Obscure wins Tekken Online Challenge US East

The Tekken Online Challenge US East open tournament featured some long-standing Tekken pros from the western region. Player Jevante “Obscure” Flint entered the grand finals undefeated while Spero “Spero Gin” Gineros came as the final contender after a dominating run in the loser’s bracket.

While Spero Gin stuck to his usual main of Eddy Gordo, Obscure tried his luck with another favorite fighter of his, Ganryu. The pick may have been a breath of fresh air for Obscure, but Spero Gin immediately took the advantage of the rusty switch-up.

With Ganryu’s dropped combos and clunky movement, Spero committed to a slide and manage to cancel Obscure’s rage drive with a well-time mid-kick, winning the first game of the series.

Now back on his usual main of Alisa, Obscure retaliated with a better offense on the android. After a few solid low-block punishes, Obscure’s Alisa went into destructive form and hacked away at Spero Gin to tie things up.

By game three, Spero Gin was able to read most of Alisa’s quickfire sweeps and pokes, but he still had no clue on how to stop her juggle set-ups. With just one hopkick combo, Obscure pinned the Eddy player at the wall and finished him off with a punch-to-chainsaw follow-up.

Down but not out, Spero Gin utilized Eddy’s more mix-up-heavy kicks that everyone hates. With some solid launches in the final round, the Capoeira king managed to fool Obscure with another slide 50/50 that won him the tying game.

In the fifth and final game, Obscure chose Infinite Azure to make use of Alisa’s mobility and take away Eddy’s wall capabilities. After a well-timed flying power-crush that dodged Spero’s shoulder-charge, the two exchanged their usual 50/50’s and follow-ups.

Obscure started to pull away with an incredible Digital Lift launch that brought Spero Gin’s life to a sliver. While the Eddy player was still able to utilize his rage drive Negativa set-up, Obscure commited to a clashing mid kick that won him the final series.

With his undefeated tournament run, Obscure is now the Tekken Online Challenge US East champion and takes home a cash prize of US$500.

With the new online format, Obscure also had to face a final boss in Joseph “JoeyFury” Bennett for a chance to double his prize money. Unfortunately, JoeyFury put up a solid fight with his Marduk and sent Obscure home with no extra earnings.

The next Tekken Online Challenge will feature the EU North region on October 10-11.