A Viewer's Guide To Combo Breaker 2024
The new year for Fighting Games officially kicks off in North America with Combo Breaker 2024 in Schaumberg, IL this weekend. And with it comes a ton of streams and brackets to watch if you want to see your game played at the highest level. With over 50 brackets being played (and many of them at the same time), it can be overwhelming to find out where you can check it all out. But don't worry we've got your back! Here's how you can follow all of the action at Combo Breaker this year. All of the fighting begins Friday, May 24th and runs through Sunday, May 26th.
Combo Breaker 2024 Schedule
All of the major games at Combo Breaker are being streamed on a number of well-known fighting game channels on Twitch. You can find the entire schedule here. The only official developer-run channels involved in this year's CB are Tekken's official Twitch and NetherRealm Studios. These two channels will stream the finals of Tekken 8 and Mortal Kombat 1 respectively, but the rest will be run by 3rd parties.
The biggest brackets are appearing on Team Sp00ky's Twitch, which will handle the Top 8's for Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear: Strive and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising on May 26th. Pools and some of the smaller games, however, will be played on channels like tenomedia and TampaNeverSleeps. Expect to have many tabs and windows open if you plan on following multiple games at CB2024. Other games that will feature on these main channels include: UNIST2, KOF15, Skullgirls, Killer Instinct, Melty Blood and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.
Also because Combo Breaker is the nexus of the Midwestern FGC, Smash will have a big presence at the event. Generally omitted from other big tournaments like EVO, Smash U and Melee will both have have major brackets at CB 2024. According to Combo Breaker's entry numbers, Smash Ultimate has over 65% more entries than Mortal Kombat 1 with 405 entries compared to MK1's 274. Melee also has nearly 200 entries as well, making it another healthy showing for the Smash community in the middle of the country. The top entries for Combo Breaker this year are Tekken 8 (1620), Street Fighter 6 (1432), and Guilty Gear: Strive (863).
The big games at Combo Breaker 2024 include:
- Tekken 8
- Street Fighter 6
- Guilty Gear: Strive
- Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
- Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes
- Mystery Game Tournament
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
CB2024 Close of Competitor Reg:
— COMBO BREAKER (@COMBOBREAKER) May 6, 2024
TK8 1,620
SF6 1,432
GGST 863
GBVSR 674
UNI2 606
MYST 512
SSBU 405
MK1 274
XRD 238
3S 221
SSBM 194
KOFXV 187
SG 167
UMVC3 164
BBCF 159
DBFZ 146
KI 139
VSAV 117
MBTL 103
SS7 73
DNF 61
TFH 60
MOTW 60
NASB2 48
33 Countries.
Midwest Worldwide.
In addition to the traditional big games there's also a number of side tournaments for smaller and older games going on as well. These games are being streamed on the channels of two legends in the fighting game world, Yipes and Justin Wong. These brackets are generally small 1-day affairs for games that are niche in an already niche genre. Fighters like Sailor Moon S, Rivals of Aether or Street Fighter: The Movie will be handled by these community channels. So if you're a fan of one of these be sure to check them out.
Is Akuma Legal at Combo Breaker?
For Street Fighter fans, Combo Breaker is also throwing a twist in the mix for this weekend's bracket. Generally, major tournaments are played on the most recent patch for a game, unless players haven't had much time to practice on it. However, this year, tournament organizers polled participants in the SF6 bracket and this year's competition will be played on the latest patch...which will be 4 days old when the fighting starts. This will allow spectators to see Akuma, the latest DLC character, played at a high level very early on. It also means that there may be potential to see how the new meta bears out, considering every character in the game has received adjustments.
Street Fighter 6 at CB2024:
— COMBO BREAKER (@COMBOBREAKER) May 16, 2024
The patch releasing May 22, 2024 will be used. Akuma will be legal. While CB is displeased with this patch's release date, we polled our registered players & over 81% of them want it run.
We hope this will be a novel & fun way to experience CB2024. pic.twitter.com/DwCXZNmNYw
Combo Breaker is sure to provide some major moments in the FGC this year. So if you're looking to watch some of the most intense matches, or potentially want to emulate the pros. Make sure you're locked in to everything going down one the outskirts of Chicago this Memorial Day weekend.
