EVO 2019 Street Fighter V Odds & Preview: Punk Listed as Slight Favorite
By Matthew Hempstead in eSports
Updated: April 2, 2020 at 11:15 am EDTPublished:
- The biggest fighting game tournament of the year runs from August 2nd to August 4th from Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
- Punk is ranked No. 1 in the world as he currently leads the Capcom Pro Tour in points
- Bonchan enters on a hot streak after winning back-to-back Premier tournaments
The best Street Fighter V players in the world are in Las Vegas from August 2nd to August 4th to compete in the biggest SFV tournament of the year.
Punk is listed as the favorite to win but there’s a ton of killers that could prevent him from lifting the EVO trophy.
EVO 2019 Street Fighter V Odds
| Winner | Odds |
|---|---|
| Punk | +400 |
| Tokido | +500 |
| Bonchan | +600 |
| Fujimura | +600 |
| Problem X | +800 |
| Fuudo | +1100 |
| Oil King | +1700 |
| Momochi | +2000 |
| Nuckledu | +2000 |
| Daigo | +2000 |
| Machabo | +2500 |
| Phenom | +3300 |
| Nemo | +3300 |
| Haitani | +4000 |
| 801 Strider | +4000 |
*Odds taken August 2, 2019
Don’t Mess With Punk
2019 has been an incredible year for Punk. He opened up the Capcom Pro Tour season with three wins at Premier events showing that he is the guy to beat. Thanks to those victories, Punk is the current leader in CPT points and he has a thousand points more than Tokido who is in second.
Aside from his long list of tournament wins, Punk also has back-to-back second place finishes heading into EVO. First a loss to NuckleDu at Toryuken, and then to Bonchan at VSFighting. In 2019 Punk has nearly always been in the running for first place and it’d be surprising not to see him in grand finals.
His only blemish this season came at CEO where he exited in 17th after losing to Smug and Sako.
It’s easy to see why Punk is the favorite but Street Fighter V has a lot of guessing elements that can effect the outcome of any match. With so many big-name players at EVO, it might be worth staying away from Punk for better value elsewhere.
Coming in Hot
Although Punk has more tournament wins this season, Bonchan is the guy entering EVO on a winning streak. It took Bonchan a long time to win his first Premier event but that all changed with his epic win over Fujimura at CEO.
He backed it up with yet another Premier win at VSFighting just a couple of weeks ago, where he ultimately defeated Punk after they traded sets over the tournament. Bonchan is simply running hot at the moment, and he just beat the guy with the best odds to win.
Fujimura is always a threat to win any tournament he enters. Prior to his loss to Bonchan at CEO, Fujimura got the better of him on his way to winning the 2019 Taipei Major. He started out the 2019 Capcom Pro Tour slowly but he’s found his form in perfect time for EVO. Don’t forget that he finished the 2018 season with the second most CPT points.
On the Cusp
If you’re looking for a longshot to win, there’s no better option than Machabo. His odds to win are way too low based on his recent performances. Since the end of June, Machabo has three third place finishes and those include very close losses to guys like Bonchan.
Machabo switched to SFV from other fighting games and has been rapidly improving. The +2500 odds are kind of disrespectful based on his recent placings. It’s really not that out of the ordinary to think that Machabo could win this tournament.
Pick: Bonchan (+600)
eSports Writer
Growing up, Matthew was in love with sports. So, following his undergrad, it only made sense to dive head-first into the world of sports media. Rather than sticking to traditional sports, Matt found his way to eSports and gaming. He also produces, edits and serves as an analyst for SQUAD.
