It's different. EVO is a public tournament that anyone can enter. It's the big grand daddy of them all. It's the unofficial Superbowl of fighting games. It's an honor winning EVO.
Capcom cup is on the other hand an invitational. To get invited you must meet their requirements. As to winning X tournament or having X amount of points through their qualifiers by the deadline. It's a payday winning Capcom Cup.
To me, CC is the world cup. You need to qualify, you have the best of the best from round one in one small tight tournament and every region has the chance to send out players that maybe wouldn't make it to something like EVO.
Finally caught up, great games, great tournament for the most part.
All that complaining about Elena mirrors was just silly.
Looking back, Misse was my Hero of the cup.
He played such an awesome character so well. Makoto's such a tough little tomboy...Shes like a wounded wild animal that's been cornered, lashing out ferally at her opponent!
#1 Daigo vs Infiltration Chun Li (one of the best matches I've ever seen, that comeback is the stuff of champions)
#2 Misse vs Infiltration.....(I just like good offense and Misse is just ridiculous on that note, what an amazing match of turbo fueled offense.)
#3 Keoma vs Xian.......(very impressive Abel player, I think he deserved to win, what a tight and close game to the end) Keoma could have sealed it many times but failed to, breaks my heart. Xian's luck won him that game if anything, and perhaps the tournament results would have been different then too......oh well....
All in all, happy for Kaz, he's been coming short of #1 in so many tournaments, so I'm happy he won this time, the biggest one too, what a dominating player, great reads, quick hands, he deserved. Went unbeaten the entire tournament......
After getting absolutely crushed by Kazunoko in winners, I wasn't expecting him to make it respectable in GF but he did. Daigo was amazing in this tournament.
You could tell Kazunoko was on a different level than everyone else that day. Even when Daigo got to Grand Finals I could tell that the odds were in Kaz's favor. Either way, it was an wonderful event to watch.
After getting absolutely crushed by Kazunoko in winners, I wasn't expecting him to make it respectable in GF but he did. Daigo was amazing in this tournament.
During the end there in his match against Poonkgo I felt like Daigo started falling apart like he has often done before, playing more defensive and then losing. But he then made an adjustment to counter exactly this and went all out aggressive. He did the same thing against Kazunoko in the GF and performed much better than in the first set.
He was just playing around with Xian though, looked like child's play for him.
That tourney was amazing. Had friends over with two screens going on for both streams.
Daigo the greatest, but Kaz was on another level.
Favorite things about the tourney were Misse's Makoto, Daigo magic pixel come back, Keoma's Abel.
So fun. I don't think this is the last SF4 tourney, but I think it's the last one where all of the competitors will care this much about it and be in form like this. Fitting send off.
My thoughts on Capcom Cup, the matches, the players and such.
This years event easily has surpassed last years. In hype, matches, and no iPad DJ. Having two streams going simultaneously bringing us fire matches was :whew:. Commentary was on point. David/James and F-Word/Logan were both great duos. The E-Sports analyst desk really worked out IMO. Great seeing Combofiend & Mike Ross up there, Vice City Gootecks should've stayed on the bleachers for someone else but he wasn't a real negative. I'm not sure why they didn't get interviews from both sides for their first round matches, maybe time constraints?
Some Key Matches and thoughts on the players
Momochi. I had him going far in the tournament in my bracket. I was really caught off guard by how much he struggled against RB's flabby Hugo.
Infexious must've been rolling in his sofa watching this match. RB had it, Momochi was playing some of the flabbiest E. Ryu's in the tournament and RB couldn't clutch it out. He had some good moments but played so bad. Momochi really escaped with a win there.
His matches against Poongko/Luffy kinda went the way I expected it. I felt like Poongko was the one roadblock that could possibly stop Momochi from making it all the way to Winner's Finals or Winners semis. I feel like Momochi doesn't play too well against crazy. When he's up against a character like that, where it feels like he can't control the matchup how he wants too, he either scrapes through barely with the W or loses.
Against Luffy; he lost against him in the Topanga World League pretty convincingly. I don't think Momochi prepared to go against Luffy in the slightest. Luffy made the matchup look free again and Momochi ends up going out 1-2. With a tournament this stacked, it's not necessarily a huge upset, but I had him going far in the bracket.
Poongko. He was playing amazing this whole tournament. I really love the changes he made to his game in general with Seth. He's went from the crazy balls out Seth (the way Seth can be played) to a more footsie based Seth. Really taking advantage of Seth's decent pokes, dashing in and out of ranges and always keeping the opponent edgy with whats coming next. He had the best reactions in the whole tournament. He was punishing random whiffs full screen, punishing FADC's, shit even sweeps.
