Who can stop the Echo Fox Duo?

Evolution 2017 concluded with Hyun-jin “JDCR” Kim from South Korea taking the title of champion for Tekken 7. Joined by his teammate, Jin-woo “Saint” Choi at 2nd place, the Echo Fox Tekken duo has concluded their midterm season with a resounding success across the board. Including their win at EVO 2017, the duo has won eight Tekken World Tour 2017 premier tournaments with JDCR ending 1st for six of the tournaments so far (the list of counting from beginning of 2017 and only tournaments the duo has competed in). The Echo Fox Duo of Tekken has become the players to beat and heavy favorites to win any tournaments they attend. With the final tournament for Tekken 7, the Tekken World Tour Global Finals (which will probably be named to “The King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2017”) only a couple of months away, will there be someone that can stop the Echo Fox Duo from claiming 2017 as the year of the Echo Fox for Tekken?
JDCR is arguably in his prime with Tekken 7, taking down many big names in the Tekken scene like Jae Min “Knee” Bae, who is considered one of the Gods of Tekken in Korea and Daichi “Nobi” Nakayama, the winner of the King of the Iron First Tournament 2015 and EVO 2015. At this point in time, there is probably no on that can beat JDCR in a best of 10 which I find it to be the Saint, while seeing the silver medal more than he would’ve liked, is also a powerhouse and arguably the best JACK-7 player in the world. With the title of EVO 2016 Tekken 7 champion under his belt, he is also a force to be reckoned with in the Tekken scene.
Here is a list of JDCR and Saint’s run in 2017:
Final Round XX T7 — JDCR (1st) | Saint (9th)
Battle Arena Melbourne — Saint (1st) | JDCR (2nd)
Combo Breaker 2017 — JDCR (1st) | Saint (2nd)
Rage Art 2017 — JDCR (1st) | Saint (4th)
CEO 2017 — Saint (1st) | JDCR (2nd)
Thaiger Uppercut 2017 — JDCR (1st) | Saint (3rd)
REV major — JDCR (1st) — Knee (2nd) | Take (3rd)
Evolution 2017 — JDCR (1st) | Saint (2nd) | Knee (3rd)
*retrieved from Shoryuken.com (http://rank.shoryuken.com/rankings/tournaments/T7)
In 2015, when Tekken 7 first saw its spotlight on EVO stage and the FGC circuit, Japan claimed both EVO and the King of the Iron First 2015 tournament. Looking to 2016, it looked as if Japan will dominate the Tekken scene giving South Korea a run for their money. However, 2016 proved otherwise. With the rest of the world waiting on the console release slated for June 7th of 2017, the Asian dominance was surely to continue in the Tekken scene. This proved to be true as Saint beat Knee during EVO 2016 Tekken grand finals, claiming the title of the first Korean champion for Tekken 7. Saint would go onto win the King of the Iron First Tournament 2016, leaving his mark as the best Tekken 7 player in 2016. With the start of 2017, Echo Fox signed both JDCR as part of their big FGC venture, marking the beginning of the Echo Fox dominance.
One of the interesting narratives in any competition is to see who can dethrone the best player or team on a winning streak. Some viewers may be bored by the fact it is the same two players from the same team in the grand finals repeatedly, but results speak for themselves; JDCR and Saint are hard to beat. Accompanying their solid execution and match-up knowledge is their strong mental fortitude that allows them to come back even from the worst of situations. This is exemplified by the match of JDCR vs JeonDDing, which was as close you can get in Tekken. With JDCR landing a critical low parry (a move where you throw an opponent into a combo-able status by predicting when they are trying to hit low) with a sliver of health left, he barely missed going to the losers bracket by the skin of his teeth. But the fact he had the focus at that point in time to predict a low from JeonDDing speaks for JDCR’s ability to focus regardless of the situation he is put in.
There are many players that can give JDCR and Saint a run for their money and are skilled players who are likely to make top 8 in tournaments they attend. While I could name players that could beat the Duo such as Knee and Nobi and other Gods and previous champions of Tekken (please come back Nin), but I want to mention something that I want to see happen for the Tekken scene in the near future; more sponsorship for killer international players.

Taisei is a known veteran Tekken player in Japan for his high rankings in the arcade leader boards, which is hard to do with the amount of players playing in Japanese and Korean arcades. Even though this was his first EVO for Tekken 7, he made it to top 8 in a tournament with 1278 confirmed registered players. Taisei would go on to place 4th place, which is still an impressive run for his first EVO appearance. While a Japanese player doing well in a fighting game is nothing new, the fact that this was his first EVO appearance and was able to make it out to the American tournament through a sponsorship with a travelling website tsubachan.com is interesting. If it wasn’t for his sponsorship to make it out to EVO, the general public would’ve never known his existence in the scene outside of enthusiasts.
There are players out there in the world that can easily make top 8 in tournaments and even possibly oust the Echo Fox Duo, but just haven’t found the opportunity to shine on the big stage.
If the King of the Iron Fist Tournament has taught us anything, that there are killers out in the Tekken scene that remain unknown due to their inability to fly out to tournaments overseas. Should these players acquire sponsorship, the tournaments would be more exciting as more top level players from all around the world can attend to prove who is the best. There are also online warriors on the console side who are itching to show their skills on the big stage as well. Much like the Capcom Pro Tour circuit, Bandai Namco have started their own system with the Tekken World Tour which gives chances for online players to join the ranks of pro players as well. It would be unfair to say that there aren’t many sponsors for Tekken because there are sponsors that supports the scene. But compared to other games, it can seem a bit lacking. However, the game is still young outside of the arcade release and with the promise of new characters in the near future and the growth of the pro scene, things can only look up for Tekken.

With more international competition and competitors, the level of competition can only rise and for the viewers, that is a good thing. With the conclusion of this year’s Tekken Pro Tour, here is hoping that big name Esports franchises start to invest more into the FGC and branch out to Tekken as Echo Fox did. Teams have invested in fielding a player for Street Fighter and Smash Bros., so why not Tekken? Heck, in the Street Fighter scene, players like Du “NuckleDu” Dang and Justin Wong of Team Liquid and Echo Fox respectively have sponsored players with their own money because of how good they are and wanted to give them a chance to compete at the biggest fighting game in the world. R/Kappa, a fighting game subreddit sponsors players to send to EVO and this year’s sponsor, T5M7, beat EVO 2015 Guilty Gear Xrd champion Ogawa and made it very far in the tournament.
The Tekken scene will grow and the players are there ready to show what they are worth. The viewership is also there and will grow as well. If you need any more proof, look at Echo Fox and see how well they did in 2017 in terms of their FGC investments. If things stay the way they are, it is very likely that 2017 onward might just be another year of the Fox for Tekken.
