Project L — Pokimane hits Esfand with Raw Super at Evo 2023
Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as EVO, had record-breaking numbers this year with over 11,000 in attendance. With such a large number of the world's best fighting game players, developers have clamored to showcase new releases and content to the genre’s most dedicated members. Riot Games is no different, securing a booth to feature a playable demo of its anticipated tag team fighting game, Project L. Thing is, when a tournament gets as big as EVO it attracts both competitors and non-competitors alike.
Twitch streamer Esfand was among those in attendance. After securing a solid 3rd place finish in the Annihilator Cup Tournament, an influencer invitational, he made the trip to EVO 2023 to see more of what the fighting game community had to offer. While doing an IRL stream on the event floor, he was invited by Riot Games to sit down at their Project L booth and play against other EVO attendees.
After some time preparing in practice mode, the booth was ready for action, with Esfand and the Project L developers teaming up to take on opponents from a growing crowd of onlookers. It turns out that when you’ve been playing the game for years you may have an advantage against players touching the game for the first time, as Esfand and rotating members of the dev team defeated multiple challengers.
A Wild Pokimane Appears!
As word spread, a familiar face appeared from the crowd. Pokimane, a fellow Twitch streamer and friend of Esfand, heard the commotion and came over to say hello. Pokimane is a co-founder of RTS, a talent management & brand consulting firm that partnered with Sony during its acquisition of EVO. While she may have only intended to stop by for a quick greeting, the MC at the Project L booth saw an opportunity to put on a show, and encouraged the two to battle it out 1 on 1. Despite not knowing how to play, after some assurance from Esfand and the crowd, the two sat down for the final match of the day.
As the first round began, Esfand took a brief moment to explain the controls. Pokimane picked things up surprisingly fast, catching Esfand off guard with a super attack to win the first round. Taking the weights off, Esfand began round 2 aggressively, but Pokimane managed to hold her own and bring things to a last hit situation before Esfand closed the round out. The final round was close, but a clutch call out from Pokimane put Esfand in a 1 vs 2 that he wasn’t able to overcome.
While there was some playful banter after the fight about whether Esfand threw the match, the two did a fantastic job showcasing Project L’s accessibility to both new and experienced players alike.
