EVO 2023 competitor goes viral after controller cover-up gone wrong

Tekken competitor Meo-IL at EVO 2023 chose to cover up his controller in what has been an ongoing trend amongst high-tier competitors — but the way he covered it looked like he was up to something other than pulling off command inputs under there.

Oh ‘Meo-IL’ Dae-il is one of the best competitors in Tekken 7. Hailing from South Korea and represented by Kwangdong Freecs, he’s one of the strongest Geese Howard players in the scene and is a force to be reckoned with.

He’s also known for having a fun stage presence with dramatic celebrations and a big personality, making him incredibly fun to watch, as he often makes deep runs at Tekken tournaments.

However, a clip of him playing on stage at EVO 2023 caught some eyes after a covering for his controller made it appear that he was up to something else.

Meo-IL has unfortunate controller cover mishap at EVO 2023

Meo-IL has a bright personality and an amazing presence on stage. Between pulling out his futuristic-looking LED glasses after big wins and his incredibly colorful controller, this player is hard to miss.

He hopped onto the emerging EVO 2023 trend of covering his controller, something players have been doing to hide their inputs from opponents lately.

Street Fighter pro refuses to let you see his buttons pic.twitter.com/DTRWQMtZJO

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) August 5, 2023

EVO 2023 KOF XV champion Zeng ‘Xiaohai’ Zhuojun used a similar strategy to hide his controller, and it’s been catching on fast.

Meo-IL decided to hide his hands with a cute frog blanket, and the commentators on the match explained the ongoing trend as the competitor was getting prepped.

He’d go on to cover his controller in this way for the remainder of his EVO 2023 run, and, as he discovered the most comfortable way to play with the covering, it began to look like he was up to something else under the blanket.

In a clip that’s since gone viral, spectators weren’t too sure what to make of the unfortunate similarity to another action beneath the covers.

The wrong way to hide your controller #evo2023 pic.twitter.com/7S31KxBXvd

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) August 6, 2023

Meo-IL has taken notice of the clip and has been a good sport about it, laughing off the striking resemblance to actions that could be performed with a different kind of fight stick.

The first video I watched when I woke up was 😂😂😂I try to go back to sleep🥱🥱 https://t.co/0Yvp0bfwxy

— KDF | Meo-IL (@WaMEOIL1) August 6, 2023

And, despite the optics, Meo-IL’s still alive in Top 6 and has a chance at winning it all via a loser’s bracket run at EVO 2023. It remains to be seen whether or not he changes up his controller cover strategy in the remainder of his matches at the event.