It is week twelve in STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE season five and time is a factor as we close in on the playoffs. NASR X BANDITS in first place and ENDEMIC in second place are in strong positions but the rest of the teams need every point they can get. Only the top four teams will move on to the playoffs to compete for a spot at the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE World Championship with a prize pool of $75,000. Even the top teams have something to play for as they need to finish as high in the standings as possible for seeding purposes in the playoffs.
The first of this week’s Team Battles is RED ROOSTER as home team taking on ENDEMIC. RED ROOSTER took a loss to UYU in their last battle and came into this week in last place. ENDEMIC on the other hand is in a good spot with a secure spot in the playoffs. They also come in with a five battle winning streak.
UYU as the home team took on NASR X BANDITS in the second Team Battle. UYU is having their strongest season yet and came into this week in third place. They are still not completely safe as the teams below them in the standings have several Team Battles to go over the coming weeks. For NASR X BANDITS they have already earned their playoff spot but are now competing to finish at first place to get the top seed.
If you missed any of season 5 and want to get caught up before reading further, check out the STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 5 Archive or the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel’s STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE: Pro-US Season 5 video playlist for the full episodes.
RED ROOSTER (HOME) vs ENDEMIC (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Shine (Cody), 2) NuckleDu (G), 3) iDom (Luke), SUB) GamerBee
RED ROOSTER was in last place coming into this week and they needed a big win here. They didn’t completely get what they needed but they didn’t come away empty handed. They earned 20 valuable points even though they did lose to ENDEMIC. Just like their initial meeting in week four this one was decided in the anchor match between HotDog29 and iDom with the latter once again making a tremendous comeback to win.
Initially things were going very well for RED ROOSTER with Mono and Ajax Fidelity both getting 2-0 wins against Shine and NuckleDu in the first two matches. Mono’s F.A.N.G. made things very difficult for Shine’s Cody in the first match. Mono won this in four straight rounds using the character’s floating jumps and coward crouches to evade some of Cody’s moves and keeping Shine locked down in the corner with Ryobenda (smoke bomb) and poison. Later in the match Mono had some great zoning using F.A.N.G.’s projectiles and Ryobenda to keep Cody away all the while keeping his opponent’s health draining with poison.
The match between Ajax Fidelity’s Ed and NuckleDu’s G was closer with NuckleDu coming out strong in the opening rounds of both games using G’s Presidentiality levels, fireballs and far reaching normals to open up his opponent. In both games Ajax Fidelity came back using Ed’s Flicker pressure to back NuckleDu into a corner. Once G was in a corner it was incredibly hard to get back out with Ed’s smothering offense inflicting bit chip damage until an opening was eventually found. The match’s final round was a virtual clinic for Ajax Fidelity as his Ed dismantled G to earn a perfect.
The pivotal match of the Team Battle was once again HotDog29’s M.Bison against iDom’s Laura. When they first clashed in week four it was an incredibly close match with HotDog29 getting a 2-0 lead only to have iDom come back and win the next three games. This match played out in the same way and with the same result. HotDog29 won the first two games with some strong neutral play and some very smart positioning to virtually neutralize Laura’s Thunderclaps. At game three iDom adjusted to HotDog29’s rhythm and the momentum swung his way, winning the next three games using Laura’s normals and throw mixups to consistently dizzy his opponent. iDom was increasingly successful at finding an opening to start his mixup game while HotDog29 could not deal with the regular and command throws. iDom was victorious once again 3-2 to tie up the Team Battle 20-20.
It was time for the tie-breaker match and this was a bit of an anti-climax as Mono’s F.A.N.G. went in to take on iDom. For this match iDom went with G as his character, which he rarely used in STREET FIGHTER LEAGUE, and won a mostly one sided game. F.A.N.G. is not a high damage character and could not keep up with the tremendous output G can accomplish in a single combo. iDom would go on to win to give ENDEMIC the narrow 25-20 win.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Mono | RED ROOSTER | F.A.N.G. | defeated | Shine | ENDEMIC | Cody | 2-0 |
| 2 | Ajax Fidelity | RED ROOSTER | Ed | defeated | NuckleDu | ENDEMIC | G | 2-0 |
| 3 | iDom | ENDEMIC | Laura | defeated | HotDog29 | RED ROOSTER | M.Bison | 3-2 |
| Tie-Breaker | iDom | ENDEMIC | G | defeated | Mono | RED ROOSTER | F.A.N.G. | 1-0 |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| AWAY | 25 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5 |
UYU (HOME) vs NASR X BANDITS (AWAY)
Away Team Player and Character Order: 1) Big Bird (Ken), 2) MenaRD (Luke), 3) AngryBird (Ken), SUB) Caba
NASR X BANDITS continues to show the strength of their team as they get a 30-10 win this week against UYU. Big Bird and AngryBird, both using Ken, earned bookend wins 2-0 and 3-0 against DCQ’s Urien and NL’s Luke. Big Bird’s win against DCQ in the first match was actually close despite the 2-0 score as DCQ heavily contested every round. Big Bird used Ken’s superior fireballs and tick-throw mix-ups in the corner to come out on top. In the anchor position NL’s Luke started off fairly well with the first game being very close but AngryBird was able to make more big reads to get the win. From then on AngryBird was largely in control as his momentum steamrolled over the course of the remaining two games.
The standout match of this Team Battle was actually the second one between Xian’s Seth and MenaRD’s Luke. MenaRD absolutely crushed Xian in the first game earning a perfect in the first round and only losing a sliver of life in the second round. The start of the second game looked grim for Xian as MenaRD scored yet another perfect round. After that round Xian came roaring back to win the next two games with some huge reads, incredible V-Skill mixups and big combos. MenaRD was on the back foot the rest of the match and Xian went on to win 2-1 in an astounding come from behind win.
NASR X BANDITS only has one Team Battle remaining in the regular season so they are guaranteed a playoff spot in first place after this week’s win. UYU also has one Team Battle remaining but they need the points to stay in the top four as the three bottom teams all have 3 remaining battles. UYU needs a big win in their last Team Battle to keep their position on the standings.
| Match | Player | Team | Character | | Player | Team | Character | Result |
| 1 | Big Bird | NASR X BANDITS | Ken | defeated | DCQ | UYU | Urien | 2-0 |
| 2 | Xian | UYU | Seth | defeated | MenaRD | NASR X BANDITS | Luke | 2-1 |
| 3 | AngryBird | NASR X BANDITS | Ken | defeated | NL | UYU | Luke | 3-0 |
| Tie-Breaker | – | – | – | defeated | – | – | – | – |
| SCORE | TOTAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Break |
| HOME | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| AWAY | 25 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5 |
TEAM STANDINGS
NASR X BANDITS solidifies their lead in first place and ENDEMIC does the same in second place after both teams win this week. UYU gets 10 more points to strengthen their position but the three bottom teams all have opportunities to make moves in the remaining weeks with each of them having three Team Battles remaining.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!
Be sure to catch the next episode on Twitch and YouTube on Friday at 4:00 PM Pacific, 7:00 PM Eastern!