First MultiVersus tournament ends in $10k upset as underdogs break Bugs/Velma meta

Sweeping the best of five finals 3-0, players NAKAT and VoiD have upset the expectations of everyone by winning MultiVersus’ first big tournament at EVO 2022. Why was it such an upset? The duo did so by employing characters that are off-meta, ones rarely listed as high-tier on common character rankings. 

Six of the teams in the top eight had Velma, while three had Bugs Bunny. Everyone agreed that it was one of the top combos available, with statistics saying that Bugs was far and away a favorite among the top competitors in the game. (opens in new tab) Velma is the ideal support, with heat-seeking word bubbles and a megaphone attack with near-unlimited range. Bugs, meanwhile, has superb zoning to edge out opponents. 

NAKAT and VoiD knew that, as their grand finals opponents RoseJ and mirrorman had knocked them down into the losers’ bracket in a 1-3 round earlier that day. “I’m not surprised,” said mirrorman in a bit of (to be clear, friendly (opens in new tab)) smack talk after the round.

“It’s easy to say that when you main Bugs and Velma. Don’t worry, runback incoming,” tweeted (opens in new tab) NAKAT in response.

NAKAT and VoiD brought Tom and Jerry and Wonder Woman to both matchups. Tom and Jerry are good, projectile machines that excel as support in team combat. Wonder Woman is probably slept on, a character who makes her team durable and has a strong attack set, but whose attacks execute slow, requiring professional-level spacing and timing to play.

“This is my best friend … Just being on this stage with him is enough. But, I’m ready to stop the Bugs/Velma meta,” said Nakat in an interview just after winning their finals in the Loser’s bracket. He’d known—he posted a doubles tier list to his YouTube just a week ago saying Bugs and Velma were top tier characters.

The match is a great example of how in esports, the metagame before a tournament isn’t always the metagame once pros start to flex their skills. NAKAT and VoiD will win $5,000 each, splitting the $10k grand prize.

“This team did not come to just play, they came to slay a meta,” said interviewer Sharpie.

For their part, Nakat and VoiD were in a pretty good mood about it. Both players are notorious veterans of the competitive Super Smash Brothers scene, both on their own and as a duo, where they almost never place out of the top 10 of any given tournament. For now, at least, they’re the best duo that MultiVersus has to offer. RoseJ and mirrorman are relative newcomers to the fighting game tournament scene.

In other news from EVO, MultiVersus (opens in new tab) is getting a singleplayer and cooperative Classic Arcade Mode in Season 1 (opens in new tab), which doesn’t have a release date after the recent delay.

Anyway, congratulations NAKAT and VoiD, your EVO 2022 MultiVersus champions. Serious swagger on this official picture.