It was late into the wee hours of Sunday night, or Monday morning to be exact. The Guilty Gear Strive grand finals had wrapped up with American player UMISHO taking a commanding victory and claiming the Evo 2022 championship for the game. Playing as Happy Chaos, she ran through the winner’s bracket by beating some of the best players like Slash (twice) and Leffen, who came in second and third place, respectively.
In conversations after the tournament and event, UMISHO told us more about her competitive gaming history. We learned of her rapid ascent in the fighting game community and meteoric rise to the top of Guilty Gear. It turns out she’s relative newcomer in the FGC having only dabbled in other fighters. UMISHO also had some choice words about Overwatch and the toxicity of its competitive scene while praising the fighting game scene in contrast.
After doing quick research on UMISHO herself, I realized that she’s really into Final Fantasy XIV. Rocking a G’raha Tia profile picture on Twitter (done by artist 立花凛), I had to at least sneak in a quick question about FFXIV.
I DON’T KNOW HOW MY LIFE GOT HERE BUT I SURE JUST FUCKING WON EVO
I want to thank literally everyone in top 8, everyone watching, everyone cheering for or against me, and especially the love of my life @RazzoSharp for making this the best week of my life. Thank you all so much. pic.twitter.com/Wv5tpJGVN8— Razer UMISHO @ EVO CHAMPION (@UMlSHO) August 8, 2022
I had to confirm, asking if she plays FFXIV, to which she gave an emphatic, “Yes!” and she asked back, “Did you see my Twitter profile picture?” So, we’re both on the same page about G’raha being the absolute best, but I asked who were the next best characters, and she replied, “Probably Emet [Selch] … or Hermes!” Like many of us into FFXIV, it seems Endwalker hit UMISHO as well.
When I asked about what drew her to Strive in particular, the answer was simply, “It’s just so cool! A friend introduced me to it a little over a year ago and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever.” Following up about her history with Arc System Works’ games, she mentioned playing Guilty Gear Xrd casually, but started playing Strive competitively 10 to 11 months ago.
My colleague Imran Khan has a more detailed profile of UMISHO, which went deeper into her rise in the FGC and competitive gaming background. She also dropped some brutally honest quotes about competitive Overwatch, saying, “That game is terrible! It’s actually not that terrible, but it’s really not for me. It gave me whiplash when I first entered the FGC, honestly.”
For more from Evo 2022, be sure to read our profile on iDom and his storybook run to the grand finals in Street Fighter V this year. Guilty Gear Strive had some new content revealed at Evo, adding the DLC character Bridget this week; her backstory as a trans woman was made clear in the game’s lore as well. And if you’re here for more FFXIV content, gear up for the next Live Letter happening on August 12 and catch up on everything coming soon with our FFXIV Patch 6.2 summary.
