The Unbox VS Corner, a unique addition to Unbox Greenhills, offers a relaxed gaming experience. Equipped with two Playstation 5 units connected to large TVs, it’s the perfect spot to enjoy popular game titles like Tekken 8 and NBA 2K24 and even hold tournaments. 

Unbox Tekken Tournament – How It Started

Last weekend, Jopat Dogelio, a fellow Flesh and Blood TCG player and Tekken 8 enthusiast, had a brilliant idea. He proposed a mini Tekken 8 tournament for all the Flesh and Blood players just before our weekly Armory event. The best part? It’s free to enter, and the winner walks away with a copy of the rare Enlightened Strike card, a treasure Jopat pulled from a pack earlier that week.

Seven players, a diverse mix of young and seasoned gamers, answered the call. Among them were those who’ve played the game a little bit and titos who have fond memories of playing previous iterations of the series years ago. One tito even asked if he could bring his son along, a request that was warmly welcomed. 

Unbox Tekken Tournament – Upper Bracket

The tournament was run in a double-elimination format, where two losses would eliminate a player from the competition. The first round featured Kyler Tan, who used Reina, one of the new characters in Tekken 8, against Ichi Octavio’s Zafina. Their series ended 2-0 in Kyler’s favor, as the constant aggression and Ichi’s unfamiliarity with the new character proved to be overwhelming.

The next match was between two Tekken titos who played a bit of Tekken 8. Chard Tan used Jun Kazama, a returning character from Tekken Tag Tournament, while Marcelle Fabie picked King, Tekken’s iconic grappler. The series was close, ending 2-1 in Richard’s favor, as he did his best to keep King away and avoid being grabbed by his devastating chain throws.

The final match for the first round was between me and Xavier Aloroy, one of the FaB regulars at Unbox. Our series ended 2-0 in my favor as my Dragunov got in and kept the pressure on his Shaheen and Panda.

The first match of the second round in the upper bracket was between Trix (who enjoyed a bye during the previous round) on Steve and Kyler on Reina. Again, Kyler’s aggressive plays got him a clean 2-0.

Next up was between Chard and me. We played back in Tekken 7 before and played Tekken 8 a bit. It was a back-and-forth series, with his Jun winning against my Dragunov. I then picked Claudio and had better results to tie our series 1-1, then clutched the win on the third game that went all five rounds.

The upper bracket finals were between me and Kyler. Just like his dad, I’ve played him before in Tekken 7, but he has found the perfect character for his aggressive, mixup-heavy playstyle in Reina, which he has been beating his opponents with. I picked Claudio, and while I know very little about the Reina matchup, I see that he doesn’t vary his timing much, and I can use this to catch him off-guard. It’s easier said than done, though, as once Reina is in, it’s hard to block everything and keep her away. However, I was able to adjust in time and win the series 2-1.

Unbox Tekken Tournament – Lower Bracket

Meanwhile, in the lower bracket, the rest of the players are fighting hard to avoid elimination. Marcelle won against Xav Aloroy 2-1 thanks to King’s chain throws, which the latter had difficulty breaking.

Another battle of the Titos happened as Chard Tan’s Jun did quick work of Ichi Octavio’s Zafina. Ichi was able to find some chances to combo Jun but couldn’t maximize the damage because he wasn’t familiar with Tekken 8’s new combo system.

The next match was Trix versus Marcelle, and again, the latter got a lot of mileage from King’s chain throws and took a quick 2-0 win.

After that, it was another battle of the titos as he faced Chard. This time, however, Chard’s elusive Jun could dodge or break most of King’s throws. Marcelle used more mid-attacks to complement his offense, which worked for a while, but Chard could adjust and take the win 2-1.

Finally, in a match that somewhat mirrors the recurring theme in Tekken’s lore, the lower bracket finals were between Chard Tan and his son Kyler. Tekken 8 has been a great bonding game for these two, and their first tournament match against each other is sure to be memorable. Kyler didn’t hold back and ran over his dad’s Jun with Reina 2-0.

Unbox Tekken Tournament – Grand Finals

So, the grand finals were a rematch between Kyler and me. With a twice-to-beat advantage from being in the upper bracket, I thought I could experiment a bit. I initially played with Leeroy, who promptly got destroyed. I then switched to Alisa, and Kyler made short work of her, too.

I returned to my reliable Claudio with the bracket reset and took the first game. This time, Kyler was able to adjust from being on the brink of losing the series to running a 3-round comeback and taking the second game. He then rode that momentum to the third game and more controlled aggression with better mixups and timing. I was able to take one round from him, but I couldn’t stop him from winning the rest and taking the tournament!

The Unbox Tekken Tournament concluded with a special exhibition match between the winner and Jopat, who organized the whole thing. Jopat picked his tricky Yoshimitsu, which has a unique, unorthodox offense with his helicopter stances and sword attacks. However, all the feints and trickery didn’t deter Kyler one bit, as he was still on a high from winning the tournament and powered through with Reina to win the special match 2-0.

With the success of Jopat’s mini-tournament, Unbox VS Corner will soon be planning to hold more Unbox Tekken tournaments that are open for all to enter. In the meantime, if you’re ever in the GH area and itching to play PS5 games for an hour or more, the Unbox VS Corner can be found at Unbox Greenhills on the 2nd Floor of the Promenade Mall.

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