We are now at the halfway point of STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE season four and starting this week all teams will begin a second round of matchups. Teams cannot ban the same character in their second matchups so it will be interesting to see which characters are targeted. Only four teams will move on to the Playoffs and get a shot at the Finals, so the heat is on to not only get Team Battle wins but to also deny their opponents games and even rounds in case of tiebreakers. The first matchup this week was Infexious’ VODAFONE GIANTS against Veggy’s NORDAVIND, which is the last Team Battle of the season’s first half. The second half of the season officially began with the Team Battle between Big Bird’s first place NASR taking on Punk’s PANDA GLOBAL.
MISS AN EPISODE?
If you missed any of season four and want to get caught up before reading further, check out the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US 2020 Season 4 Archive or the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel’s STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 4 video playlist for the full episodes.
VODAFONE GIANTS vs NORDAVIND
Banned Characters: R.Mika and Dhalsim
The VODAFONE GIANTS and NORDAVIND came into this week both sitting at 2-2, squarely in the middle of the standings, so this Team Battle will have a huge impact either good or ill. NORDAVIND had a huge win last week against PANDA GLOBAL with Phenom single handedly saving his team. VODAFONE GIANTS started the season off strong with two straight wins but have dropped the last two.
That string of losses was broken this week as VODAFONE GIANTS got a huge win in this Team Battle with a 3-0 clean sweep. Not only did they get the sweep but each set was won with a 2-0 score, denying NORDAVIND any game wins and allowing only one round for potential tiebreakers. Most impressive and surprising of all for VODAFONE GIANTS was Mister Crimson’s win against Phenom in the final matchup. Mister Crimson’s main character, Dhalsim, was banned and he used G. He went up against Phenom, who got the OCV against PANDA GLOBAL in their last Team Battle and Phenom only won a single round. This clearly shows that targeting Mister Crimson with a Dhalsim ban still leaves a formidable threat with his G.
For NORDAVIND, getting swept without getting a single game win has got to have an impact on morale. Fortunately they will have a few weeks to regroup before their next Team Battle in week eleven but their opponent will be NASR.
| Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Score |
| Vegapatch | VODAFONE GIANTS | F.A.N.G. | defeated | Veggey | NORDAVIND | Birdie | 2-0 |
| Infexious | VODAFONE GIANTS | Zeku | defeated | Luffy | NORDAVIND | Kolin | 2-0 |
| Mister Crimson | VODAFONE GIANTS | G | defeated | Phenom | NORDAVIND | Karin | 2-0 |
NASR vs PANDA GLOBAL
Banned Characters: Kolin and Zeku
The first Team Battle of the second half of the season four was a big one with first place NASR taking on second place PANDA GLOBAL. PANDA GLOBAL came out on top in their first meeting all the way back in week one but it was an incredibly close 3-2 score. Both teams are very competitive and you could hear it in the pre-battle interviews and in the banter between rounds. You could feel the tension between all of these players in every round of this Team Battle.
PANDA GLOBAL may have won the first meeting between these two teams but NASR answered back in a big way here, getting a 3-0 team sweep. There was a lot of smack talk between these two teams but NASR certainly got the last word in the rematch. Big Bird won relatively easily with his Ken against Nephew’s Sakura in the first set. The matchup between Justin Wong and AngryBird was closer. Justin Wong looked like he would win the first game as in round three he was full health and had AngryBird’s Seth down to 25% health and stunned but AngryBird made an absolutely incredible comeback to steal the round and the game. AngryBird would go on to win the next game to eliminate Justin Wong 2-0.
It would fall upon Punk’s shoulders to reverse his team’s fortunes but his first opponent was Problem X. Punk beat Problem X in their first Team Battle with his Kolin besting Problem X’s E. Honda. In a surprise move Problem X would play as Alex this time, a character rarely seen in competitive plan, against Punk’s main character in Karin. With two top-tier players facing off and with the stakes so high this was obviously a tense match and it was an incredibly close one. It would go down to the very last round but Problem X’s Alex got the last hit to win it for NASR.
NASR is riding high after this win sitting on top of the standings with a 5-1 record and a two game lead over second place. PANDA GLOBAL drops down to third place.
| Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Score |
| Big Bird | NASR | Ken | defeated | Nephew | PANDA GLOBAL | Sakura | 2-0 |
| AngryBird | NASR | Seth | defeated | Justin Wong | PANDA GLOBAL | Karin | 2-0 |
| Problem X | NASR | Alex | defeated | Punk | PANDA GLOBAL | Karin | 2-1 |
TEAM STANDINGS
NASR extended its lead in first place to two games coming in at 5-1 after this week. VODAFONE GIANTS moved up a spot to second place at 3-2 and PANDA GLOBAL dropped to third with a 3-3 record. NORDAVIND is in fourth place over BANDITS in fifth place due to tiebreakers and UYU remains in sixth place.
| Team | Record |
| NASR | 5-1 |
| VODAFONE GIANTS | 3-2 |
| PANDA GLOBAL | 3-3 |
| NORDAVIND | 2-3 |
| BANDITS | 2-3 |
| UYU | 1-4 |
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!
Be sure to catch the next episode on Twitch and YouTube at 4:00 PM Pacific, 7:00 PM Eastern!