The main lineup of fighting games at the Evolution 2020 tournament will include the long-absent Marvel vs. Capcom 2 while also removing Mortal Kombat 11. The annual event is scheduled to start on July 31, 2020 and run through August 2, 2020, once again being held at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was one of the foundational fighting games of Evo, even before the tournament was called the Evolution Championship Series. The fan-favorite crossover between iconic Marvel characters and Capcom characters had a major presence at more than half of the events in Evo's 20-year history. The game was retired from the tournament in 2011, having been replaced by the then-new Marvel vs. Capcom 3. MvC2 hasn't been seen on the main stage since, but its legacy is one of the strongest in the fighting game community. It still shows up at Evo's side tournaments every year, but 2020 is an important year for MvC2 - and Evo is recognizing it in a big way.
Evo organizers recently announced the lineup of main-stage games for Evo 2020 later this year, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is officially among them for the first time in a decade. The game will be getting a special invitational tournament to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release. On the other hand, the popular Mortal Kombat 11 has now been stricken from the main lineup after only one year at Evo. This is partly due to the number of new and updated games on the list this year, which include Granblue Fantasy Versus, Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] - but Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is still the obvious standout.
Entitled the "Tournament of Champions", this MvC2 event will only involve eight competitors at Evo 2020. Four of them have already been chosen, and they're the four MvC2 championship winners of Evo history: Justin Wong, Michael "Yipes" Mendoza, Sanford "Santhrax" Kelly, and Duc "Ducvader" Do. The other four competitors will be determined at four different qualifying events throughout this year. The first of these will be in April at both NorCal Regionals and April Annihilation, then during Combo Breaker in May and finally in a Last Chance Qualifier on the first day of Evo 2020.
Of course, reactions from the fighting game community have been generally split between legacy MvC players and contemporary Mortal Kombat players. There's plenty of hype surrounding the MvC2 announcement, what with the game's significance to FGC history and the fact that an MvC title hasn't been at Evo since 2017. But nobody likes to see their favorite fighting game get cut, and that's just what happened to Mortal Kombat fans - many of whom are pointing the finger at MvC2 for their loss. Hopefully, the game's presence will spark some much-needed interest in the series and show Capcom why it should still pursue the IP.
Source: Evo