The rich get richer as Echo Fox' Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi steamrollered his way to another premier Street Fighter V victory, this time at the Tokyo Game Show last weekend.
The win was signature Tokido -- pristine play that suffocated opponents and took out their options one by one. It wasn't a necessary victory for Tokido, who stands alone at No. 1 on the Capcom Pro Tour, but after two straight poor performances in which the Japanese legend could not make it out of pool play (E-Sports Festival Hong Kong and Southern California Regionals, respectively), he was back into form.
Tokido's thumping of Japanese countryman Cygames' Keita "Fuudo" Ai was especially brutal. Tokido needed to win two sets, but he instead won every round of the set and prompted Fuudo to look to the heavens on multiple occasions for an answer. If this Tokido shows up in any future tournaments, including the Capcom Cup, he will be an easy favorite to win.
Speaking of the Capcom Cup, time is running out for players to qualify for the big dance. With so many top players planning to play the few remaining top-tier events, the potential for a lesser player to qualify for the Capcom Cup will be extremely difficult.
If the Tokyo Game Show is an indicator, expect next months Canada Cup to be high entertainment. Tokyo Game Show had 723 registered players, and was arguably the most stacked tournament outside of the Evolution Fighting Game Championships (Evo). Some of those in attendance were Tokido, Fuudo, UYU's Sim "NL" Gun and Li-Wei "Oil King" Lin, Cygames' Daigo Umehara, Fudoh's Fujimura Atsushi, Ghost Gaming's Du "NuckleDu" Dang, and Echo Fox' Justin Wong.
For top-eight finishers Chia-Chen "ZJZ" Tseng and Kensuke "Trashbox" Ishikawa, it was too little too late. Although Trashbox had a few strong placements this year, his lack of travel and tournament wins prevented the No. 1-ranked online player from qualifying for the Capcom Cup. As for ZJZ, the EVO Japan King of Fighters champion, this was more just encouragement for next year's run than anything else.
Late momentum
For NuckleDu, NL, Oil King, Justin Wong and Team Liquid's Naoki "Nemo" Nemoto, this was a sure sign that things were pointing in their direction. All five players finished with encouraging deep runs in Tokyo, and should be primed for the finale of the tour. For Nemo, this only guaranteed his attendance in the Capcom Cup and provided plenty of optimism for last year's third-place finisher.
This was as big of a tournament for NuckleDu and Justin Wong as anyone, because it reaffirmed that their hard work was not in vain. NuckleDu continued to add to his reputation of dominating international competition. He looked fantastic all weekend, and could be the best hope for another championship run at the Capcom Cup in December. Justin Wong, who finished in ninth place, has looked unstoppable at times on Menat against a deep field of players. The late momentum-gainers are the players to note for Street Fighter V because of the game's volatility in terms of parity. It would not be a surprise to see all of these players make deep runs in December if they continue their top form.