Last night, the EVO lineup reveal was broadcast live on Twitch, hosted by Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar and Mark "MarkMan" Julio. The reveal show ran from 6 PM to 7 PM PST, featuring not only the main stage lineup announcement but a Q&A session at the end. The full lineup consists of:
- Tekken 7
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
- Street Fighter V Arcade Edition
- BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
- Guilty Gear Xrd REV2
- Injustice 2
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
The stream included a couple of nods to Smash's history, including Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios's sheer dominance throughout Smash Wii U's lifespan, with Mr. Wizard inviting him to return for one last tournament to try to reclaim his title. Mr. Wizard also brought up Jeffrey "Axe" Williamson's four-stock game over Otto "Silent Wolf" Bisno at EVO 2014, though he erroneously attributed this win to Justin "Plup" McGrath.
After revealing the full lineup, Mr. Wizard announced that GGXrd, Tekken 7, Melee, DBFZ and SFVAE will make up the lineup for Sunday finals, though the order they will occur in has not been announced yet. This will be Melee's fifth year with Sunday grand finals, returning after a brief break in 2017, when Smash Wii U was given a Sunday time slot instead.
During the Q&A session at the end of the stream, Mr. Wizard answered several audience questions sent in via twitter. The biggest piece of information to come out of this was the announcement that not only will there be more space allotted for side events than in previous years, but a side stage and official stream for side events are being considered.
EVO 2018 will run from August 3rd through August 5th at the Mandalay Bay center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Author's note: What are your thoughts on this year's lineup? How accurate were your predictions? Are there any side tournaments you're looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.