PAX East 'Almost Pro' $10,000 Tekken 8 Tournament Ends in Epic Fashion

At the end of Sunday’s top 24 tournament, it was JoeCrush and his Jack 8 who took home the championship belt. JoeCrush had an impressive 8-0 finish in the Top 24 tournament after dominating his way through the pools and qualifying for the event. During the grand finals, JoeCrush faced off against PLing, who was playing Ling Xiaoyu. PLing was on the losers’ bracket side of the grand finals, meaning that for JoeCrush to be defeated, he would have to lose to Pling twice in a best-of-five set. The first half of the set was heavily in favor of JoeCrush’s opponent as well, but PLing was able to win two of the first three games.

Then, with the score at 2-1, JoeCrush seemed to figure PLing’s Xaioyu out and string together a series of four straight rounds and tie the match up 2-2. With the score tied, the players traded rounds. JoeCrush locked in for the fifth and final round of game five and proceeded to find a combo against Xaioyu with about 70% health remaining that was able to carry PLing’s character across the screen and impressively finish them. The final combo showed how well-earned JoeCrush’s victory was, as well as his mastery of the character. Despite Jack 8 being a lightning rod for Tekken 8 Season 2’s overly aggressive balance criticisms.

Final Thoughts

With his first place victory JoeCrush will take home the coveted championship belt from the event. The rest of the top 8 placed players all recieved PAX East Almost Pro Tekken 8 Open medals. All of the players who made the top 24 of the event got their hands on a part of the cash prize, with JoeCrush taking home the biggest chunk with a cash prize of $3000. It was an exciting event, and you can watch the entire replay on the PAX Arena YouTube channel. This tradition of PAX hosting super majors will continue at PAX East in Seattle.