STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: PRO-US 2022 SEASON 5 WEEK NINE RECAP

There were some big moves on the standings after last week’s Team Battles. ENDEMIC moved into the lead after getting a clean sweep 40-0 win against CL GAMING. RED ROOSTER climbed from last place into fourth after a big 40-10 win against PANDA GLOBAL. After this week’s Team Battles there was another seismic shift in the standings. The quest for a Playoff spot continues and every point counts as only the top four teams will make the cut at the end of the regular season.

The first of this week’s Team Battles was PANDA GLOBAL as the home teem versus NASR X BANDITS. PANDA GLOBAL came into this week with a 1-4 record and having lost three straight Team Battles. Despite this, the team still has a respectable amount of points due to two of their Team Battles being decided by tie-breaker. NASR X BANDITS fell to second place on the standings last week but by only five points and is the only undefeated team this season.

RED ROOSTER returned this week as the home team against UYU in our second Team Battle. Both teams had big wins in their previous battles with RED ROOSTER beating PANDA GLOBAL last week and UYU getting a narrow win against CL GAMING in week seven.

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. 

PANDA GLOBAL (HOME) vs NASR X BANDITS (AWAY)

Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) AngryBird (Ken), 2) Big Bird (Kolin), 3) MenaRD (Ken), SUB) Caba

The first Team Battle between PANDA GLOBAL and NASR X BANDITS was a nail-biter that went to the tie-breaker with NASR X BANDITS getting the 25-20 win. This time it was another tie-breaker of sorts only this time in the anchor position as both teams won one of the two first matches of the Team Battle. Because of this the stakes were higher as the winner of round 3 would give their team a win by 20 points.

In the first match AngryBird and his Ken went in against Nephew’s Kolin. The first game was very close with several momentum changes during its course but Nephew got the win to take the early lead. AngryBird came back very strong, checking most of Kolin’s attempts to get in while doing a great job getting throws. AngryBird would win two straight games to come out on top in the first match 2-1.

As the away team Big Bird had to select his character before the Team Battle and he decided on Luke. PANDA GLOBAL sent in JB using Rashid to face him in the second match of the Team Battle. Big Bird had previously used Luke twice in previous weeks and won both times but JB was ready for him. The first game was very close with both players being on almost no health in the final round when JB landed the final blow to win. In the second game JB took control and won it handily, getting some great crush counters and a great Critical Art at the end to win the match 2-0.

With the score tied 10-10 all of the pressure was now on the anchor position and of course it was Punk that would go in against MenaRD’s Luke. Punk selected Luke as well and the mirror match was on. This match had a lot of back and forth momentum swings, as you would expect from the calibre of both players involved. Punk won the first game by a small margin but MenaRD win the next two games in four straight rounds to answer back. Punk went back to character select to collect himself and both players slow down, using more of Luke’s projectiles. Punk would go on to win to tie up the score. In the final game of the match it would go down the final round but MenaRD went on a run to inflict a crushing series of moves and combos to finish Punk and get the 30-10 win for NASR X BANDITS.

MatchPlayerTeamCharacterPlayerTeamCharacterResult
1AngryBirdNASR X BANDITSKendefeatedNephewPANDA GLOBALKolin2-1
2JBPANDA GLOBALRashiddefeatedBig BirdNASR X BANDITSLuke2-0
3MenaRDNASR X BANDITSLukedefeatedPunkPANDA GLOBALLuke3-2
SCORETOTAL1st2nd3rdBreak
HOME1001000
AWAY3010020

RED ROOSTER (HOME) vs UYU (AWAY)

Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) DCQ (Urien), 2) Oil King (Rashid), 3) NL (Luke), SUB) Xian

This Team Battle was an incredibly important one for both teams as each has been on the bottom of the standings in recent weeks. With PANDA GLOBAL’s loss in this week’s first Team Battle it was important for them to see UYU win as well to keep RED ROOSTER from gaining too much ground. In week two RED ROOSTER beat UYU 30-10 but this week the runback goes the other direction with UYU coming out on top.

As the away team UYU put DCQ and his Urien first in the lineup and RED ROOSTER put Mono in to face him with his F.A.N.G. Mono starts off the match very aggressive, attempting to keep DCQ’s Urien off balance. It very nearly worked as Mono won the first game with minimal danger. DCQ was increasingly successful at defending against Mono’s offense and counter attacking more, winning game two. Mono would win the first round of the third game and was within one hit of winning the second round to win the match but DCQ landed two throws in a row to steal the round. DCQ would win the final round with relative ease to give UYU the win in the first match.

Smug and his Balrog went in next to take on Oil King’s Rashid. It was an exciting match where the always aggressive Oil King plays hit and run against Smug’s Balrog. It took a lot of effort for Smug to catch the highly mobile Rashid but when he did Balrog made him pay with big damage combos. Both of Smug’s prior appearances in Team Battles this seasons were losses but he came through for his team here. After he landed the insant overhead to finish Oil King Smug immediately put his head down in relief. This win was not only important to his team today but is surely a huge boost to Smug’s confidence.

The anchor position match was an epic clash between the phenomenon Ajax Fidelity and NL. In their first Team Battle Ajax Fidelity’s Ed beat NL’s Luke 3-0 and you could tell that NL was waiting for this rematch. He sat down with grim determination and was heard to tell his team “trust me” before the match began. NL put up a good effort early but Ajax Fidelity’s Ed managed to get more consistent offense as the match progressed and Ajax Fidelity went on to win the first two games. NL was down but he remained focused throughout and starting with the third game the tide began to slowly turn. NL’s Luke started to find a good spacing to make it harder for Ed to get in while getting a lot of whiff-punishes of his own. NL would win a very close game three and a dominant game four to tie it up. The last game would go to the final round. Both players had roughly the same life at a little below half when NL confirms into a Critical Art. Ajax Fidelity is pushed into the corner where NL makes a jump-in attack. Ajax Fidelity missed the anti-air and NL landed the final blow to complete an incedible come-from-behind win to give the Team Battle victory to UYU.

MatchPlayerTeamCharacterPlayerTeamCharacterResult
1DCQUYUUriendefeatedMonoRED ROOSTERF.A.N.G.2-1
2SmugRED ROOSTERBalrogdefeatedOil KingUYURashid2-0
3NLUYULukedefeatedAjax FidelityRED ROOSTEREd3-2
SCORETOTAL1st2nd3rdBreak
HOME100100
AWAY3010020

TEAM STANDINGS 

NASR X BANDITS regains the top spot with a nice 25 point lead over second place with their win this week. The biggest shift in the standings was in the bottom three with UYU’s win really shaking things up. UYU moved up two spots to fourth place. RED ROOSTER fell to fifth place and PANDA GLOBAL falls to sixth place with both teams tied at 100 points.

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! 

www.twitch.tv/capcomfighters 

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