Almost eerily, with Combo Breaker 2022 fast approaching and record heights being seen for the tournament series, the former venue for the iconic event saw major damage over the weekend as a fire ravaged the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles. FGC members may remember this location as the venue for Combo Breaker from 2016 until 2019, a period over which Combo Breaker began to grow tremendously as a premier fighting game tournament and social event. According to local reports, the fire demanded more than 20 local fire departments to extinguish over the weekend on the abandoned property.
While the Pheasant Run served as the backdrop for some monumental FGC moments, the property had been closed since March 2020 due to troubles in attempts to auction off the property. Still, FGC members and The Hadou himself took some time to comment on the unfortunate situation.
I heard about this but this brought it home.
This is the remains of the Pheasant Run Resort. That looks like the indoor pool in the top of the property now completely exposed, everything having burned around it.
Pour one out for the CB memories. pic.twitter.com/IrSIYGTT47
— Cole Tocci (Flux) (@FluxedOver) May 23, 2022
Pheasant Run currently being on fire during the last weekend before CB2022 feels strangely fitting. Really can’t go back to that era and can only look forward from here on out.
— Rick (@TheHadou) May 21, 2022
With the event series seeing record entrant numbers for games like GGST, KOF, and BBCF in Combo Breaker 2022, it’s safe to say that Combo Breaker’s life as an event continues to thrive while the community takes some time here to remember where it came from.