This year's Evolution Championship Series is almost the same as last year: the Mandalay Bay Convention Center is still packed with countless setups, players reigniting friendships and rivalries and clusters of attendees erupting into screams during exciting matches. But Evo 2018 has one glaring omission in its lineup of official events: Marvel vs. Capcom.

Last week, the Evolution Championship Series announced that the main lineup for its 2018 event won't include Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite; I was able to confirm just a few days later that the game will also be left off this year's Capcom Pro Tour. These developments have left Marvel vs. Capcom on life support and its players in a state of shock.

Things just keep getting worse for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Just days after the game was publicly snubbed by the Evolution Championship Series, we have learned that the latest instalment of the storied Marvel vs. Capcom franchise won't receive the same support as its sibling, Street Fighter 5.

Jonathan "Cloud805" Morales emerged victorious in yesterday's Battle For The Stones grand finals. After winning, he took not just the trophy and prize money, but the on-stage host, too.

Most trophies take the shape of a cup, goblet, or maybe the side of a mountain. For this weekend's Battle For The Stones, Capcom has opted for a giant replica of Thanos' gauntlet, complete with light-up infinity stones.

This weekend's Battle For The Stones allowed players who had won past Marvel vs.Capcom: Infinite tournaments to activate "infinity gems." In the case of Justin Wong, this meant the right to change his opponent's controls before a game.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite showed up to today's release party with a lopsided character select screen.

On December 5, Venom is one of three characters headed to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. After watching the debut trailer, many fans are not happy with Venom's voice! Some are even trying to fix it. 

The grand finals of a recent Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite tournament would have normally passed by without much fanfare, if not for the buzz that passed through the scene as it became known the winning player, a relative unknown named Brian "Abbock" Murphy, was in fact an infamous gamer known since 2012 as Cryin' Brian.

While fighting game events allow everyone an opportunity to compete thanks to their traditional, open-bracket format, they have one explicit rule: you only get one shot at winning.

In the modern era of fighting game competition, few players are as accomplished as Dominique "SonicFox" McLean. Despite his young age, the 19-year-old competitor has three Evolution Championship Series victories under his belt and almost half a million dollars in total tournament winnings.

And now, he's looking to translate his oppressive style to one of the most storied franchises in the genre's history while taking part in the scene's best new rivalry.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's reputation has taken a hit in its second week of competition. Blame an inescapable combo some players are hoping gets banned, low attendance at an official Capcom event, and a rules fiasco that affected the finals of an important tournament.

Just a week after Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's official launch, the fighting game community is starting to showcase a deep understanding of what makes the game tick. They have figured out mechanics that are unexplained in Infinite's tutorial and concocted high-level competitive strategies that have contributed to amazing tournament wins.

It's been a while since we were graced with a new Marvel vs Capcom game. So it only makes sense for this week's Community Review to check in on how Infinite is doing.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite only came out less than a week ago, but longtime Marvel players have been hitting the lab and putting together their teams. One player showed his prowess yesterday by putting up a perfect round.

Crossovers are a staple of comic fiction, whether that's in the books themselves, in the movies, or even in the video game adaptations. At their best, they're fannish delights, getting to hint at what it would be like for such disparate characters to really meet. At their worst, they're squandered opportunities.

The story side of Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite stumbles in trying to achieve a semblance of order amidst the clashing of discordant fictional worlds, but the multiplayer action is just as intense and chaotic as it's ever been, with spectacular battles that are enjoyable no matter which side comes out on top.

Timed with the release of the game, Capcom has announced their first high-profile tournament series for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Unlike the currently Street Fighter-exclusive Capcom Cup, however, Battle for the Stones introduces some quirks to the traditional competitive environment in the hopes of making real-world decisions as crazy as what players can pull off in-game.

Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite arrives this week, bringing a revamped two-character tag-team battle system and cinematic storytelling to the long-running crossover series. The fighting is a blast. The storytelling could use some work.