The Capcom Pro Tour is nearing the end of its season, which is arguably the most interesting time of year for spectators and the most stressful for competitors.
The inclusion of a last-chance qualifier at the Capcom Cup last year created a tournament bracket that could be summed up only as controlled chaos. The eventual winner, Naoki "Nemo" Nemoto, threw a wrench in the system as no player was ready for his brand of aggression. He would finish a very respective third in the main tournament, but the message was clear from Capcom -- the harder the bracket, the better the show.
Because there are only two premier events (Tokyo Game Show this weekend and the Canada Cup) and the last-chance qualifier left that are not regional finals, points will be at a premium for players who still need to secure a spot in December's Capcom Cup. While there are still upcoming ranking events, those are more for security for qualified players since first place nets only 150 points in comparison to the 700 of a premier event. The time to make a name for yourself or scrounge up last-minute points is now.
If last weekend's Southern California Regionals was any indication of what to expect for the final few events of the year, then buckle up. Six of the top 10 in Capcom Cup points entered the tournament, and only one qualified for the final day. Two of them, Keita "Fuudo" Ai and Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, failed to even get out of their respective pools. The competition was at its peak because the opportunity to qualify or pad rankings is about to dry up. Unless a major change occurs, such as many top players staying away from the future events, every event will have its share of gatekeepers and legends.
Street Fighter V's cyclical trend of who's hot and who's not continued again as the current king of the game, Naoto "Sako" Sako, won SCR with relative ease. Right on his heels was Zeng "Xiao Hai" Zhuo Jun, and his stock continues to rise. If those two fall or don't show up to upcoming tournaments (for Sako, that is very possible), it will leave room for someone else to gain momentum. If consistent players like Tokido, Fuudo, Fujimura and Daigo Umehara fall to the hunger of the youth, the tournaments ahead could only be described as wildly unpredictable.
The only constant is the character dominance of the year with Menat, Cammy and Guile leading the way. SCR brought a glimmer of diversity, with six characters represented in the top eight (Sagat, Ken, Akuma, Karin, Abigail, Cammy, and Menat), but that may be more of an outlier -- winning needs to be accompanied by a top-tier character, and that was established after the latest patch.
The past and the future
SCR was a top eight rich with narrative. Both the pairings of Chris Tatarian against Yusuke Momochi and Masato "Bonchan" Takahashi against Victor "Punk" Woodley were battles between the younger generation and the old guard. The other pairings pitted present-day climbers in Kubo "StormKUBO" Arashi and Miky "XsK Samurai" Chea against established names from the past in Sako (one of the five Japanese "gods" of fighting games) and Xiao Hai (King of Fighters). Overall, it reminded people why Street Fighter was so fascinating and exciting to watch with its many subplots and built-in suspense. The beauty of watching youth pitted against legend could be the trend for the remaining tournaments on the tour because the final day of a ranking or premier event will most definitely pair an up-and-comer with an established veteran.
With only 31 available spots in the Capcom Cup, the race is tight. Hiromiki "Itabashi Zangief" Kumada is currently in the driver's seat in 31st. The most notable names on the cusp include Bruce "Gamerbee" Hsiang, Marcus "The CoolKid93" Redmond and Christ "Akainu" Onema.
You can be assured that the desperation to qualify will be at a fever pitch, and many of the players who sit in the 50s will try their last hand in the upcoming months.