His two losses had to hurt because they were so close. His loss against Xian was crushing but you can't be mad about the way it went down. His loss against Daigo was another loss that'll definitely stick with him for a while. He was making a huge comeback down 0-2, but couldn't pull it off. You literally can't make one mistake against Evil Ryu with Seth or it's lights out.
Humanbomb aka the Gatekeeper of the century.
He played really sloppy against Fuudo but managed to take it. He played pretty decent against Mago and gatekeeped him from advancing smfh. Got Razer'd against Poongko and had to get a new stick, then brought out one of the flabbiest Sagat's I've ever seen against Snake Eyez. F O H.
Mago. You never know which Mago you're going to get at these events. Sometimes he plays godlike and makes amazing reads with great execution.. sometimes he doesn't play that way at all. This tournament he kind of played in the middle ground and I feel like he should've made it farther than he did, but these things happen. He should've seen Momochi and Fuudo losing as a gift but didn't get to take advantage.
Him losing to Humanbomb was a bit of a choke on his part IMO. His match against Luffy went pretty much as expected. He'll never get to conquer his rubber demon in the lifetime of SF4.
Xian. :whew: He was the player you could never count out. It almost felt like he was always playing at a disadvantage with how many comebacks he had to make this tournament.
His match against Valmaster went down to the wire, his match against Keoma went down to the wire, his match against Poongko went down to the wire.. then he got bopped by Kaz/Daigo pretty free. These things happen. He was really close again, but wasn't able to find an answer to Evil Ryu after all this time. He thought it would've been Dhalsim but nope, you gon eat these st.MK's for breakfast/lunch/afternoon snack/dinner/ and midnight snack. The clutch gene was definitely flowing through his body in this tournament tho.
Nemo. I really thought he'd do a lot better than he did but.. with a tournament this stacked, these things happen.
I can't say he played really bad, losing to Dashio's Seth isn't that big of an L. Rolento already loses to Seth, then mix that in with a player with such great reactions that actually punishes every roll you do with U1.. yea it's to be expected. Him losing to Valmaster was a surprise, I don't think he was ready for a Chun of that caliber even after using her himself.
Gamerbee. I really felt like this was his time to leave a mark on SF4 with this tournament. After getting 2nd at Evo, it looked like he'd be a force to be reckoned with, especially partnering up with the OH SO BROKEN ELENA OMG HEALING SO BROKEN OMG PLS NERF BAN ELENA SHES THE PROBLEM WITH THIS GAME OMGZ ELENA CUP PLS BAN.
His match against Gackt was really shaky. Elena beats Fei bad and he was really struggling against him. Gackt played the matchup great but lost in the end. His match against Keoma was a shocker. I really don't know who wins the matchup between Adon/Abel, but he really wasn't able to play his game at all. He was using that combo that I haven't seen before with doing a RJ -> ex RJ midscreen but.. in the end it cost him the match. Against Tokido he got dominated. I don't know how he lost that, Elena is the most broken character in the game, I thought she was the answer for everything right? Jab jab jab right? Healing? Wow I guess Elena isn't the answer to everything WOW.
Overall it's sad to see Bruce go out like this, not making top 8. I don't remember him ever winning a major for SF4 either which really sucks but he did put Adon on the map. His blowup on Justin at Evo 2010 will always be remembered.
Snake Eyez.
"Strider definitely has the better Abel" - bopped. After the huge upset in the first round, I really thought he'd end up going like maybe 1-2 or 2-2. But he really brought it all the way back to the top 8 so huge congrats to him for making it so far. I'd definitely say he ended SF4 being the best Gief in the world AND the best player in the US.
He went through bad matchups and beat Keoma in the runback, definitely made a great run.. then he ran into the great wall of Japan. Sometimes.. sometimes people take L's. Sometimes you play someone so good, that it makes you look like you haven't played the game before. Sometimes you play someone so good, it makes it seem like you're playing in slow motion. Sometimes you play someone so good, it looks like every option you go for is the wrong answer. Sometimes you get completely outplayed in every single aspect of Street Fighter. Sometimes you play Daigo and get bodied. These things happen. People take L's.
Infiltration. I think most people had him winning the tournament in their bracket. He was really looking invincible, having a huge array of characters to go to in any situation, his reactions are insane, his execution on point.. Then he went up against the Beast.
Look. You can't beat Daigo using an honest character like Chun Li. You really tried to out footsie the footsie GOD? Really tried to win it with Chun?? He took the L at the character select screen. Daigo must've left him mad shook after dismantling his Decapre the last time they played. Infil did choke a bit in a few rounds but.. again these things happen. I really think he should've brought out the Akuma or something else. Chun is way to honest to go against the Beast with. His match against Misse was a shocker. I really didn't think he'd lose that, going to Chun afterwards I think was a bad idea. Chun doesn't have too many answers for Axe kick mania. He didn't play it too bad, all the matches were close but.. Makoto dawg. He definitely wasn't expecting that. Overall, throughout the tournament he only stuck with Decapre and Chun.. I thought he would've had more tricks in the bag but he didn't.
