Famed out nonbinary fighting games esports athlete Dominique “SonicFox” McLean is once again a world champion.
The six-time EVO champion topped the field in the Skullgirls Championship Series (SGCS) Finals on Saturday at the fighting games esports major event Combo Breaker. SonicFox went undefeated in the tournament, which featured eight of the top “Skullgirls: 2nd Encore” players from across the globe.
They swept SGCS Asia Curtain Call silver medalist Naminori, 3-0, defeated SGCS North American Curtain Call champion Nope.avi in the only match where they lost a round and swept close friend and multi-time “Skullgirls” tournament winner Jon “dekillsage” Coello to advance to grand finals out of the winner’s bracket. Grand finals saw a rematch against dekillsage with the same result, SonicFox blanking their friend, 3-0, to claim the title.
The win rose SonicFox’s consecutive wins at major “Skullgirls” tournaments they have entered to five dating back to their win at EVO 2022. That streak included the tournament they won on the previous day, the SGCS Last Chance Qualifier at Combo Breaker, to claim their spot in the SGCS top eight. They stood tall against a field of over 150 players on Friday, defeating dekillsage in grand finals to claim victory.
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SonicFox celebrated the win on social media, declaring themself the “Your Skullgirls God” two times over and hinting that they may retire from competitive “Skullgirls” competition after being one of the top faces and most decorated champions of the game’s competitive scene for the better part of a decade.
“I can safely retire Skullgirls now if I truly wished too,” they said via X, formerly known as Twitter. “We shall see…”
If this truly is the end of SonicFox’s time in the “Skullgirls” scene, they will leave it with copious medals and trophies and a cameo within the game itself.
But, more importantly, their legacy will be that of a fighting games esports superstar using their platform to expand the audience for an independently developed fighting game that has found solid footing within a space dominated by legacy franchises from top developers and caters heavily to LGBTQ audiences.
