Background
The fighting game community (FGC) has been one of the most long-lasting and competitive communities in the entire video game industry. It's evolved over the last few decades from small grassroots tournaments held in people's homes or local video game stores, to major tournaments that bring in tens of thousands viewers and boast thousands of participants. Many different fighting game franchises have risen and fallen throughout the years, but one of the most prominent and popular names in the genre is Mortal Kombat.
Mortal Kombat X is the tenth installment in the franchise, developed by Netherrealm Studios and released in 2015. It boasted a strong competitive scene during it's life cycle, including being a part of both EVO 2015 and EVO 2016. EVO is the largest fighting game event in the world, held every year since 1996, where many different fighting games come together and hold open tournaments that anyone can enter.
There are many famous and infamous players to be found in the MKX community, but today we'll be focusing on just two: SonicFox and Perfect Legend.
The Main Characters
Carl White, known online as Perfect Legend, had been a well-known face in the FGC for years. An extremely skilled and well-versed player, he holds a whopping three separate EVO World Championships, a distinction held or outdone by a mere nine individuals. Two of these victories took place in Mortal Kombat (2011), the predecessor to MKX. Perfect Legend is also known for speaking his mind, whether that be about the games he plays or the people he plays against.
Dominique "SonicFox" McLean on the other hand is a comparatively newer face to the community, but has made a massive impact in the short time they've been present. SonicFox is young, flashy, and always ready to show off whatever they felt like showing off, whether that be their skill in fighting games or the fact that they're a black, non-binary, furry. At the time of this story they were already a rapidly rising star, holding two EVO World Championships (which has since increased to five) one of which was in Mortal Kombat X. They were very quickly making a name for themselves as one of the best MKX players in the world, if not the best.
Twitter Drama
The beef between these two players starts out where all beef does, Twitter! Perfect Legend was having a small debate with Netherrealm's community manager about how balanced the game was, during which SonicFox was mentioned and subsequently joined the discussion, resulting in some trash talk between the two. Eventually, Perfect Legend challenged SonicFox to a First-to-Ten (FT10) exhibition set at the tournament Summer Jam 9, which they readily accepted.
FT10s are popular in the FGC because they truly test the limits of a player and how well they stack up against someone else. The large match count gives both players plenty of opportunities to change characters, adjust strategies, and adapt to what their opponent is doing over the course of the set. In the eyes of many, it's the best way to determine who is the superior player.
The Set
On August 30th, 2015, Perfect Legend and SonicFox are on stage and preparing for the exhibition match. Before the set began, SonicFox declared they would beat Perfect Legend 10-0. The first couple matches were close, but it soon became clear that the momentum was firmly on SonicFox's side as they took game after game with relative ease, all the while disrespecting their opponent both in-game and out of it. At some points it seemed like Perfect Legend was picking up steam, but every time he would either mess something up or SonicFox would just play even better than they were before. Eventually, SonicFox fulfilled their promise and won the set with a brutal 10-0 to the applause of the crowd... or did they?
SonicFox went on the mic and talked flexed as much as you would expect them to, calling out their opponent for everything he had said on Twitter and elsewhere about them. Then came Perfect Legend's turn on the mic, during which he made the fatal error of saying that he only ever said that SonicFox's fundamentals were bad and that he "wasn't done". It wasn't his intent, but in the eyes of the crowd and even staff members he had just unofficially declared that he wasn't done playing the game. After much demanding from the crowd, he opted to play a First-to-Three set right then and there.
The second set went about as well as you might expect, with SonicFox carrying their momentum forward with the chants of "13-0" from the crowd and Twitch chat behind them. Any semblance of ability to fight back was completely gone in Perfect Legend, with SonicFox taking the set with a cool and clean 13-0. At that moment, Perfect Legend changed from a well-respected and highly-regarded multiple time EVO World Champion to the man who lost against SonicFox 13-0 in a First-to-Ten set.
The Initial Aftermath
To say the FGC clowned on Perfect Legend would be the understatement of a lifetime, ever since the set back in 2015 it became impossible for him to do literally anything without people bringing it up, whether they be fans of SonicFox or not. He's more well known for the 13-0 than he is for his world championships. These days you're really more likely to see him referred to as "Perfect 13gend" rather than his actual tag.
While Perfect Legend became the laughing stock of the community, it was only made worse by the continued rise of his opponent. SonicFox has since gone on to win EVO World Championships three more times, they even almost won two championships in EVO 2019, where they placed in first in the Mortal Kombat 11 tournament and second in the Dragon Ball FighterZ tournament.
They've cemented themselves as the complete and utter champion of basically all Netherrealm Studios games, one of the best Dragon Ball FighterZ players in the world, one of the best Skullgirls players in the world (their fursona was even added to the background of a stage in Skullgirls), among numerous other games. They are considered by many to be the strongest fighting game player in the world right now, as well as one of the greatest in history. In terms of total EVO World Championships, they currently have the fourth most of any player in the world, though they may continue to rise through that ranking as well.
Out of Nowhere, Bigotry!
As mentioned earlier in the post, SonicFox is a very outspoken non-binary person and it's something they're quite well known for being, as well as something they're unfortunately quite often hated for. Whether these people are hating SonicFox for being non-binary or just using it as something to insult them over is ultimately irrelevant, but it's sadly something you see on many discussions about them.
To the eyes of the community it seemed largely like the hatchet had been buried between the two players over the event, it was just people online carrying on the insults. That was until August 10th, 2021, six years after the 13-0. It's easy to understand how the constant insults and hate thrown their way could've hurt Perfect Legend, but nobody could've expected just how much it would change him.
In a Facebook group about Perfect Legend, his fans were very openly attacking SonicFox for being non-binary. When questioned about it, Perfect Legend simply stated, "It's healthy for Americans to have open dialogue" and allowed the hate to continue.
All while this was going on, Perfect Legend was discussing how SonicFox should be banned from participating in tournaments due to their use of prescribed use of Adderall for their ADD. He was comparing SonicFox's use of Adderall, which they need to function as a "normal" person, to the illegitimate use of performance enhancing drugs for the purpose of cheating in a competition.
Fun fact, SonicFox only started taking Adderall very recently. That means basically all of their accomplishments, including the 13-0, took place while SonicFox was battling their unmedicated ADD.
In the end, Perfect Legend was shit on by SonicFox as well as other prominent members of the community like Dekillsage, along with the average folk of the FGC. The tale of the 13-0 and the destruction of a man and his legacy that came with it has gone down as one of the most iconic and well-known moments in the history of the fighting game community.
