At Northwest Majors 8 during the Street Fighter V grand finals one of the players, Fox|Julio, received a phone call during his match against EG|Justin Wong. Some suspect that the person on the other line may have been giving Julio some strategic advice, or “coaching.” Many questioned the integrity of this sort of thing, and it called the practice of “coaching” into question. As expected, social media immediately went into a frenzy, and even caused Joey Cellular, one of the founders of EVO (arguably the biggest fighting game tournament in the world), to make people aware of the coaching rules that are being enforced this year.
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Here’s what he said on Twitter:
There is no coaching at Evo, phone or in person!
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) May 2, 2016
After receiving a barrage of replies, he went on to clarify:
The no coaching rule will only be for quarter finals and on, and pools will be limited to 60 seconds like always. #Evo2016
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) May 2, 2016
So there you have it. There is coaching for 60 seconds, but not during quarter finals and onward. Apparently this rule has always existed, but hasn’t been enforced.
@EvilMrWizard this is nothing new btw, folks. the No coaching rule has been established since Evo 2013 right, Wizard?
— Jeremy Jennings (@kombatjennings) May 2, 2016
@EvilMrWizard But people have been coaching at EVO so
Um
You even haven't enforced your own rule lol— Breath of the Lawson (@ThatAintMarth) May 2, 2016
Many were understanding, in support, opinionated, or just plain comical about whole situation.
I wanna call Julio so bad right now just to see if he'd answer
— Tempo Rip (@reepal) May 2, 2016
No coaching at EVO! This just got interesting! 😀
— Ryan Hart (@RyanJosephHart) May 3, 2016
Ok no coaching at Evo means everyone has to think for themselves. I'm sure everyone can do that so this shouldn't be a problem.
— Kenneth Bradley (@KBradJStorm) May 2, 2016
I like to think of Evo's "no coaching" rule as the "go away Noel Brown" rule.
— Ian Walker (@iantothemax) May 3, 2016
When you need matchup advice but coaching is banned at EVO. pic.twitter.com/bwC2DA1gJt
— Team YP (@TeamYPOfficial) May 2, 2016
I like the no coaching rule at EVO this year.
If someone has an advantage over you, overcome it yourself.
(Self-made notes are OK though)— Professor Juicebox (@Juicebox_FGC) May 2, 2016
I don't really understand the coaching rule for EVO. Coaches don't play the matches for you. What advantage does it really give you?
— Denzell Terry (@YOMI_DJT) May 2, 2016
Since EVO banning coaching are ya'll gonna keep allowing it everywhere else or no?
— PerfectLegend (@PerfectLegend) May 2, 2016
Why is everyone so mad about the no coaching rules at Evo.
— Eric Small (@ESmallPhilly) May 2, 2016
@EvilMrWizard @XsK_Samurai imagine if grand master chess players coached amateurs in an amateur tournament, who is really playing?
— Graham Wolfe (@GrahamWolfe1) May 2, 2016
With EVO being the biggest fighting game tournament in the world, it wouldn’t be any surprise if other FGC tournaments begin to follow suit. We’ve seen it countless times where friends or teammates of a player come to their aid with strategic advice, and are even sometimes seen as an unwelcome distraction by the player.
What are your thoughts? Is coaching a good thing or bad thing? Does it give an advantage to players? Let us know in the comments.
Photo credit: Chris Bahn
