Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Since its release last year, competitive Mortal Kombat 11 has unfolded across venues around the world. The fighting is almost at an end, as Final Kombat weekend is now here. The top 16 players in the game are all flying to Chicago, IL, home of NetherRealm Studios, where they will do battle to become the world champion. The action unfolds from the Park West Theater and Shacknews is here with everything you need to know.
Let's address the elephant in the room immediately. In the wake of multiple events being cancelled, including more than a few in the esports space, over coronavirus concerns, it's reasonable to ask if Final Kombat is still going down. The answer is a resounding "Yes." Final Kombat will move forward, as scheduled. The teams at Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios will take necessary precautions, but the competition is set to continue uninterrupted.
Update: On Friday afternoon, the decision was made to cancel the live tournament and hold Final Kombat with no audience.
According to Smash.gg, the Final Kombat prize pool sits at $100,000. Here's how the prize money is set to be distributed:
The Final Kombat Top 16 will come down to 16 players, with 12 of them having qualified by placing atop the points standings in the Mortal Kombat 11 Pro Kompetition and three others by winning regional tournaments. One more will be added this Saturday via the Last Chance Qualifier. Over 100 entrants will compete to be the final name added to Sunday's Top 16. All matches will be best-of-three until the Top 8. All Top 8 matches will be best-of-five.
Among the players set to compete in the Last Chance Qualifier are George "Grr" Foulkes, Matthews "Biohazard" Commandeur, Zoulfikar "Kombat" Dayekh, Steven "Coach Steve" Delgado, Juan "BeyondToxin" Contreras, Christian "Forever King" Quiles, Carl "PerfectLegend" White, and Bryant "Kitana Prime" Benzing. The pools and Top 16 bracket for the Sunday finals can be found on Smash.gg. The Last Chance Qualifier will begin Saturday, March 7 at 1PM ET/10AM PT.
The Last Chance Qualifier winner will then join the remaining 15 players and will advance to meet Sayed "Tekken Master" Hashim Ahmed in the first round. The Top 16 will meet in a double elimination bracket. Here are the brackets:
The Final Kombat Top 16 begins Sunday, March 8 at 12PM ET/10AM PT. All matches are best-of-three until only eight players remain. The Top 8 will then shift to best-of-five.
All of the action can be seen live on the NetherRealm Twitch channel.
This is a big weekend for NetherRealm and for Mortal Kombat 11 as a whole. If you missed the news earlier in the week, Mortal Kombat 11 is currently having a free weekend promotion on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
But that's not all! The R-rated trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge will also be shown over the course of the weekend. And for the main event, attendees and those watching at home will get to watch the first gameplay trailer for Mortal Kombat 11's Spawn DLC.
To further commemorate this occasion, Spawn voice actor Keith David, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Shang Tsung actor Cary Tagawa will all be in attendance, along with many other personalities from across the MK world.
NetherRealm will regularly update the Mortal Kombat YouTube channel with full matches that can be viewed on demand.
Shacknews will be in attendance at Final Kombat this weekend. We'll be sure to keep a close eye on the action, as well as any announcements that come from the tournament. For more, be sure to check out our continuing Mortal Kombat 11 coverage.