The level of competition so far in STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE season five has been through the roof with most of the Team Battles being very close. Four of the six Team Battles going into this week were decided by tie-breaker for only a 5 point difference. This season has also seen the emergence of incredible talents such as RED ROOSTER’s Ajax Fidelity, who are not well known on the Capcom Pro Tour but have proven they can stand toe-to-toe with the other top players here. This week’s matchups between ENDEMIC and RED ROOSTER followed by UYU and PANDA GLOBAL continue the trend of thrilling, incredibly close Team Battles as well as revealing another relatively unknown player with the ability to beat the best.
If you missed any of season 5 and want to get caught up before reading further, check out the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 5 Archive or the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel’s STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 5 video playlist for the full episodes.
ENDEMIC (HOME) vs RED ROOSTER (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Ajax Fidelity (Ed), 2) Mono (F.A.N.G.), 3) HotDog29 (M.Bison), SUB) Smug
For ENDEMIC this is the fourth Team Battle in as many weeks and they come into this week with three losses. Each of their Team Battles were incredibly close but last week’s loss to PANDA GLOBAL was a tough one. It all came down to the third round match between iDom and Punk and Punk’s win turned a 30 point win into a 10 point loss. RED ROOSTER gets their second Team Battle this week coming off a big 30-10 win in week two against UYU with relative newcomer AJAX FIDELITY’s Ed being a standout surprise.
ENDEMIC chose to send in Shine’s Cody against Ajax Fidelity’s Ed in the first match and it was a real treat to watch. Both players took turns trading blows with some great counter-hits by Shine’s Cody and some nice offensive pressure by Ajax Fidelity’s Ed. The match came down to the very last round with both players having low health. Ajax Fidelity had meter on his side and was laying down some oppressive attacks and managed to run out the clock, winning the game and the match with a timeout.
Next up was NuckleDu using Cammy facing off against Mono’s F.A.N.G. and this one was fairly one-sided. F.A.N.G. has a lot of tricks up his sleeve with deceptive attacks and his use of poison to drain health but Mono seemed to have to do a lot of work to get the same damage as just one good combo from Cammy. Mono looked to be doing better in his second game but it was not enough. NuckleDu looked confident throughout and would cruise to a 2-0 win.
The final match of this Team Battle was an absolutely sensational clash between iDom’s Laura and HotDog29’s M.Bison. This was HogDog29’s first time playing this season and it was a grand entrance indeed. He used M.Bison’s far reaching normals to stifle iDom’s attempts to get in close with Lauraa successfully early in the match, winning the first two games. In the third game iDom found ways around HotDog29’s defenses and managed to get close with more regularity, starting the high damage throw and hit-stun game that Laura is infamous for. iDom would fight his way to winning the next two games to tie it up. The third and final game was an intense one with both players scrambling for any kind of advantage. It would go to the very last round and ended with an absolutely heart-stopping conclusion with both players having a sliver of health and iDom using a clutch V-Shift to sidestep his opponent’s attack to land the final blow to give ENDEMIC it’s first win of the season.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Ajax Fidelity | RED ROOSTER | Ed | defeated | Shine | ENDEMIC | Cody | 2-1 |
| 2 | NuckleDu | ENDEMIC | Cammy | defeated | Mono | RED ROOSTER | F.A.N.G. | 2-0 |
| 3 | iDom | ENDEMIC | Laura | defeated | HotDog29 | RED ROOSTER | M.Bison | 3-2 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 30 | 0 | 10 | 20 | – |
| AWAY | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | – |
UYU (HOME) vs PANDA GLOBAL (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Nephew (Kolin), 2) JB (Rashid), 3) Punk (Luke), SUB) Kami
UYU is the home team this week against PANDA GLOBAL. UYU has not had great results in previous seasons if you only looked at the standings but this season’s change in format to being focused on points instead of the more stark win-loss previously used will be more reflective of their talent. They lost their first Team Battle in week two against RED ROOSTER. PANDA GLOBAL vaulted up to second place on the standings after an impressive win last week against ENDEMIC.
This Team Battle started off with a thriller as NL’s Luke took on Nephew’s Kolin in the opening match. NL had the momentum early with a one-sided win in the first game with Luke’s normals and Sand Blaster keeping Kolin from starting up offense. In the second game Nephew was able to get offense more reliably and to get Luke into bad corner situations more often. He would win the second game to tie the score. In the last game both players traded momentum but NL was able to win in the final round with a clutch EX uppercut.
Oil King would step up in the second match to face JB’s Rashid. Oil King used Seth in the first game but was crushed in a game with very few bright spots. JB used Rashid’s high movement and oppressive offense to virtually shut down Seth and went on to easily win the first game. In the second game Oil King switched to Rashid for a mirror-match and it was much more competitive but JB managed to get more big reads than his opponent. JB would win the match 2-0 to tie up the Team Battle at 10-10.
We finally got to see DCQ in action going up against Punk in the anchor position’s third match and what an entrance it was. DCQ’s Urien won the first round but Punk’s Luke would go on to win the first game. After a long break with DCQ looking reflective as Punk bantered DCQ would go on to win the next two games. Punk started off the Team Battle with his characteristic bravado, joking with his team between rounds, but that would slow and stop as the Team Battle slipped out of his grasp in the following games. DCQ’s Urien seemed to always be in the best position to out-poke Luke and used his fireball and other special moves to keep Luke out of his element. DCQ went on to win two games in a row to take the lead. In the final game Punk switched characters to Ken but it did not help as DCQ won the final game two rounds straight.
UYU not only got a big win this week 30-10 but DCQ’s stunning performance against one of the best players in the world in a best of three match surely turned some heads among the other teams watching the action.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | NL | UYU | Luke | defeated | Nephew | PANDA GLOBAL | Kolin | 2-1 |
| 2 | JB | PANDA GLOBAL | Rashid | defeated | Oil King | UYU | Seth/Rashid | 2-0 |
| 3 | DCQ | UYU | Urien | defeated | Punk | PANDA GLOBAL | Luke/Ken | 3-1 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 30 | 10 | 0 | 20 | – |
| AWAY | 10 | 00 | 10 | 0 | – |
TEAM STANDINGS
As week four comes to a close here are the current standings. ENDEMIC takes first place but mostly due to having more Team Battles under their belt.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!
Be sure to catch the next episode on Twitch and YouTube on Friday at 4:00 PM Pacific, 7:00 PM Eastern!