Queer community-run Guilty Gear Strive tournament kicks off September 3

August 24, 2022

After the fantastic showing Guilty Gear Strive had at this year’s EVO tournament, and the recent canonization of Bridget’s trans-womanhood, many LGBTQ+ gamers have hopped on the GGS hype train. Those looking for a bit of competition can participate in the FGC Rainbow Cup #8: GGST tournament on September 3 at 5 p.m. EST.

hello!! we've got another Guilty Gear Strive Rainbow Cup coming up this september 3rd!
you need to be in the server to take part, and you need to be LGBTQIA2+ and 18+ to join!
server link is in the image, and you can DM me for more details! pic.twitter.com/i7UM0nD5ml
— bee/ oisin kuhnke (@boywithwindmill) August 16, 2022

To sign up for the tournament, you need to join the FGC: Rainbow Edition Discord server to access the registration form on Challonge. Additionally, all participants must be 18 years or older and must identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community (including questioning folks).

The FGC Rainbow Cup #8 will be played with a non-elimination, Swiss style format, where every player gets the same number of rounds and instead of losers dropping from the tournament, points are determined based on performance in rounds/matches. Organizers opted for this format to ensure that everyone participating gets plenty of opportunity to play Guilty Gear Strive.

Following this ethos, the tournament is less focused on competition, and more on playing in a “healthy, queer focused environment.” With this in mind, there is no prize for winning other than the sense of accomplishment and fun of playing with other queer folks.

Though the FGC: Rainbow community has grown considerably since the Bridget news – they’re currently sitting at about 70 members – they have been hard at work organizing online fighting game events for LGBTQ+ players for a while now. This Guilty Gear Strive tournament is the eighth such event. In the past, FGC Rainbow community organizers have also hosted tournaments for Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Them’s Fighting Herds, and Tough Love Arena. Beyond tournaments, the community also hosts regular get togethers within the server to play a variety of other games.

FGC: Rainbow was created as a space for queer people to explore and share their love of fighting games with each other, though it started out as a small space for friends about a year ago. Since then, moderator and Gayming Magazine alumnus Oisin Kuhnke says that it has grown into “a lovely community with a strong passion for both new and older games.”