The season six regular season may have been the most competitive yet with many Team Battles going to sudden death tiebreaker and the scores on the standings have been close. With the regular season now concluded the top four teams moved on to the Playoffs this week. Up for grabs was a $75,000 prize pool in Grand Finals as well as a trip to Capcom Cup X to compete against the winners of SFL Europe and SFL Japan. NASR, BANDITS, VERSUS VORTEX and RED ROOSTER made the cut in that order on the standings. It was a thrilling regular season, and the Playoffs were no different, culminating in an epic Grand Finals that must be seen to be believed.
PLAYOFF STRUCTURE
The Playoffs consisted of three stages. The first was the Quarter Final where third place VERSUS VORTEX started as the home team against fourth place RED ROOSTER. The winner of that moved on to the Semi Final to face second place BANDITS, who started as the home team. The team that prevailed went on to the Grand Final to face first place NASR, starting as the home team.
All three stages were played in the same format as regular season Team Battle but with no tiebreaker. The winner of the first and second match scored 10 points for their team while the winner of the third anchor match earned 20. If neither team earned enough points to win by the end of the set a new one would begin, with the home and away teams switching. In the Quarter Final and Semi Final stages the first team to reach 50 points moved on while the Grand Final was won by the first team to reach 70 points. New sets were played as needed, as described above, until a team earned enough points to win the stage.
If you missed any of season 6 and want to get caught up before reading further, check out the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 6 Archive or the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel’s STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 6 video playlist for the full episodes.
QUARTER FINAL:
RED ROOSTER clinched the final Playoff spot by just 5 points in the regular season and here they faced third place VERSUS VORTEX, who started the first set as the home team. In the first two matches both teams took a win with Ajax Fidelity’s Juri beating Oil King’s Ken 2-1 followed by NL’s Luke winning against PR Balrog’s Juri 2-0, giving both teams 10 points. In the anchor match Xian’s Dee Jay went in against BananaKen’s JP. Xian won the first two games although BananaKen snatched a round away at the last second with a truly incredible back and forth scramble. BananaKen won game three with his trademark command grab but in the fourth, and what turned out to be final, game nerves seemed to take hold of BananaKen and Xian went on to win 3-1. VERSUS VORTEX finished the first set with a 30-10 lead.
In the second set BananaKen was sent right back in only this time against NL’s Luke. NL won the first game, finishing off BananaKen in the corner with an astounding five consecutive throws. NL dominated BananaKen in the second game to win 2-0. BananaKen played virtually all regular season in the anchor position under the highest pressure and often he got the win for his team. Here he did not look comfortable and faltered. VERSUS VORTEX was now just 10 points away from victory and Ajax Fidelity using Juri took on DCQ’s JP. It was a nail-biting match played at a frantic pace by both players, but DCQ won 2-0 to give VERSUS VORTEX the 50-10 victory.
SET 1: VERSUS VORTEX (HOME) vs RED ROOSTER (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Ajax Fidelity (Juri), 2) PR Balrog (Juri), 3) BananaKen (JP)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Ajax Fidelity | RED ROOSTER | Juri | defeated | Oil King | VERSUS VORTEX | Ken | 2-1 |
| 2 | NL | VERSUS VORTEX | Luke | defeated | PR Balrog | RED ROOSTER | Juri | 2-0 |
| 3 | Xian | VERSUS VORTEX | Dee Jay | defeated | BananaKen | RED ROOSTER | JP | 3-1 |
SET 2: RED ROOSTER (HOME) vs VERSUS VORTEX (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) NL (Luke), 2) DCQ (JP)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | NL | VERSUS VORTEX | Luke | defeated | BananaKen | RED ROOSTER | JP | 2-0 |
| 2 | DCQ | VERSUS VORTEX | JP | defeated | Ajax Fidelity | RED ROOSTER | Juri | 2-0 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | S1: 1st | S1: 2nd | S1: 3rd | S2: 1st | S2: 2nd |
| RED ROOSTER | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VERSUS VORTEX | 50 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 10 |
SEMI FINAL:
The members of VERSUS VORTEX won the Finals last season, albeit under the UYU team name, and were now just one step away from a shot at repeating. The last obstacle was team BANDITS, who awaited them in the Semi Final. The other members of BANDITS have had their ups and downs this season, but MenaRD has been the bedrock that kept the team strong. The two-time Capcom Cup Champion has played from the anchor position in every Team Battle this season and has only been defeated three times. For VERSUS VORTEX to win and move on to the Grand Final they needed to beat MenaRD.
