The Murderface is now a free agent!
Over the past few months, the once-mighty fighting game division of Echo Fox — an esports team run by retired NBA star Rick Fox, which swiftly acquired a collection of some of the best fighting game players in the world across multiple titles — has seen a massive amount of downsizing. The team saw the departures of Punk, Scar, Theo, Momochi & ChocoBlanka, Saint & JDCR, and later Justin Wong. The company even released their FGC Division Manager Boeken. Legendary Street Fighter competitor and Evo 2017 Street Fighter V Champion Tokido is now also no longer with the organization, as his contract expired last week and was not renewed.
Thankfully, the parting seems like an amicable one, as the “Murderface” thanked the organization for everything they did for him, noting that it was, “a great experience for me.” This now leaves the team’s remaining fighting game roster consisting only of SonicFox, Dekillsage, MKLeo, and Mew2King. These cuts have not even been limited to just fighting games, as Echo Fox also released their entire Gears of War team and their League of Legends head coach back in October.
This now presents an interesting opportunity for a variety of esprorts organizations, as one of the the best players to ever pick up an arcade stick has now become a free agent, and he would certainly be a massive boon to any organization he chooses to sign with. Regardless of what his future holds, all of us here at Shoryuken wish Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi all the best as he enters the next chapter of his fighting game career. You can see his tweet confirming his departure below.
I announce my contract with Echo Fox has expired. It was great experience for me. Thank you for everything!! エコーフォックスとの契約が満了したことをお知らせいたします。 とても素晴らしい経験をさせていただきました。面倒を見てくれたチームの皆さんありがとうございました！！
— Tokido / ときど (@tokidoki77) January 31, 2019
Which team would you like to see Tokido get picked up by? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Tokido (Twitter)