STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE season four’s regular season came to an end this week with an exciting finish. VODAFONE GIANTS controlled its own destiny as a win against NORDAVIND this week would clinch a top four spot for the team. If they lost both BANDITS and UYU had a chance at getting in and it would come down to tie breakers. This has been the most competitive season of STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE to date and it came down to this very last week to finalize which four teams. First up was the Team Battle between BANDITS and UYU with the all important faceoff between NORDAVIND and VODAFONE GIANTS closing things out.
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.
BANDITS vs UYU
Banned Characters: Cammy and Birdie
MenaRD’s Team BANDITS and Oil King’s UYU, coming in at fifth and sixth place respectively, both statistically had a chance at making it into the top four. Even at 3-6 they are both only one game back from VODAFONE GIANTS. If VODAFONE GIANTS won its Team Battle this week it seals the fate of both teams. If they lose, however, all three teams would be at 4-6 and the last top four spot will be determined by tie breakers. BANDITS opted to ban NL’s Cammy and UYU elected to ban Birdie.
In their last meeting back in week seven it went the distance with BANDITS winning 3-2 on the back of a MenaRD reverse-OCV. This Team Battle was another thriller that went down to the last player but this time UYU came out on top 3-2. NL who was the hero of the day for UYU and he did it without his main character as Cammy was banned. He did it with an OCV as well, eliminating all three of BANDITS’ players.
BANDITS had the advantage early on with Caba’s Guile beating Kami’s Seth 2-0 in the first round and MenaRD getting a dominating 2-0 win with his Sakura against Oil King’s Rashid in the third. After that only NL remained for UYU and with a secondary character as well, but NL was able to clutch it out in back to back wins against Caba and MenaRD to get the win for UYU. It was an incredible performance by NL and even if it wasn’t enough to boost UYU into the top four they know they finished the season strong.
| Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Score |
| Caba | BANDITS | Guile | defeated | Kami | UYU | Seth | 2-0 |
| NL | UYU | Akuma | defeated | Venatori | BANDITS | Kage | 2-1 |
| MenaRD | BANDITS | Sakura | defeated | Oil King | UYU | Rashid | 2-0 |
| NL | UYU | Akuma | defeated | Caba | BANDITS | Guile | 2-0 |
| NL | UYU | Akuma | defeated | MenaRD | BANDITS | Sakura | 2-0 |
NORDAVIND vs VODAFONE GIANTS
Banned Characters: F.A.N.G. and Karin
The last top four spot would go to VODAFONE GIANTS if they won this Team Battle against NORDAVIND. It was all on the line this week and if they lost it will come down to tie breakers. NORDAVIND already secured their spot but they still have something to play for. During the pre-battle interview Luffy said that VODAFONE GIANTS was a difficult matchup for them, so keeping them out of the Playoffs could potentially help them in the post-season. In week eight VODAFONE GIANTS cleaned NORDAVIND’s clock 3-0 but that was with Luffy’s R. Mika banned. Luffy having R. Mika has made all the difference for NORDAVIND in the season’s home stretch and he had access to the character here. For character bans NORDAVIND opted to ban VegaPatch’s F.A.N.G. and VODAFONE GIANTS took away Phenom’s Karin.
Their first meeting may have been a 3-0 blowout but this one came down to the very last round. The first two rounds were fairly one sided wins for both teams as Phenom’s Cammy easily dispatched VegaPatch’s Juri and Mister Crimson took out Veggey’s Birdie. The first real matchup was Luffy’s R. Mika going up against Infexious’ Zeku. R. Mika is a character that needs to get in close to get offense going and Zeku has the versatility to make that difficult. When Luffy got into that close range he was able to get the big damage and mixups that R. Mika is notorious for. Luffy would win 2-0 to eliminate Infexious and deal a serious blow to VODAFONE GIANTS, leaving only Mister Crimson remaining.
Mister Crimson and his Dhalsim has been a big problem for opponents this season and he has been in this position before. He got the win 2-0 against Phenom’s Cammy with the latter finding it difficult to get close to establish consistent offense. The matchup between the last two players on both teams, Luffy and Mister Crimson, was a real nail-biter. Luffy had to get in to get offense and Dhalsim is geared to keep opponents at a distance. Also, Dhalsim has more mobility than you would think with his slow walk speed due to his slides and teleports. When Luffy did get in it usually resulted in big damage and mixups but Mister Crimson was able to keep him off balance just enough to make the difference. Luffy got extremely close to pulling it out but Mister Crimson made some incredible clutch plays to steal enough rounds to win 2-1.
VODAFONE GIANTS came away victorious due to Mister Crimson’s performance and has earned themselves the final top four spot! For NORDAVIND they are already in the top four at second place.
| Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Score |
| Phenom | NORDAVIND | Cammy | defeated | VegaPatch | VODAFONE GIANTS | Juri | 2-0 |
| Mister Crimson | VODAFONE GIANTS | Dhalsim | defeated | Veggey | NORDAVIND | Birdie | 2-0 |
| Luffy | NORDAVIND | R. Mika | defeated | Infexious | VODAFONE GIANTS | Zeku | 2-0 |
| Mister Crimson | VODAFONE GIANTS | Dhalsim | defeated | Phenom | NORDAVIND | Cammy | 2-0 |
| Mister Crimson | VODAFONE GIANTS | Dhalsim | defeated | Luffy | NORDAVIND | R. Mika | 2-1 |
TEAM STANDINGS
The last week of the regular season is in the books and here are the final standings. To illustrate just how close the standings were in season four, all three teams after NASR made it to the top four with the same record of 5-5.
| Team | Record |
| NASR | 8-2 |
| VODAFONE GIANTS | 5-5 |
| PANDA GLOBAL | 5-5 |
| NORDAVIND | 5-5 |
| UYU | 4-6 |
| BANDITS | 3-7 |