This was a tough Team battle and VERSUS VORTEX would get to just one match away from victory, but they could not close it out. They had two shots to beat MenaRD and fell short both times. VERSUS VORTEX did the logical thing by setting up DCQ to fight MenaRD in the anchor position in both sets. MenaRD was only defeated three times in the regular season and two of them were to DCQ. DCQ’s wins in the regular season did not translate to the Playoffs where MenaRD seemed to be on a whole new level. MenaRD would win decisively both times.
BANDITS was the home team for the first set, and they used it effectively. The only loss for BANDITS in the first set was the very first match, where Xian’s Dee Jay narrowly beat Xiao Hai’s JP 2-1. After that it was all BANDITS, starting with a striking 2-0 win by Caba’s Guile against NL’s Luke. The first anchor match between MenaRD’s Blanka and DCQ’s JP was the most competitive. DCQ won the first game, but MenaRD would win the next three games to finish 3-1. MenaRD made some clutch plays, and his air Blanka Ball was very effective. As the match went on DCQ looked increasingly perplexed as to how to deal with MenaRD’s Blanka.
In the second set VERSUS VORTEX started out with more success, winning the first two matches. Xian’s Dee Jay had to fight hard to beat Caba’s Guile but managed to accomplish it 2-0. NL’s Luke defeated Xiao Hai’s Ken by a very slim margin 2-1. Once again DCQ stepped in to face MenaRD with the Team Battle tied 30-30 but the runback went even worse for DCQ. The pace and variety of offensive approaches did not allow DCQ to set up JP’s zoning or to get any kind of momentum. MenaRD would finish 3-0, giving BANDITS the 50-30 win.
SET 1: BANDITS (HOME) vs VERSUS VORTEX (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Xian (Dee Jay), 2) NL (Luke), 3) DCQ (JP)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Xian | VERSUS VORTEX | Dee Jay | defeated | Xiao Hai | BANDITS | JP | 2-1 |
| 2 | Caba | BANDITS | Guile | defeated | NL | VERSUS VORTEX | Luke | 2-0 |
| 3 | MenaRD | BANDITS | Blanka | defeated | DCQ | VERSUS VORTEX | JP | 3-1 |
SET 2: VERSUS VORTEX (HOME) vs BANDITS (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Caba (Guile), 2) Xiao Hai (Ken), 3) MenaRD (Blanka)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Xian | VERSUS VORTEX | Dee jay | defeated | Caba | BANDITS | Guile | 2-0 |
| 2 | NL | VERSUS VORTEX | Luke | defeated | Xiao Hai | BANDITS | Ken | 2-1 |
| 3 | MenaRD | BANDITS | Blanka | defeated | DCQ | VERSUS VORTEX | JP | 3-0 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | S1: 1st | S1: 2nd | S1: 3rd | S2: 1st | S2: 2nd | S2: 3rd |
| BANDITS | 50 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| VERSUS VORTEX | 30 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
GRAND FINAL:
The Grand Final between NASR and BANDITS was the perfect finale for one of Street Fighter League’s best seasons, being an absolute thrill ride that would be decided in the very last round of the last game in the third set. In pre-battle interviews MenaRD made it clear that his mission was to keep NASR from winning the Final. He went on to say before this Team Battle that he wanted to take winning Street Fighter League away from NASR’s AngryBird specifically because AngryBird beat him to become EVO Champion a few months prior, which denied him part of his legacy.
A complete rundown of this epic showdown would be far too long, but if you are even remotely a fan of watching competitive Street Fighter you owe it to yourself to use the links at the top of this recap to watch the Grand Final. You will not be disappointed.
