On November 1, the folks at Canada Cup aired the trailer for Evo2016. It was mostly sizzle, but the few bits of steak we got told us two things: that Evo will continue running as a three-day event (July 15-17) still being held somewhere in Las Vegas. It sounds like business as usual, but as the dust settled on Evo2015 there were some rumblings about the possibility of moving to a larger venue (the Bally's could barely contain us this year) and extending the already packed event to run an additional day, Thursday-Sunday, to help accommodate the numerous growing competitive scenes and make room for the new fighting game releases slated for early-mid 2016.

Then the dates dropped, followed by this tweet from Joey Cuellar (AKA MrWizard), admin for Shoryuken.com and Evo showrunner:

Of course nothing is near to set-in-stone at this point, but the notion of trying to limit Evo2016 to seven games means a lot of worthy entrants are going be left by the wayside. Here are what I see as the contenders in alphabetical order:

BlazBlue: Central Fiction

The newest iteration of BlazBlue is hitting the Japanese arcades in a couple days and seems likely for a 2016 release on consoles. While BB was responsible for one of the hypest matches of Evo2014, it seems unlikely that it will be able to develop enough momentum to overtake its sister series, Guilty Gear, by the time Evo2016 rolls around. And in an Evo with only seven games, it seems really unlikely that we'll have two airdasher games.

Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-

Giantbomb's Best-Looking Game of 2014 is going strong, even if Kazunoko insists that America is free (or did he? I think he did). As the biggest airdasher in America, and with the -Revelator- update already out in Japan and coming to consoles soonish maybe GG sounds like a shoe-in. After all, it's the game that got us on Sports Center. Even if BB:CF is going to be the (slightly) newer hotness, I can't see it overtaking GG in popularity or demand.

Killer Instinct (Season 3)

KI is a tough one. Obviously belonging to the house of Dave Lang is a huge plus for any GB fan, but it simply hasn't been there in terms of numbers comparatively speaking. It's unfortunate because KI has consistently had some of the most interesting character designs in fighting game history, particularly in season 2, and season 3 is coming just around the corner. What if Rash is out in time for Evo!? Between secret Japanese tech and one of the stupidest comebacks in fighting game history, I'll personally be really sad if it doesn't make it back for 2016.

The King of Fighters XIV

It's slated for a 2016 release but it's unclear whether or not that's going to happen before or after Evo. A lot has been said about the visual direction of the game, but in the end what really matters is how it plays. (People still play MKX after all o_O.) KoF has made several strong showings at past Evos and their unique take on the 3v3 system helps foster many unique, hype-filled situations. That said, the US KoF scene has never been very strong and SNK only seems to be further alienating their players with the loss of those gorgeous sprite animations from KoFXII and XIII.

Mortal Kombat X

As the biggest western fighting game, it's hard to imagine Evo2016 without MKX. Now that the folks at NRS have cooled it a bit with their balance patching and allowed the game to breathe, there has been a ton of diversity in playstyles and character choices at tournaments. The warring factions aspect between team Yomi and Sonic Fox plus the beastly players from Europe always makes for compelling storylines. Plus it's the only game to have a player lose a FT10 exhibition match 0-13. There will be new DLC characters coming next year so we'll have to see if they're going to continue the trend of releasing character that are busted/OP or maybe they've learned their lesson and we won't have a repeat of the Tanya army. I mean, sure they've made the same mistake like 15 times now between four different games, but maybe?

Pokkén Tournament

Alright, I'll be honest, I don't know much about this game other than the fact that it's coming out Q2 next year, it's some weird Pokemon/Tekken mashup, and it's being backed by Nintendo so they could end up making a big push for it in the FGC. I mean, they probably won't, but they could.

But they won't.

Street Fighter V

The game. This is what Capcom is going to be pushing next year for the Capcom Cup basically guaranteeing it the premier spot next Evo. Less informed viewers from all around the world will be able to wonder "what happened to Chun-Li's boobs" and "how is Mika not constantly falling out of her costume?". Will the return to a more footsies/reads-based style and lower execution barrier signal the return of American greats like Alex Valle and Mike Watson? Will Daigo just be unstoppable? How will Cammy players survive without set-play? Will everyone just end up playing Dhalsim? Also by then there should be at least 4 DLC characters and maybe even I will enter if I make it out there. I can't wait ahhhhhhhhh!

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (4)

If any game is going to get two entries in Evo2016, it's going to be Smash. Smash 4 has been going strong with expanded character diversity in top-8s. With Zero's insane 53-tournament win streak finally ended by Nairo, everyone is looking better and better at the game. But what about customs mannn?

Super Smash Bros. Melee

It's crazy but Melee is still somehow getting bigger. Honestly, if it weren't for Street Fighter's pro-tour status, I wouldn't have been surprised to see it supplanted by Melee as the marquee game at Evo2015. The five gods of Smash have also been finding the fight to top 8 harder and harder as the community around them continues to level up their skills. Hopefully Leffen figures out his visa issues soon. We need more of that hair.

Tekken 7

Tekken 7 is doing its best to keep the torch for 3D fighters from burning out. It's hard to say where things stand with this game in regards to Evo2016. We don't even know if it will be out on console by then, and with Pokken for Wii U coming will Namco want to make the effort to bring the arcade boards out here again, especially with Tekken evangelist MarkMan ending his tenure with MadCatz? With this year's Namco Cup happening almost entirely in Japan, it's real hard to gauge whether they're seeing the success they want and if they'll be interested in expanding more globally next year to something more akin to the Capcom Cup. If they do, then I'd expect a slot at Evo to be a certainty.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Mahvel lives! No seriously, between Frank West winning a major that included FChamp and RayRay and all the amazing work Samantha Hancock (AKA Persia) has been doing on the periphery of the scene, Marvel has never seemed stronger. Everyone is good at Marvel now which makes it an incredibly beautiful game to watch with blindingly fast character movement and the tension in knowing that even the most random stray hit can transform itself into a character-killing combo. I know a lot of people dislike the game because of TAC infinites or just how confusing it can be to watch if you're not familiar with the mechanics, but I'm going to be super angry if UMvC3 doesn't make it back in 2016.

Ultra Street Fighter IV

The King is dead, long live the King. Look, in an 8 or 9-game Evo I would love love LOVE to have USFIV there. Justin Wong is finally getting back to his roots with Elena and everyone is just so fucking good at this game now. There are going to be 32 players at Capcom Cup this year and I can't even begin to imagine how insane that is going to be. Few competitive games have had the luxury of time and strength of community necessary to reach this level of skill across such a broad selection of competitors. But the fact remains that SFV is going to be the CapCup game next year and unlike Melee and Smash 4, the crossover in players between USFIV and SFV is likely to be far closer to 100%. Maybe we can get a cool invitational exhibition between past Evo champions at the MadCatz booth or something, but unless Evo expands its scope in 2016 I think that USFIV is going to need to be one of the more painful omissions.

So there you have it, the games that seem to at least be somewhat in contention for one of those coveted Evo spots. I think I'll go ahead and make a poll thread too but I'd be curious to know what your thoughts are. Which games do you want to see in the lineup? Which games do you not want to see? Is there anything that I missed? Here are my personal picks, although I think that omitting Smash 4 is actually crazy and impossible and that sadly KI probably should be the one to go.

Here's a cool bonus video where Gerald from Core-A Gaming talks about the three fighting game player archetypes as theorized by ex-Infiltration BFF Laugh.