Top 5 Moments of WePlay Dragon Temple

Now that we've all had a couple of days to calm down and recover, we can look back on what was an excellent tournament and one of the best FGC-centric events of the year.

The WePlay Dragon Temple tournament took place between December 10–13 to wild praise with both casual fans and FGC stakeholders left impressed by the level of organization and pizzaz that the event possessed.

The WePlay Dragon Temple tournament was held in the resplendent WePlay Esports Arena Kyiv, with players competing for a $60,000 prize, which is one of the largest for a fighting game community event in recent times. The competition also saw some of the best talent available, including Kitana Prime, Big D, and Mr. Aquaman, all acting as analysts. Ketchup and Mustard were joined by HBTWarrior and Mitsuownes on commentary duty. Also, Kyle 'Kyle' Freedman played the role of host for what was set to be a memorable tournament.

As you may know, Tekken Master emerged as the winner, taking it over F0xy Grampa in an enthralling finale, which he won 3-0.

Beyond that, over the 3 days, a lot of stuff happened, some of which might have been missed by the casual observer. In this article, I'll like to look back and point out the top 5 moments of the just concluded WePlay Dragon Temple tournament.

Have I mentioned how sick the WePlay Esports arena looked?

The infamous F0xy Grampa pop-off

F0xy Grampa is one of the best Mortal Kombat players in the world. However, more than that, he is a force of nature with a personality that you either love or hate. When it comes to putting on a show, there are few better players well suited to doing that. If you had to pick a villain for WePlay Dragon Temple, it would be F0xy Grampa. As he always says, for him, it's more about 'denying victory' than winning. He did this with aplomb during the event, terrorizing most of his opponents and disrespecting them at every turn. The player who perhaps suffered this the most was Hayatei whom he faced on the first day of the group stages. Hayatei, who endured a pretty dismal first day, suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of F0xy, who wasn't content with simply winning but doing it in the most disrespectful way possible. So, once he won the match, he performed a Fatality. Hayatei, like most players, exited the game at this point, which led to F0xy Grampa looked across at his opponent with what looked like slight, friendly irritation. This came after he teabagged Hayatei in an earlier game (he did this to a lot of people). F0xy Grampa made it all the way to the final, but this would not be the last time he and Hayatei make this list.

MK_Azerbaijan's Rain

Okay, so maybe this is cheating a little as this doesn't pertain to a particular moment, but rather the entire tournament. The WePlay Dragon Temple tournament featured some great Mortal Kombat players, including Asodimazze, Avirk, Grr, Dubasik, Konqueror, and so on. But there were a couple of players that fans weren't well acquainted with, including Hadoken from Ukraine and MK_Azerbaijan, from...you guessed it, Azerbaijan. Not well known in the scene, MK_Azerbaijan came into the tournament as something of a dark horse and was one of the big stories apart from Avirk, who was playing in his first-ever offline tournament. It soon became evident that MK_Azerbaijan was an amazing player, and his use of Rain to such great effect was so surprising as the character is still pretty new to the game.

MK_Azerbaijan made it out of group B in 3rd place behind Tekken Master and Grr, and while he didn't go too far in top 8, his contribution to the Mortal Kombat tournament will be remembered for some time.

Grr's emotional farewell

If F0xy Grampa was the most entertaining player at the tournament, George 'Grr' Foulkes was the most wholesome. The American Geras player was the emotional center of the entire event, which is interesting considering how violent a game Mortal Kombat is. Grr is a top player, and he showed his worth all through the tournament, getting to top 8 and really performing like the world-class Mortal Kombat player he is. He faced off against Avirk and ground out a tense winning before losing to F0xy and dropping to losers. There he came up against Hayatei and ultimately lost. The look of disappointment on his face at the end of the set broke hearts all over the world, and he was soon getting loads of encouragement on social media from fans (myself included) and colleagues. In the end, he joined Big D, Mr. Aquaman, and Kyle on stage to give an emotional interview that only served to highlight his passion and commitment to the game.

The 'Good vs Evil' Losers Final

As mentioned earlier, if the WePlay Dragon Temple event were to have a villain, it would definitely be F0xy Grampa. The Mortal Kombat pro was a constant thorn in every competitor's flesh, and he sought to inflict more pain on Hayatei in the Losers' final. Using a Sub-Zero pick that we hadn't seen all tournament, he squared off against Hayatei's Fujin. If the Canadian was disappointing during the round-robin group stage, he was a completely different beast in top 8. While initially losing to Tekken Master, he was soon tearing everyone apart in the losers' bracket. He eventually came up against F0xy for a chance to make it to grand final, and the fight was epic!

F0xy raced into a 2-game lead, threatening to get into the final at a canter, but he was in for quite the surprise against Hayatei. With the help of some stellar gameplay, Hayatei brought the game back 2-2. The final set was so close, but eventually, F0xy was able to clutch it out and make it to the final.

There were several close and memorable sets: Grr vs Infinitii, AVirk vs Konqueror, and DizzyTT vs Dubasik. But, this one really stuck out as it felt like a battle between 'good' and 'evil.'

Grand finals

The grand finals had all the hype you'd expect from the final set in a tournament. Tekken Master was incredible against F0xy, using Jacqui Briggs to great effect. While the score read 3-0 and felt like a total wash, F0xy did not make it easy for Tekken Master. At the end of the day, the man from Bahrain took the W and ended up winning the inaugural WePlay Dragon Temple.

The WePlay Dragon Temple event will live long in the FGC's memory for its impeccable production quality, hype matches, world-class players, and incredible timing (it came at such a difficult time for everyone, and no one would argue that it came at the wrong time).

Also, WePlay has announced that the WePlay Ultimate Fighting League will commence in 2021, meaning that we will get more action and more great events like this.

You can find out more about WUFL here.