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. 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) smack talk after the round.

"It's easy to say that when you main Bugs and Velma. Don't worry, runback incoming," tweeted NAKAT in response.

Multiversus EVO 2022 winners VoiD and NAKAT

(Image credit: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)

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 EVO interviewer Sharpie.

Nakat and VoiD are notorious veterans of the competitive Super Smash Bros 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 is getting a singleplayer and cooperative Classic Arcade Mode in Season 1, 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.

Multiversus EVO 2022 winners VoiD and NAKAT

(Image credit: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

Read more
The Joker in MultiVersus
MultiVersus is somehow using its dying breath to go full looney tunes and put out what may be one of its best patches, and now fans want it to be saved
Multiversus
Warner Bros. says that's all, folks for Multiversus: The next season will be its last, but you'll be able to play offline 'for the foreseeable future'
Mister Fantastic giving a thumbs up
'Who planned this garbage?' Streamers unite in slamming the official Twitch Marvel Rivals tournament for last-minute rule changes and unbalanced chaos
The Joker as he appears in a trailer for fighting game Multiversus
The true victims of Multiversus closing are the people who bought that $100 Founder's Pack
Mister Fantastic mid ultimate
The best part of Marvel Rivals Season 1 is Mister Fantastic's obnoxiously fun chest-bump attack and his ridiculously OP kit
Mai in Street Fighter 6 with flaming fans
Mai in Street Fighter 6 isn't just good—she has me howling for Capcom vs. SNK 3
Latest in Fighting
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Dancouga blasting the heck out of Mazinger Z in crossover mecha fighter Iron Saga VS
This fighter is Marvel Vs Capcom for classic mecha anime sickos, launching into early access with a strategy RPG story mode on its heels
The four Ninja Turtles, back to back, slam their shells into Brainiac
Great moments in PC gaming: Injustice 2's over-the-top super moves
2XKO promo image - Ahri
2XKO fans despair for a 2025 release as Riot pushes back a planned 'larger-scale global playtest' in favor of a 'much smaller one'
The Joker in MultiVersus
MultiVersus is somehow using its dying breath to go full looney tunes and put out what may be one of its best patches, and now fans want it to be saved
Virtua Fighter 5 key art
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. isn't just a PC port of a 19-year-old game: it's the reason a diehard fighting game community can 'finally reach out and play with each other across the world'
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway