There was a three-way tie at the top of the standings coming into this week with defending SFL World Champion BANDITS leading the way, followed by FLYQUEST and CLOUD9. Just five points back in fourth place was FIGHTING SPIRIT while SHOPIFY REBELLION and RED ROOSTER sat in the final two spots. We are nearly at the halfway point of the season, but there is plenty of action in store. This week’s Team Battles started with FLYQUEST taking on CLOUD 9 followed by SHOPIFY REBELLION versus RED ROOSTER. Finally, there was an incredibly close Team Battle between BANDITS and FIGHTING SPIRIT.
If you missed any of season 7 and want to get caught up before reading further, check out the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 7 Archive or the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel’s STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 6 video playlist for the full episodes.
FLYQUEST (HOME) vs CLOUD9 (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Lexx (Guile), 2) Booce (Ken), 3) JB (Rashid), SUB) NoahTheProdigy
CLOUD9 continues to impress as it scores a crucial 25-20 win against FLYQUEST. This Team Battle was a rollercoaster, with CLOUD9 dominating the early matches and FLYQUEST answering back in the anchor position to set up a tiebreaker. It’s important to note that most of CLOUD9’s Team Battles in the first half of this season, including this one, have been in the away position. They will have a huge advantage over many teams in the back half of the season when they play as the home team, allowing them to counterpick. For FLYQUEST this was the second tough loss in as many weeks, following last week’s defeat by BANDITS.
The first two matches of this Team Battle were all CLOUD9. ChrisCCH with his Ed challenged Lexx’s Guile in the first match, but this was virtually all Lexx. Lexx’s spacing and decision making with Guile were top notch. ChrisCCH had a few bright spots, but Lexx won 2-0 clean. Up next in CLOUD9’s lineup was Booce’s Ken and Shine went in with his Kimberly. Shine played some phenomenal defense in this set, blocking Booce’s blows for long periods. Booce eventually cracked that defense for big damage, especially with throw mixups in the corner. This was another 2-0 for CLOUD9.
Once again Punk stepped into the anchor match to attempt to turn around his team’s fortunes, this time facing JB’s Rashid. Before the match there were words between Punk and CLOUD9’s NoahTheProdigy and Punk went into this match hot. Punk won a dominant first game, but JB slowly began to adapt and build some momentum. Punk would win a competitive game 2 but JB would win the next game. After that it was all Punk for the final game, winning 3-1.
In the one game tiebreaker Punk stayed on for FLYQUEST and Lexx went back in to face him. Punk won an incredibly strong first round, but Lexx made a comeback in the second round and won the third big, securing the Team Battle win for CLOUD9.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Lexx | CLOUD9 | Guile | defeated | ChrisCCH | FLYQUEST | Ed | 2-0 |
| 2 | Booce | CLOUD9 | Ken | defeated | Shine | FLYQUEST | Kimberly | 2-0 |
| 3 | Punk | FLYQUEST | Cammy | defeated | JB | CLOUD9 | Rashid | 3-1 |
| EX | Lexx | CLOUD9 | Guile | defeated | Punk | FLYQUEST | Cammy | 1-0 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| AWAY | 25 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 5 |
SHOPIFY REBELLION (HOME) vs RED ROOSTER (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Brutus (Zangief), 2) Mono (A.K.I.), 3) Ajax Fidelity (Ed), SUB) Uriel Velorio
This was a battle between the bottom of the standings with SHOPIFY REBELLION taking on RED ROOSTER. Both teams needed every point they could get, and SHOPIFY REBELLION delivered a crushing 40-0 win against RED ROOSTER this week. For the first time all season, every player on SHOPIFY REBELLION performed and won their matches with each being dominant. SHOPIFY REBELLION suffered a shutout of their own against FIGHTING SPIRIT last week and this win is sure to lift their confidence. For RED ROOSTER this was a big loss, as the margin between them and the crucial fourth place cutoff to make the US Finals widened.
