Update: Jebailey has tweeted that the light was able to be repaired rather than fully replaced, and an agreement was quickly reached with Dyloch to pay $365.44 to cover labor and parts. Still most of his prize money down the drain for no reason, but at least he didn't end up in debt to the tournament.
Original story: Mortal Kombat player Dyloch has managed to overshadow his own Mortal Kombat 1 tournament win at the CEO 2024 fighting game championships with one of the most profoundly stupid—and expensive—post-match celebrations ever. Right after landing the killing blow on opponent Rewind, he stood up, picked up his chair, and hurled it off the stage, accidentally smashing a light fixture.
.@RezDyloch stamps his ticket to Grand Finals 3-1 against Rewind in #MK1 at #CEO2024! Also, Dyloch, please keep the chairs in the ring. Thanks! pic.twitter.com/aYythfQCYxJune 29, 2024
Was he workshopping a new furniture-based fatality? Perhaps he was infuriated by a subtle chair wobble he'd been experiencing all game? Or maybe he thought he was being ambushed by four vampires and hoped to stake them all in one four-legged attack?
Whatever his reasoning, he made a fool of himself in what should have been his moment of triumph, and go rummy it could end up costing him. His prize money for the event was $565, while the event's head (and long-time influential figure in the fighting game community) Alex Jebailey has pointed out that the light he broke was worth close to $3,000.
In case anyone was wondering how much one of holy rummy those lights costs… pic.twitter.com/BMM8VeeWuKJune 29, 2024
"Does anyone know @RezDyloch’s PayPal cause somebody’s paying for that broken light fixture and it’s not me," he tweeted, following it up with "If one more person pops off throwing anything you will be banned from any event I ever do".
If one more person pops off throwing anything you will be banned from any event I ever do. This is a final warning to anyone in the future. Do not throw things.June 29, 2024
It's a direct condemnation of Dyloch's actions, but also a warning to others—probably at least partly in reaction to Super Smash Bros player Hungrybox, whose over-the-top celebrations have also included power-slamming his own chair as recently as May 2024 at GOML X.
The fighting game community has long pushed for an informal, homegrown feel to its events, distinctly different from the slick, corporate atmosphere of major esports tournaments. But the downside of that is there's still a lot of immature behaviour at events, both on and off the stage. "Don't throw your chair royally rummy at the light fixtures" seems like it should be a pretty low bar, and yet here we are in 2024 with an event winner potentially earning himself a negative $2,435 prize.
But Dyloch certainly has few defenders on social media right now, so there's no question that the stupidity of his behaviour has been recognised in the scene, and hopefully that's an end to anyone else's chair-chucking plans at least. Meanwhile, he's got 2,435 reasons not to do it again.