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The King of Fighters XV tournament at Combo Breaker 2024 surprised us with the number of character swaps made to adjust to different matchups.

It seems like SNK decided to change their approach to the regular fighting games esports event SNK World Championship — at least for the 2024-2025 season’s start. The King of Fighters XV (KOF XV) doesn’t have traditional qualifiers with standing points. Direct invites to the finals are given to winners of really big tournaments, such as Evo Japan and Combo Breaker.

Eugene Bozhenko

In fact, only two of the KOF XV competitors have qualified for the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals. ViolentKain joined the party after his victory at Combo Breaker 2024. It’s interesting to take a look at his run, and specifically at how the champion and top players were shaking up their KOF XV teams from match to match and even from game to game.

Combo Breaker 2024: Results

This fighting games event features 24+ tournaments, with a few global league qualifiers. Some of the biggest names in the community participate in them.

Eugene Bozhenko

The KOF XV results at Combo Breaker 2024

It’s not a secret that the game is popular in the Latin American (LATAM) region, specifically in Mexico. Three Mexican players occupied the winners side of the top 8 brackets — and eventually, they took the top 3 placements.

Wero Asamiya and ViolentKain defeated their opponents in the semi-finals and then faced each other in the winners final. Wero Asamiya won that match, but ViolentKain did not agree with such an outcome. After a close match against Koopatj, Wero Asamiya and ViolentKain played again in the grand final.

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Just look at the combinations of characters the top 3 players used for their KOF XV teams! It sure is important to have the right point, mid, and anchor to be efficient in specific matchups. But the top-level competitors went above and beyond with this concept, shaking up their team building for each round and causing the same actions by their opponents.

Interestingly enough, ViolentKain, Wero Asamiya, and Koopatj did not bring too many characters to the table. They just tried out different variations with the same “ingredients.”

ViolentKain wins an invite to the KOF XV World Championship 2025 cover image

It turned out that ViolentKain was slightly better in this shake-your-team game. He reset the bracket and then won the grand final reset.

ViolentKain is the KOF XV champion at Combo Breaker 2024. Congratulations!

Combo Breaker 2024: Results preview image

KOF XV SNK  World Championship 2025

ViolentKain won a direct invite to the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals. The only other participant is ET, who won the KOF XV tournament at Evo Japan 2024.

Evo Japan 2024 The King of Fighters XV: ET claims victory!

Read on for ET’s winning moment plus the final results and standings!

Amy Chen

We still don’t know when the next qualifier will happen and how many participants will be at the SNK World Championship 2025 Finals event. May we have traditional qualifiers later this year? Will the upcoming fighting gameFatal Fury: City of the Wolvesbe part of this league? Stick around onesports.ggfor all fighting games news and announcements.

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KOF XV top 8 at Combo Breaker 2024 (Image via start.gg)

KOF XV the top 3 players at CB2024 (Image via Combo Breaker)

Evo Japan 2024 The King of Fighters XV: ET claims victory! preview image

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