It is the final week of the regular season, and we could not have asked for a more thrilling conclusion. Every team had something to play for with only the top four teams moving on to the Playoffs. The top three teams had enough points to secure their spots, so they were playing to finish as high as possible in the standings for better seeding.
Coming into this week FLYQUEST held first place followed by CLOUD9 and FIGHTING SPIRIT. BANDITS and SHOPIFY REBELLION, in fourth and fifth place, were on the bubble with SHOPIFY REBELLION just 20 points behind. RED ROOSTER was out of contention, but they were playing for pride and to be a spoiler.
The Team Battles on tap for this week started with RED ROOSTER against SHOPIFY REBELLION followed by CLOUD9 against FLYQUEST. For the finale we had FIGHTING SPIRIT versus BANDITS.
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.
RED ROOSTER (HOME) vs SHOPIFY REBELLION (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Sayff (Ken), 2) NuckleDu (Guile), 3) Dual Kevin (Rashid), SUB) HotDog29
SHOPIFY REBELLION was fighting for their lives in this Team Battle as they needed at least 20 points to catch up to BANDITS. For SHOPIFY REBELLION as it was time to win or go home. RED ROOSTER has been out of contention for the Playoffs for a few weeks, creating a tough situation for SHOPIFY REBELLION. The pressure to get points was on SHOPIFY REBELLION while RED ROOSTER had nothing to lose. SHOPIFY REBELLION would win 30-10, earning enough points to have a chance at overtaking BANDITS but 40 points would have given them more cushion.
Sayff was first up on SHOPIFY REBELLION’s play order and Uriel Velorio stepped in to face him, creating a Ken mirror-match. Both players are known for having aggressive playstyles, so this was a high velocity match with lots of back-and-forth momentum shifts. Both players had some clutch plays, but Uriel Velorio would come out on top 2-0.
It’s been a season of ups and downs for NuckleDu but he finished the season strong in this match against Ajax Fidelity. Ajax Fidelity’s Ed seemed to have a tough time getting any consistent offense going as NuckleDu’s Guile used a mix of zoning and exploiting openings for counterattacks to keep his opponent at bay. NuckleDu won 2-0.
SHOPIFY REBELLION absolutely needed a win in the anchor position to have a chance to survive and the tension was evident in the match between Brutus’ Zangief and Dual Kevin’s Rashid. Dual Kevin looked stoic after Brutus got a strong win in the first game, but he would adapt and take away Brutus’ opportunities to land big grabs for the rest of the match. Dual Kevin would win the next three games straight to finish 3-1. Dual Kevin has delivered for his team time and time again this season and this week he gave his team a fighting chance at getting in the Playoffs. After this Team Battle all that SHOPIFY REBELLION could do was watch from the sidelines and hope that BANDITS faltered in their Team Battle.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Uriel Velorio | RED ROOSTER | Ken | defeated | Sayff | SHOPIFY REBELLION | Ken | 2-0 |
| 2 | NuckleDu | SHOPIFY REBELLION | Guile | defeated | Ajax Fidelity | RED ROOSTER | Ed | 2-0 |
| 3 | Dual Kevin | SHOPIFY REBELLION | Rashid | defeated | Brutus | RED ROOSTER | Zangief | 3-1 |
| EX | – | – | – | defeated | – | – | – | – |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AWAY | 30 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
CLOUD9 (HOME) vs FLYQUEST (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Shine (Chun-Li), 2) ChrisCCH (Ed), 3) Punk (Cammy), SUB) Psycho
FLYQUEST has been at the top of the standings for the last few weeks, and all they were looking for in this Team Battle was enough points to secure that first place position so they can go into the Playoffs as the top seed. CLOUD9 made a strong impression in their first season of SFL and were hoping to overtake FLYQUEST as the best case scenario or, at the very least, secure second place. The had the home team position, so they had the advantage of being able to chose players and characters to counter FLYQUEST. Unfortunately, CLOUD9 would take a disastrous 0-40 shutout loss to FLYQUEST this week that would see them drop to third place.
The first match set up CLOUD9’s collapse. As the away team, FLYQUEST had Shine using Chun-Li first in their player order and CLOUD9 decided to send in Booce’s Ken. Booce has been sensational all season and was expected to play in the anchor position, but perhaps CLOUD9 saw an opportunity to clinch 10 points from Shine. Whatever their plan was, it did not pay off. Booce played patiently but Shine seemed to exploit the hesitance to find enough openings to win 2-0. Shine’s defense was also exceptional, weathering Booce’s offense then reversing the situation when it was his turn.