Brutus and his feared Zangief were first in RED ROOSTER’s away team order and NuckleDu’s Guile took him on. NuckleDu made good use of Guile’s projectiles and anti-airs to make it difficult for Brutus to get in close. Brutus managed to get one or two brutally one-sided rounds, but NuckleDu seemed to be in control of this match for most of its duration.
Next up it was HotDog29’s M.Bison versus Mono’s A.K.I. and this was a much needed 2-0 win for HotDog29. He has been floundering in the early weeks this season, but this is sure to rejuvenate his spirits in future matches. Mono tried to play back and defensive, but HotDog29 controlled the whole match with great offense, not letting Mono breath.
Dual Kevin has been the consistent bright spot for SHOPIFY REBELLION this season and he came through again with his Rashid against Ajax Fidelity’s Ed. After a back-and-forth win in the first game Dual Kevin picked up steam and won a clean 3-0 victory. Ed is usually good at controlling the mid-range, but Ajax Fidelity seemed to be at a loss how to deal with Dual Kevin’s smart, measured offense pressure and good reads.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | NuckleDu | SHOPIFY REBELLION | Guile | defeated | Brutus | RED ROOSTER | Zangief | 2-0 |
| 2 | HotDog29 | SHOPIFY REBELLION | M.Bison | defeated | Mono | RED ROOSTER | A.K.I. | 2-0 |
| 3 | Dual Kevin | SHOPIFY REBELLION | Rashid | defeated | Ajax Fidelity | RED ROOSTER | Ed | 3-0 |
| EX | defeated |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 40 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
| AWAY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BANDITS(HOME) vs FIGHTING SPIRIT (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Xian (Dee Jay), 2) DCQ (M.Bison), 3) NL (Akuma), SUB) Oil King
The final Team Battle this week was BANDITS versus FIGHTING SPIRIT, and it was a thriller. In the first match Xian and his Dee Jay were first in the away team order and Zhen took up the challenge, also selecting Dee Jay to create the mirror-match. This was the only match of the Team Battle that wasn’t very competitive as Zhen won two straight very fast games, making great reads to stop Xian’s attempts to start offense and being very effective with jump-ins.
Following that was Luiman20 and his Dhalsim against DCQ’s M.Bison. This was a fascinating chess match as Luiman20 used Dhalsim’s reach with limbs and projectiles as well as his floating jump mobility to keep DCQ away while his opponent tried multiple strategies to close the distance. Both players had some clutch plays in scramble situations as well. Over the course of the match DCQ made adaptations to his approach that allowed him to more consistently get close. Luiman20 was undefeated before this match but now the streak is broken, with DCQ winning 2-1.
The anchor position would determine the winner and MenaRD would take on NL’s Akuma. MenaRD started the match with Zangief and won the first game, melting the low-health Akuma quickly with big damage moves. NL played patiently, choosing his opportunities to go in for offense and over time MenaRD would have a hard time locking him down. NL would win the next two games, prompting MenaRD to switch characters to Blanka. In the next game MenaRD would clutch it out to tie it up, going into the last game. The tension was intense in that last game but in the final round NL would land a match-winning Drive Rush into a combo to win 3-2. With this win FIGHTING SPIRIT will rocket up the standings from fourth place to second.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Zhen | BANDITS | Dee Jay | defeated | Xian | FIGHTING SPIRIT | Dee jay | 2-0 |
| 2 | DCQ | FIGHTING SPIRIT | M.Bison | defeated | Luiman20 | BANDITS | Dhalsim | 2-1 |
| 3 | NL | FIGHTING SPIRIT | Akuma | defeated | MenaRD | BANDITS | Blanka | 3-2 |
| EX | defeated |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AWAY | 20 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
TEAM STANDINGS
The standings got a significant shuffle this week as the young guns at CLOUD9 take the top spot for the fisrt time. FIGHTING SPIRIT moved up two spots to second place while FLYQUEST and BANDITS are at third and fourth place respectively. SHOPIFY REBELLION still holds fifth place although it created some distance with sixth place RED ROOSTER.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!
Be sure to catch the next episode on Twitch and YouTube on Wednesday at 4 PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern!