Season 3 took STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE to a whole new level with the introduction of international players and the competition has never been more fierce or exciting to watch. After sixteen weeks of top-tier Street Fighter V: Champion Edition offline play its time for the finale! The Finals were rescheduled after Capcom Cup 2020 was cancelled in February due to COVID-19 concerns so its been a long wait but the big moment is here! In the season 3 Finals Punk’s ALPHA 3 faced off against Big Bird’s NASR in a final showdown with the first place team taking home $60,000!
MISS AN EPISODE?
If you missed any of season three and want to get caught up before reading further, check out the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US 2020 Season 3 Archive or the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel’s STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US 2020 video playlist for the full episodes.
NASR vs ALPHA 3
Coming in to the Finals on the Winners side was Team ALPHA 3 led by Punk, one of the world’s most dominant players. Punk has the confidence born of winning many matches against the world’s best players both on STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE and on the Capcom Pro Tour. With CJ Truth and Nephew backing him up the team has been virtually unstoppable this season, losing only two Team Battles the entire season, the very first week and the very last week of regular season at week fifteen.
Team NASR, led by Big Bird, had a rocky start to season three dropping three losses in the first four weeks. In week five they turned it around and went on a winning streak that was only broken by one loss in week fourteen; to ALPHA 3. Samurai can always be counted on to come through with wins and he has the record for the most team sweeps in STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE history. In season 3, however, the big closer for NASR was AngryBird, who earned the team many clutch wins. Even with the winning streak NASR only just made the playoffs but they made it through to the Finals in the Losers bracket.
Both teams came out of the season 3 playoffs riding high but due to COVID-19 concerns the Finals were put off for almost a year. This presented a unique opportunity for both teams to prepare extensively and the team that used that time most effectively could change the balance. That preparation was evident with one team as the Finals played out.
Banned Characters: ALPHA 3 bans Rashid and NASR bans Karin
Samurai vs Nephew
Samurai with his Akuma opened the Team Battle against Nephew’s Kolin in a real exhibition of patient play. Both players mostly maintained spacing and looked to exploit an opening or a rare mistake. Samurai is known for his zen-like concentration but Nephew looked very comfortable in the matchup as he worked Samurai into corners and gave up few big damage opportunities in return. Nephew won the Team Battle’s first matchup 2-0.
Big Bird vs Punk
Punk only lost three matchups in all of season 3 leading up to the Finals while Big Bird had to fight this Team Battle without his main character as Rashid was banned. Technically both players played without their mains as Punk’s Karin was also banned but Punk is strong with many characters. Things started out with an amusing dance between the players on the character select screen with both moving between different characters. Punk even hovered on Rashid for a while, seeming to taunt Big Bird with his own main character. Ultimately Big Bird settled on Ken, a character he used outside SFL but not in season 3 until now, while Punk selected Vega, also a first for the season.
In this matchup you could see where one team used the long break well as Big Bird’s Ken was viscous, with an offense that all but smothered Punk’s Vega. Big Bird also made a lot of great reads, knowing when to throw and when to go for a meatie normal when Punk was getting up from the ground. Punk had some flashes of offense here and there but Big Bird seemed to have control of most of this match. Big Bird won 2-0, delivering a tremendous blow to ALPHA 3.
AngryBird vs CJ Truth
With both teams having eliminated a player it was time for the anchors to clash. CJ Truth has a very strong Cammy while AngryBird went with his Zeku, who has the ability to switch between zoning and speed on the fly. There was a lot of back and forth in this matchup but CJ Truth had a lot of missed opportunities here. There were several rounds where CJ Truth either had a big life lead or could have taken rounds but let them slip away. It would come down to the final round but AngryBird came out on top 2-1.
Big Bird vs Nephew
We could not have asked for a better final match to wind up season 3 than this thriller between Big Bird against Nephew. NASR was riding high on back to back wins including the very important elimination of Punk. The pressure was on Nephew as the last remaining player of his team to face two for NASR but he left it all on the digital field here. This matchup between Nephew’s Kolin and Big Bird’s Ken was almost non-stop offense with only short intervals where players maintained spacing. As with his match against Punk, Big Bird just had a good feel for when to go for throws or when to throw out a high damage Dragon Punch. This one would also come down to the final round with both players low on life but Big Bird landed a final crouching kick to Nephew’s Kolin in the corner to clinch the win for NASR.
Final Results
Team NASR had an incredible season 3, starting rough in the first weeks but turning things around in the final stretch. NASR has earned the title of STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE Champions and a prize of $60,000. Team ALPHA 3 will take home $15,000 for their second place finish.
| Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Score |
| Nephew | ALPHA 3 | Kolin | defeated | Samurai | NASR | Akuma | 2-0 |
| Big Bird | NASR | Ken | defeated | Punk | ALPHA 3 | Vega | 2-0 |
| AngryBird | NASR | Zeku | defeated | CJ Truth | ALPHA 3 | Cammy | 2-1 |
| Big Bird | NASR | Ken | defeated | Nephew | ALPHA 3 | Kolin | 2-1 |
Season 4 Starts October 7th!
It was a long wait for the season 3 Finals but STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE season 4 begins next Thursday, October 7th! New international players join the competition with new teams! You won’t want to miss it!
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