The finale of the Capcom Pro Tour will pit 32 of the world's best fighters against each other this weekend in a race to crown the year's best Street Fighter. Despite a smaller field than the Evolution Fighting Game Championships, the Capcom Cup is one of the most volatile tournaments on the schedule. Last year's winner, Saul "MenaRD" Mena, proved to be one of the biggest shockers of the year and this year should possess similar fireworks. A change from last year is the last chance qualifier winner will no longer be the lowest-ranked player in the field, but instead enter in at the 19th seed.
So who out of a field of elites should we mark as the favorites to take the whole thing? It is as simple as looking at the leaderboard -- the two top point-getters were also the year's best players in Street Fighter V.
This season saw plenty of paper champions that dominated for only months at a time, but the real monsters ate throughout and both Echo Fox' Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi and FUDOH's Fujimura "Fujimura" Atsushi played hot potato for the title of "strongest fighter." Both Tokido and Fujimura were the best with their respective characters and placed consistently high throughout the season. Outside of those two names, here are some of the contenders that will absolutely make some noise when the weekend's festivities begins:
Mousesports' Benjamin "Problem X" Simon
Problem X is no longer under the label of dark horse. As the third seed in the entire tournament, he already won the toughest tournament for the season, Evolution Fighting Game Championships (EVO). The versatile Abigail and M. Bison player plays at a frustratingly slow pace and relies on his character's impressive comeback mechanics to do the heavy lifting for him. As the best M. Bison in the tournament (with respect to Raptor E-Sports' Gonzalo "Pikoro" Buleje), he may already have an advantage over the rest of the field with matchup knowledge that only he will have. The lone UK representative will look to win the second-toughest tournament and add it to his impressive resume.
UYU's Li-Wei "Oil King" Lin
If it's a major tournament, you can count on Oil King to be in position to take it all. He was a picture of consistency with five top eight performances in premier tournaments this year and could be in line to add another deep run at the Capcom Cup. His reserved Rashid play is advantageous for punishing overextensions and creating mistakes from the opposition. The method to his consistency is his level-headed decisions and infamous breathing exercises to keep the nerves at bay. With just one premier tournament win on his docket, a victory at the Capcom Cup will delete his 'contender' status permanently.
Qanba Douyu's Zeng "Xiao Hai" Zhuojun
This year can be China's year behind the maddeningly inconsistent play of Xiao Hai. It is very public knowledge that Xiao Hai's worst enemy is his own mentality and nerves -- there is too much film of the player self-imploding on the biggest stage. So why recommend his name as one to watch? There are several factors that may side with the Chinese Cammy: late momentum on the year instead of early results, three second-place finishes at premier events, and his bracket. Xiao Hai is a notorious momentum player and his top finishes at both Canada Cup and Southern California Regionals may benefit his play rather than a hot start to the year. And lastly, his biggest hurdle to a potential semi-final seat is Cygames Beast's Keita "Fuudo" Ai; their matches this year all went down to a hard read or critical art.
Rise's Cristhoper "Caba" Rodriguez
Early in the year, Caba's Guile play turned heads and earned him the moniker of the best to play the flash-kicker. With an unpredictable mix of defense and risk-taking, Caba made a name for himself outside of MenaRD's shadow. This talented player from the Dominican Republic will enter Capcom Cup with no tangible momentum, but will have the element of surprise on his side. After his incredible top eight run at EVO, he only made four appearances at major tournaments (with two top eight at premier events) and stayed off the map over the last four months. With limited tape on his play and a winnable bracket, Caba can certainly run the tables en route to a very deep finish.