the two NetherRealm legends met in Winner’s Finals, where SonicFox took down NinjaKilla's Johnny Cage and Raiden.
After overcoming a challenging matchup against Xombat’s Johnny Cage, NinjaKilla again earned a chance at redemption against SonicFox in the Grand Finals. NinjaKilla showed more resistance this time, but SonicFox’s Rain/Cyrax looked outstanding.
Despite winning two matches, NinjaKilla fell short, losing to the all-time great fighting game player 3-2. SonicFox took a character many did not have ranked highly on their tier list and showed what the Prince of Edenia can accomplish in the right hands.
Top eight results from MK1 at East Coast Throwdown 2023
- 1st: SonicFox (Rain/Cyrax)
- 2nd: NinjaKilla212 (Raiden/Cyrax)
- 3rd: Xombat (Johnny Cage/Kung Lao)
- 4th: Pulse (Johnny Cage/Cyrax)
- 5th: Rewind (Reiko/Darrius & Kung Lao/Goro)
- 5th: TheMightyUnjust (Kenshi/Sub-Zero)
- 7th: KingGambler (Johnny Cage/Cyrax)
- 7th: VideoGamezYo (Shang Tsung/Cyrax & General Shao/Sub-Zero)
Mortal Kombat character diversity on display at ECT 2023
There was no shortage of character diversity at East Coast Throwdown 2023. Beyond SonicFox’s Rain and Rewind’s Reiko, English player VideoGamezYo, delivered an incredible Shang Tsung paired with Cyrax. He took the character to the top eight alongside an equally impressive General Shao/Sub-Zero.
Just outside of the top eight landed players such as Deo, Grr, and Cease, who respectively brought Nitara and Geras to the top 16. Overall, East Coast Throwdown 2023 showcased that various characters are viable at the highest level, and Mortal Kombat 1 is still in its infancy.
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