8. Poongko's luck runs out
Poongko's run was special. He made it all the way to winners finals based on great reads and great execution. The problem is that they were just that -- great predictions, something that was bound to run out. Against Fuudo, a very technical and sound Fei Long that played slow and didn't take a bunch of risks, Poongko struggled. Daigo was throwing out random DPs and dropping combos. But Fuudo? Ha.
Poongko took a nice lead in this match until the usually conservative Fuudo pulled out the best single prediction of the entire top 8 -- an ultra to punish a Seth backdash. Poongko, the guy who had been randoming out everyone, gets the same treatment back in his face. To the losers bracket you go.
I think the Godsgarden viewing booth response was pretty cool -- -- it's hilarious how tame this response is compared to the Evo crowd. This showed me once and for all the difference between American tournaments and Japanese tournaments -- hype.
I feel kind of bad for Fuudo. Even while he was winning Evo, everyone was sleeping on him. This is his one big moment. Everything else was just dispatching everyone with surgical precision.
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xyzzy