RENNES - Offer up an automatic bid into the Capcom Cup at a premiere event and killers will show up from all over the world to claim it. This weekend, Europe’s best showed up at Stunfest 2015 in Rennes, France to earn that prized spot in the Capcom Pro Tour finale along with what seemed like all of Asia’s top players. Eight of the top ten players in the tour standings made the top 16 at Stunfest in a spectacular showing that demonstrated why players like Seonwoo Lee, Mad Catz' Daigo Umehara, and Evil Geniuses' Yusuke Momochi are on top of the competitive Street Fighter world
See you at Capcom Cup, Infiltration
Lee, better known as /r/Kappa Infiltration, was determined to make the 2015 Capcom Cup by any means necessary. He’s currently the top points earner on the Capcom Pro Tour at 424, over 150 points higher than second place in the standings. As he’s come up short at premier events, he’s had to rely on stockpiling enough points that would guarantee him one of 15 eligible spots in the Capcom Cup.
Infiltration, who recently finished first at Texas Showdown 2015, looked like he was cruising to another first place finish at Stunfest. A win would alleviate any concerns over having to continue to earn points at major events. His Decrapre was rock solid as he remained mobile and expertly picked his spots to attack or counter, defeating Eita 2-0 and Tokido 3-1. Then Infiltration ran into a brick wall in Momochi, who also was having a pretty good day of his own. The two players traded momentum often but Infiltration would fall behind by two games before clawing his way back to even it up 2-2, with superb keep away tactics that flustered Momochi. Infiltration dropped the final game of the set and would go on to meet Daigo in a loser’s final. Unlike Momochi, Daigo had answers for Infiltration’s strategy and he would eliminate Infiltration easily.
However, luck was finally on Infiltration’s side. Going into the final three matches of the day, Infiltration had already secured his automatic bid into the Capcom Cup because both Momochi and Daigo also earned automatic bids as the winner of last year’s Capcom Cup and the winner of Norcal Regionals last month, respectively. While he will surely continue to claim victories, Infiltration no longer needs to be concerned with the points race.
Momochi is still a force to be reckoned with
Meanwhile, Momochi finally found some of his swagger going into the Stunfest grand finals. He opened top 16 winners play with a superb match against Razer’s Ho Kun Xian, who defeated Momochi back at Final Round 18 to earn his own spot in the Capcom Cup. Neither player made many mistakes but when they did, they both were able to capitalize on them. The pendulum just seemed to swing Momochi’s way a bit more as he took advantage of critical errors made by Xian, winning their match 2-1.
The day wouldn’t get any easier as Momochi had to face Daigo in a classic Ken versus Ryu matchup. That’s right; Daigo went vanilla Ryu, not Evil Ryu. It seemed like a bad decision at first as Momochi hopped out to a 2-0 lead but Daigo showed why you can’t count him out as he tied the set up at two apiece. Momochi shocked everyone with a surprise counter-pick. He reached deep into his pocket and dusted off his Cody, and it worked as the pick threw Daigo off completely.
An Evil Ryu versus Ken showdown
But with Daigo eliminating Infiltration in the loser’s bracket, the two Japanese heavyweights would clash again in the grand finals and it was a glorious fight to the finish. Daigo has been on a little bit of a hot streak having won Norcal Regionals and taking first in the 2015 Topanga World League. There would be no pocket characters or counter-picking this time around, as Daigo went with Evil Ryu and Momochi stuck with Ken.
Momochi looked good taking the first game as he punished Daigo for ill-timed combo drops. Daigo would execute near perfectly as he went on to win the next two games. It was the fourth game that changed everything. Momochi jumped out on Daigo with a perfect round one win. Daigo, having figured out that he could abuse his focus attack on Momochi, would take round two and completely turn the tide with a mind-blowing 25-hit combo that had to be seen to be believed, thus resetting the bracket.
Daigo would drop the first game in the next set but would go on to win both sets 3-1. His spacing on his footsies, his timing on anti-air attacks, and his punishing of Momochi’s whiffed attacks were immaculate. Just a few months ago, Momochi looked invincible coming off top finishes at Capcom Cup 2014, Shadowloo Showdown 6, and SXSW Fighters Invitational. Since then, he’s looked mortal and Daigo has surged into three top first place finishes in the last two months.
Now that Infiltration has secured his spot, it will be interesting to see how the Capcom Pro Tour field shakes out in the standings, especially with Combo Breaker 2015 also occurring this weekend.
