Iron Galaxy at Frosty Faustings 2026

Published by

Keenan Moralicz

February 5, 2026

Iron Galaxy at Frosty Faustings 2026 blog header image

It’s wintertime here in Chicago, which means that its Frosty Faustings season. FF is one of the premier Illinois fighting game events, hosted in Lombard, where the FGC comes together to complete in main and side tournaments. With our studio nearby, several Iron Galaxy employees who love fighting games made their way to play and engage with fighters willing to brave the cold. Read on to learn about our action-packed weekend, filled with community and competition.
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A sign that says Killer Instinct and Frosty Faustings

Thursday kicked things off with Vortex Gallery’s Killer Instinct bracket. This year shifted to a Top 8 battle on stream for community members to enjoy. Frosty’s Top 8 featured six unique characters. LAGrGaming continued their support for the KI community by sponsoring another trophy for this year’s champion. Grand Finals saw a rematch of the Winners Final match between last year’s winner, Bass, and one of Evo 2025’s top competitors, FrodoTbagginzz. Bass confidently played Eagle and Spinal, earning himself another Frosty Faustings trophy.
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A KI player's tattoo of Sadira iconography — KravynTheRipper’s Sadira Tattoo
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Killer Instinct shoutcasters pointing at the camera while commentating the Killer Instinct bracket — Commentators: @datboijuiceTV and @ItsJustOvis

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Killer Instinct's Top 8 players from the Frosty Faustings bracket holding their medals and trophy

‍Killer Instinct Top 8:
🥇@XiBassiX (Eagle & Spinal), 🥈@Duran_Frodo (Maya), 🥉@Dr_IvoryFGC (Gargos), 🏅@Trevwerd (Cinder), 🏅@Thrash_Heavy (Eagle), 🏅Raven is Raw (Spinal), 🏅YungTate (Maya), and 🏅Feedbackking13 (Mira)
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The Killer Instinct community at Frosty Faustings posing together for a picture — Killer Instinct Community

Community Quotes

‍@BlackDiamondGMZ: I love me some KI. I love playing the game. I love seeing people who have played the game for years, smoked people who’ve played the game for all of like two months, and then a year later they come back and make Top 8’s.
‍@VenenoRaccoon: I had a lot of fun. It’s always great to see the KI community come together at any offline major or any event in general. Me personally, I love bringing KI with me to other conventions. I’m always going to bring KI with me.
‍@Dr_IvoryFGC: I will always terrorize top 8. I don’t care if you’re new, you’re a seasoned veteran, respectfully, I’m going to keep playing KI ‘til I’m crispy and old.

Fans can relive KI’s Top 8 by watching MatchStickMelee’s VOD on YouTube from #FFXVIII2026.
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A sign with Divekick and Frosty Faustings logos displayed

Saturday, we followed the Divekick community as they kicked it out for another LAGrGAming sponsored trophy. Jeff Hanson set up and hosted Divekick for this year’s Vortex Gallery bracket. Top 4 saw long time community familiars, SneezeLord93, HANSON, Argen, and TacBac, exchanging blows and stamps, to crown Divekick veteran, SneezeLord93, as this year’s #VGFFXVIII Divekick champion.
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Divekick shoutcasters smiling right before commentating the Divekick bracket — Commentators: @TCG_gekkouga and @mtbeck2012

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A hand holding up the FRAUD stamp from Divekick — FRAUD Stamp: Stamped on everyone who lost an entire match without winning a single round.
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A collage of names, rankings, and characters who placed top 8 for Divekick at Frosty Faustings

Divekick Top 8:
🥇SneezeLord93 (Jefailey), 🥈@UA_hanson (Kung Pao and Dive), 🥉@Argenrost (REDACTED), 🏅@Tac_Bac (Uncle Sensei), 🏅Ad Astra (Dr. Shoals), 🏅Griffers (Jefailey), Rekhova (Dr. Shoals), and Geordi (Jefailey)
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Divekick's top 3 competitors smiling with their winnings — Divekick Top 3

Players can watch back Divekick’s Top 8 by watching MatchStickMelee’s VOD on YouTube from #FFXVIII2026.
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Mario Gomez playing on stream on a Vampire Savior cabinet — QA Cert Specialist Mario Gomez competing in Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire
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Kieran Peasley fist bumping a Street Fighter 6 competitor before the match starts — Iron Galaxy Designer Kieran Peasley competing in Street Fighter 6
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Keeman45 and ApologyMan smiling for a photo together — Yours Truly playing 2XKO with the Riot Games development team
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Nate Herbst playing casual Guilty Gear -Strive- matches — Software Engineer Nate Herbst playing Guilty Gear -Strive- casuals

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Like everyone else at the event, members of our development team also enjoy fighting games. We were spread throughout the event, doing our best to break out of pools, supporting one another, and duking it out with enthusiastic members of the FGC. Kieran Peasley broke out of pools playing Marisa, with a patient display of character knowledge battling Ed, Blanka, Mai, and M. Bison players.

While walking around the event, we caught up with artists we’ve connected with at past events to see their latest creations. One of the artists, FrodoTbagginz, not only shared an incredibly detailed Maya poster, but earned second place during this year’s KI bracket. His mastery of Maya extends into multiple realms of talent. Cinamuffins shared his newest sticker + print while Wave shared a goal of making a new Kitty Instinct piece for Combo Breaker. Tune back later this year after we attend Combo Breaker for an update!
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FrodoTBagginz holding up his fan art of Maya — ‍FrodoTbagginzz
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Cinamuffins posing for a photo in front of his booth — CinaMuffins
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Wave posing for a photo while holding a Riptor Kitty chain in front of her booth — Wave

Thank you to the team at Frosty Faustings and Michael Hionis (@SuperGreekFyter), the Co-Director of @FrostyFaustings. Greek was a play tester of Killer Instinct Season 2 and is an Aganos, Kan-Ra, & Fulgore player! We appreciate the invitation to support the FGC. Getting to watch the KI and Divekick community enjoy each other’s company, playing their favorite games in the same weekend, was a treat. Until #FFXIX2026!

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