Justin Wong.
People take L's. I don't know why people thought that Tonpy was the underdog in that first round matchup. Tonpy is a Viper Gawd. I know Justin has been training a lot for this event but looking over Tonpy was a huge mistake. His match against Dakou was kinda sad. I think that was another matchup he believed he could've had but I guess Elena isn't the answer for everything huh. Dakou played Evil Ryu and just had an answer for most of Elena's moves. Wow I guess Elena.. might not have all the answers sway. He's definitely gotta be disappointed with going 0-2 but with a tournament this stacked, you can't be really surprised. He really shouldn't have looked down on Tonpy though.
Dieminion. I actually believed that Prep-time Dieminion could've taken it over Daigo.
Nope. He had possibly the most unlucky bracket in the whole tournament. Literally had to play two Japanese gods back2back. His loss against Daigo wasn't a blow up. His match against Tokido though.. wow. Match went back2back and then.. he flashkicked and got baited so hard. Terrible way to go out. 0-2. Definitely top 5 US players though.
801 Strider. This is what happens when you get too over confident.
He could've changed everything if he beat Kazunoko in the first round but got Yun'd. He stole the first match with a random cr.HP which was lowkey genius. Kazunoko too stronk. You can only stop Yun for so long. I really did think that he would beat Luffy but nope. Watching Luffy struggle against Keoma so much made me think that Strider would be able to take him but st.MK too stronk. 0-2, again, can't be surprised. People take L's.
Bonchan.. :wow:. My bracket had him winning the whole thing but again.. People. Take. L's.
He played great against Misse but just got.. baited breh. Misse was too strong. Then losing to XiaoHai in losers was :scust:. He can't be happy with how he played. You never know which Bonchan you're gonna get at tournaments. Either God-Chan or Free-Chan. . 0-2, biggest surprise to me.
NuckleDu. He played great the whole tournament, maybe proving himself to be the best Guile in the world? Just maybe, b.
I had him winning his first match against Xaiohai and he did...then he got Axe kick'd like 40 times. He made a strong run in the losers bracket then lost to Gief. Does Gief beat Guile? Lookin more 5-5 every time I see it. One knockdown can be GG. Anyway, he definitely ended SF4 being top 5 in the US.
Luffy. Definitely one of my favourite players in SF4. Put Rose on the map and has stuck with her even through her terrible matchups.
His match against Problem X was really a toss up. Both of them go back and forth when they play, but Seth is still.. Seth. These things happen, sucks he had to go up against another European first round. He beat Strider in losers, which I think was a big feat in itself. Then he beat Momochi. An even bigger accomplishment. Then he had a bye against Mago , then he ran into crazy Decapre from hell. Overall he had a great tournament run through the losers bracket. Hopefully he sticks around for SFV.
Keoma. Easily the MVP of the tournament.
Proved the doubters wrong against Snake Eyez by bopping him 2-0 FREE in the first round. Okay an upset but he'll definitely lose to Gamerbee.. nope. Bodies Gamerbee too. WOW. There's no way he could beat Xian?.. Well he couldn't beat Xian but he definitely should've. I feel like he really had it, but his incapability to block against Gen on wakeup really made the difference. If he could just block those cross ups instead of doing whichever EX attack on wakeup that he thought would work, could've made the difference, but shit, Gen is hard as hell to block. Definitely one of the best matches of the tournament. Then he had to run the mini Gief Kumite, beating Itabashi then losing to Snake in the runback. He definitely represented Brazil proudly in this tournament.. just wish we would've gotten him every year instead of ChuChu's flabby ass.
Misse. Axe kicks for DAYS. Did a LOT better than I think anyone could've expected.
Beat Bonchan, NuckleDu, Tokido, Infiltration but.. Got Yun'd and Seth'd. These things happen. It was a great showing of what Makoto can do in this game, definitely the best Makoto in the world and he played amazing.
Daigo. The Beast. I wanted him to win this tournament so bad. SF4 started with Daigo and almost ended with Daigo :mjcry:.