There are members of both teams that have had struggles during the regular season, more so on BANDITS than for NASR, but every player on both teams stepped up here when it was needed most. Here are just some of the many highlights.
Big Bird’s Marisa clobbered Caba’s Guile 2-0 in the second match of the first set so bad it left Caba’s mouth hanging open in disbelief. Chris Tatarian, who had some confidence issues early in the season, got a crucial 2-0 win in the first game of the second set with his Ken against none other than Punk using Cammy.
The Punk/Xiao Hai rivalry continued in dramatic fashion. Punk’s Cammy beat Xiao Hai’s Juri in the very first match of the first set 2-1. During the high velocity match Punk began popping off to Xiao Hai in the closing seconds of the final round. In the second game of the third set the two would get a runback. Xiao Hai, taking notes from Chris Tatarian’s win against Punk earlier, used Ken himself and went on to win 2-0. Xiao Hai leapt out of his seat and popped off at Punk as the match came to the close, returning the favor.
As spectacular as the rest of the matches were, the highlight of the Grand Final was the duel between two titans: MenaRD and AngryBird. The two would clash three times in the Grand Final, each time in the best of five games anchor position. MenaRD used Luke and AngryBird stuck with Ken through all three encounters. This was an honest, straight up fight. Every single game was an absolute slugfest as both players gave it their all. There were times when nerves affected each player as momentum swung back and forth like a pendulum. MenaRD would win in the first set 3-1 and AngryBird won in the second set 3-2. The final confrontation in the third set was appropriately to decide which team prevailed in the Grand Final. This third and final match would go to the final round of the final game to decide. The last game was breathtaking with many clutch moments from both players. MenaRD would land the final combo to claim victory 3-2 for himself and for BANDITS.
BANDITS is now the Street Fighter League Pro-US Champion and will move on to face off against the winners of SFL Europe and Japan at Capcom Cup X next month. The team has won the first SFL season to feature Street Fighter 6. The team has had some ups and downs this season but when it mattered they all rose to the occasion, rallying around MenaRD. MenaRD adds yet another addition to his legacy.
SET 1: NASR (HOME) vs BANDITS (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Xiao Hai (Juri), 2) Caba (Guile), 3) MenaRD (Luke)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Punk | NASR | Cammy | defeated | Xiao Hai | BANDITS | Juri | 2-1 |
| 2 | Big Bird | NASR | Marisa | defeated | Caba | BANDITS | Guile | 2-0 |
| 3 | MenaRD | BANDITS | Luke | defeated | AngryBird | NASR | Ken | 3-1 |
SET 2: BANDITS (HOME) vs NASR (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Punk (Cammy), 2) Big Bird (Marisa), 3) AngryBird (Ken)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Chris Tatarian | BANDITS | Ken | defeated | Punk | NASR | Cammy | 2-0 |
| 2 | Xiao Hai | BANDITS | Juri | defeated | Big Bird | NASR | Marisa | 2-0 |
| 3 | AngryBird | NASR | Ken | defeated | MenaRD | BANDITS | Luke | 3-2 |
SET 3: NASR (HOME) vs BANDITS (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Chris Tatarian (Ken), 2) Xiao Hai (Ken), 3) MenaRD (Luke)
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Big Bird | NASR | Marisa | defeated | Chris Tatarian | BANDITS | Ken | 2-1 |
| 2 | Xiao Hai | BANDITS | Ken | defeated | Punk | NASR | Cammy | 2-0 |
| 3 | MenaRD | BANDITS | Luke | defeated | AngryBird | NASR | Ken | 3-2 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | S1: 1st | S1: 2nd | S1: 3rd | S2: 1st | S2: 2nd | S2: 3rd | S3: 1st | S3: 2nd | S3: 3rd |
| NASR | 50 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| BANDITS | 70 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
TUNE IN FOR THE STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE WORLD FINALS!
Please join us on February 24th for the Street Fighter League World Finals at Capcom Cup X.