It was with noted disappointment that we learned in February Mortal Kombat (2011) would miss out on a fourth consecutive year at the Evo World Championships. Fortunately, the June reveal of sequel Mortal Kombat X has provided a shot of adrenaline into the flagging scene: inspiring a grass roots campaign that will gather some of the world's top players for a special side tournament at the Las Vegas major!

Top players Pig of the Hut (Pighut) & Claude Von Stroke are organizing a special event - tentatively scheduled for 6PM 5PM on Saturday, July 12th! Pre-registration requires a $10 PayPal fee submitted to the InjustCast account: injustcast@gmail.com. Walk-in registration for the event will incur a full $20 fee at the door. Special Note: When pre-registering via PayPal ensure your GamerTag is included in the PayPal notes!

This kommunity funded tournament has already inspired some of Evo's World Championship calibre All-Stars to pre-register! 2-time Evo World Champion PerfectLegend is scheduled for a return to Vegas, where he has unfinished business after coming up short in the 2013 title chase! Last year's World Champion DJT and PL's arch-rival REO are not yet registered. The 2011/2012 champion spoke to Mortal Kombat Online, telling us:

I would like to win it. It would be me reclaiming my throne. Denzel won last year and I feel like this is a chance for redemption. Not sure if he is going to enter or not, but I don't see a reason why he wouldn't. Despite not putting a lot of practice into it, I will definitely be taking it seriously. It won't be easy, cause I know there are people who have never stopped playing (such as PBoard, Whatshername and WestCoastJeff.) Honestly MK9 should've still been in the EVO line up. I'm sure it would have got the same numbers as last year. I'm hoping for a good turnout. I'm bringing my patented Kung Lao with me.

I would love to win because then it would be my 3rd MK9 World Title. All of the best players will be there from around the country, and since the USA has shown multiple times it was the best region in the world [at MK] I think it still holds the same prestige. The only sad part is there isn't a trophy for it, or main stream attention. Mortal Kombat 9 not being a premier tournament game anymore breaks my heart.

Although the tournament will not appear on official Evo live feeds, it is scheduled to be streamed live via Stream of the Hut! In the event of unforseen technical issues, there will be a delayed recording available late in the day. Likewise, if plans for access to the ballroom venue are interrupted, there is also a back-up venue.

While there is no trophy or title as yet - the winner will not go home empty handed! Fans of the competitive scene are encouraged to make a small donation to the purse, which at the time of this writing is noted at $324US. Speaking to the occasion, Pig of the Hut says:

We are also taking donations for a pot bonus. This realistically is probably the last time this collection of players will all be assembled to play MK9. [We] want to have an amazing MK tournament. If you are interested in contributing to the pot and trying to get as many players as possible to enter, then please go to: http://www.gofundme.com/b17jwo.


STB Rose Goddess
Busta_Clown
Red Reaper
Evan Born
Redsoul
CC Trust
SatsuiYesHadou
Son Of Timett
Relaxed State
Blind Ducky
Titanman88
Pikachu
GrandMasterson
Greguu
Lance monsoon
Baraka flaka flame
Cloud
Dream sword
Theo
Daddydab
Slayer
Kitana prime
Blackula
Iceman 9798
Jupiter
King hippo
Firelord
What's Her Name
Seven
Unrooolie
Infinite
Runway Mafia
Pre-Registered Attendees:
Claude VonStroke
Pig Of The Hut
Perfect Legend
DJT
Osu16bit
Mike Metroid
CD Jr.
Forever King
Dizzy
Noobe
Wound Cowboy
NYC Chris G
MIT
GGA Max
Cossner
Dancock
Tyrant
Sonic Fox
m2dave
Starcharger
Gross
J360
Wrath
Nubcakes
WonderChef
N-megabytes
Lil loco
Ultimate Ziti
Awesomeo
Guamokun
West coast Jeff

Update Jul. 09: With the pre-registration window coming to a close, a rush of donations has seen the crowd sourced pot explode to $1,100.00! Also confirming their entry are 2013 Evo World Champion DJT & Osu16bit!

Update Jul. 10: Tournament organizer Pig of the Hut informs us that while crowd sourced donations are currently at $1,235.00 -- the total prize pool has reached $1500.00! Mortal Kombat Online has also been excited to announce we will be providing Limited Edition Fight Sticks as prizes for both the winner & runner-up [full details]! Pig also noted location for the tournament site will be finalized tomorrow (Evo BYOC Area or other).

Update Jul. 11: IGN picked up the story amidst ever growing support for the MK tournament. The total prize pool passed $1825.00 at the last count, with that number still growing. Due to the overwhelming support, the on-site registration fee has been lowered to $10.

Update Jul. 12: This is it! Game day! We talked to defending 2013 World Champion DJT to get his response to PerfectLegend & more - don't miss the story. Note: Confirmation the event will stream live from the Evo Ballroom BYOC Area with a scheduled start of 5pm PDT.

The tournament will be run with a standard double-elimination bracket to be determined live on the stream in front of a scrutinizing audience! No character bans are expected to be in effect. Mortal Kombat will be run on Xbox 360.

Update: NetherRealm Director Ed Boon just dropped a prize bombshell on us! "Someone" [read: NetherRealm] will be kicking in some signed merch to help the cause!


Mortal Kombat Online is very excited about the event, which will also be attended by NetherRealm Studios! They're expected to have a new reveal from Mortal Kombat X, as well as taking in the sights of the second Injustice: Gods Among Us World Championship! Register to discuss all the Evo action on the forums! Relive the 2013 Evo World Championship via last year's feature coverage, or flashback to Perfect Legend's last win at Evo 2012!