I've said this before, but I've never seen Daigo's execution with Evil Ryu so on point. Any combo he went for, he hit. His OG Kobe Bryant clutch gene was intact. I really didn't expect him to make it that far. His match against Infiltration was definitely my favourite of the tournament, his Daigo moment was insane. Damn shame that Kazunoko owns that mans soul tho. At least he didn't go out like a punk 0-13 . He made it close, I wish the bracket could've gotten reset, or he went anime and picked regular Ryu. But.. some stories don't have happy endings fam. I believe Prep-time Daigo could take out Kazunoko. When he started playing a bit more loose is when he started to win some matches against Kazunoko but the effort came too late. IMO he goes out with being the best Street Fighter 4 player ever. His legacy in the game is eternal b.
I just wish he would've won this tournament so it could've been canon.
I hope he plays SFV and is a top player in that too but.. I doubt it. Game is ass.
And the winner.. the genius. Kazunoko.
The only person in this tournament that made Kazunoko sweat was Strider. Everything from then was easy money. When Bonchan and Momochi got eliminated it never dawned on me that Kazunoko already won.
like.. this dude crushed the competition on some King Kong shit. He didn't lose a single set, like it was a wash.
Kazunoko 2-1 Strider
Kaz 2-0 Problem X
Kaz 3-0 Misse
Kaz 3-0 Daigo
Kaz 3-0 Xian
Kaz 3-2 Daigo
like.. I did not see this coming. His road was clear after Bonchan lost. I thought Xian would've gave him competition but nope. Everything was a wash. He had everything. The execution, the reactions, the reads, the mixups, the blocking.
All that XRD probably makes SF4 play in slow motion
whew. He was playing like the most complete player in the competition. Definitely a well earned win.
Not going to go through every player but definitely a great tournament.
Now.. I thought Elena was killing SF4? Where were all the Elena's? Elena only won one set in the whole tournament and that was Gamerbee vs Gackt.
Justin/Elena vs Dakou/E Ryu = 0/2
XaioHai/Elena vs Mago/Yang = 0/2
Gamerbee/Elena vs Tokido/Akuma = 0/3
Elena Cup amirite? FOH
Meanwhile there's was 5 Evil Ryu's.. no problem here. 3 crazy Seth's who all won their first match.. no problem here.
Europe has a couple of great commentary duos that I hope more people find out about. Really nice to see Capcom recognize these two by flying them out as well as Spooky for commentary.
There's $500K reasons at least for most to make the switch, and a new game will bring in new top players. I can also expect the sponsored players to make the switch as well since SFV will have all the attention and exposure.
What people need to remember is to give SFV time to develop. It took 7 years for SF4 to get where it's at.
I would assume it's a multi-year partnership with SFV being a service and multiple years of DLC, along with Sony taking a bigger role in eSports to promote the PS4. I'm just looking at what's happening in 2016 because the money won't last forever.
There's been moments that topped Daigo/Justin in '09. I'd put this year's EVO over that one, and that Daigo/Infiltration match will go down as one of the greatest once more people digest it.
We just need America to suck less to generate more of a rooting interest.
I didn't think it was silly because you don't want to see the pinnacle of USF4 ruined by a boring mirror match. The complaining was overblown because players are not going to pull out a pocket character with so much on the line if they haven't been using them already throughout the year.
Ultimately you need to stick with what got you into Capcom Cup, and it's good to see Kazunoko win who stuck with Yun after the Yun army left and people ran to the next best characters is awesome.
A little late to this, but I wanted to hand out my own personal awards
MVP: Keoma(Had probably the most amount of hype matches)
Biggest Surprise: MisseNobody thought he would go anywhere as far as he did)
Best Match: Game 4 of Daigo vs Infiltration(DA COMEBACKS)
Best Set: Keoma vs Xian(Keoma pushes Xian to the brink)
Biggest Choke: Dashio failing to time his punish correctly to take game 1 against Xian after Xian did wake up EX DP
Most disappointing performance: Bonchan, Nemo, Momochi(the first two went 0-2 and I still have to include Momochi because he was the previous champ and this years EVO champ. More was expected of him regardless of his opponents)
Biggest Blowup: Snake Eyez losing Keoma, Mago not making the 3rd round, and 80-2 Strider(Considering what all 3 said before their matches I think you know why I put them all here)
Most dominant: Kazunoko(And it's not because he won, it's the way he won. Before GF he was 13-1 against 5 killers. It wasn't until he had a runback with Daigo who had more time to adjust did he finally lose his 2nd game)
Special Mention: Poongko(This is the best and most prepared Poongko we've ever seen and he really impressed)
Yeah I thought the same thing to. It just wasn't meant to be. Another thing is that in the last round of that GF. If Daigo had just went for a bait(after landing that combo) and punished Kazunoko's wake up upkicks he would have stunned Yun with the next combo and could have had him at about 15% health with a follow up combo. But once again Kazunoko made the right read. I still wouldn't have liked his chances that much if he did reset it but it would have made things way more hype.