Shine’s win was important as it earned enough points to secure FLYQUEST’s first place position, which immediately removed any remaining pressure on the team. From that point on FLYQUEST was in high spirits. In the next match JB’s Rashid took on ChrisCCH’s Ed. ChrisCCH seemed comfortable in this match and made some great reads. Nerves seemed to be a factor in the second game as both players dropped a few opportunities, but ChrisCCH would win 2-0.
With CLOUD9 taking losses in both opening matches even more pressure was on Lexx and his Guile in the anchor position against Punk’s Cammy. Punk would win a back-and-forth game one and Lexx would win the second game. Punk decided to switch characters to Akuma, and the two players would trade games once again to tie at 2-2. For the final game Punk would switch characters a final time to Terry. Lexx seemed unfamiliar with the Terry matchup and Punk easily won the final game.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Shine | FLYQUEST | Chun-Li | defeated | Booce | CLOUD9 | Ken | 2-0 |
| 2 | ChrisCCH | FLYQUEST | Ed | defeated | JB | CLOUD9 | Rashid | 2-0 |
| 3 | Punk | FLYQUEST | Cammy, Akuma, Terry | defeated | Lexx | CLOUD9 | Guile | 3-2 |
| EX | – | – | – | defeated | – | – | – | – |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AWAY | 40 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
FIGHTING SPIRITS (HOME) vs BANDITS (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Luiman20 (Dhalsim), 2) Caba (Guile), 3) MenaRD (Blanka), SUB) Zhen
Season seven has been one of the best to date but this final match between FIGHTING SPIRITS and BANDITS is sure to be remembered for a long time. With FLYQUEST’s dominating win over CLOUD9, first place was now out of reach for FIGHTING SPIRIT and their main goal was to maintain their hold on second place. For BANDITS they needed to score enough points to hold off SHOPIFY REBELLION. What we got was truly epic. Every single match in this Team Battle went to final game, final round.
The first match was between Oil King’s Rashid and Luiman20’s Dhalsim. Luiman20 has been one of the season’s standout rookies, having only lost to DCQ in week 5 prior to this match. Oil King has not played much this season, but he must have felt confident in his ability to best Luiman20. Oil King is known for an aggressive style but here he played a slower, more tactical game. It took time but he was able to navigate Dhalsim’s zoning to win game one, but Luiman20 answered back to win game two. In the final game would land two clutch Level one Supers to set up a huge win in the last round to finish 2-1.
Up next was another surprise as DCQ stepped in with his M.Bison against Caba’s Guile. DCQ had played in the anchor position for much of the season and was expected to do so in this Team Battle but perhaps FIGHTING SPIRIT felt they could better guarantee 10 points. It’s a similar situation to how Booce was utilized in the previous Team Battle this week but, once again, it was not successful. This has been Caba’s best season of SFL and he capped it off perfectly with a 2-1 win over DCQ. The first game started off with a perfect round and was a dominating win for DCQ but Caba would surge and win back-to-back absolute nailbiter games to finish off DCQ 2-1.
It was all on the line for BANDITS in this match. NL’s Akuma would face MenaRD’s Blanka in a barnburner match full of tension and big plays. MenaRD would win the first game but NL would start game two with a perfect and go on to win the second game. Both players would trade wins in the next two games to tie the score 2-2. NL’s use of OD Dragon Punch to stop MenaRD’s pressure after a knockdown was very effective. In the final round of the fiinal, heartstopping game MenaRD would land a jump-in to finish this incredible set 3-2.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Oil King | FIGHTING SPIRIT | Rashid | defeated | Luiman20 | BANDITS | Dhalsim | 2-1 |
| 2 | Caba | BANDITS | Guile | defeated | DCQ | FIGHTING SPIRIT | M.Bison | 2-1 |
| 3 | MenaRD | BANDITS | Blanka | defeated | NL | FIGHTING SPIRIT | Akuma | 3-2 |
| EX | – | – | – | defeated | – | – | – | – |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AWAY | 30 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
TEAM STANDINGS
For the first time in SFL history we had a three way tie at the end of the regular season. FLYQUEST finished in first place but FIGHTING SPIRIT, CLOUD9 and BANDITS all finished with 220 points. The first tiebreaker stat was battles won and all three teams were tied there as well so it came down to difference in rounds won to determine the order in the standings. SHOPIFY REBELLION finished at fifth place followed by RED ROOSTER. It was an absoltely incredible season and we look forward to the SFL Pro US Finals on January 18th, a live offline event to be held in Los Angeles, California.
