This article is part of our Capcom Pro Tour series.
Were you a bit bored without few CPT events there were in February and March? Well, are you not entertained now? We had a full slate this weekend with Game Over Tournament in the Dominican Republic and the first North American Online Ranking Event. Sit back, grab a drink, and lemme break it all down for you.
Chris T comes up big at Game Over Tournament
In front of a raucous crowd in the Dominican Republic, Chris "Chris T" Tatarian fought against the hometown heroes to pick up some much needed Capcom Pro Tour points. The fact that he did this against some great competition - facing the likes of Saul Leonardo "MenaRD" Mena Segundo, Christhoper "Caba" Rodriguez, Thomas "Brolynho" Proenca, and Luis Manuel "LuiMan20" Veras Mena during his run - was impressive enough. But the fact that he managed to go through the entire weekend without dropping a set in the face of some of the loudest fans at an event that I've seen in quite some time makes it an even greater accomplishment.
That was especially true of the grand final series against Caba, where the American had to overcome a 2-0 deficit to claim the title. Despite the crowd being cheering like mad for the hometown favorite in Caba, Chris T kept calm and collected with his Ken, punishing the mistakes and whiffs of Caba's Guile to come away with the title. We don't see much from Chris T at the major events, but with 150 points in hand, he could be well on his way to qualifying for the Capcom Cup if he can keep this up.
Even though Caba lost the tournament, this is a guy that you certainly want to keep your eye on throughout the rest of the year. A couple weeks back, he won the first Latin America online event and now he's got a second-place finish here. Sure, these events have mainly been against other Dominican players, and when we last saw him at NorCal Regionals 2018 back in March, he placed 33rd. But still, it looks as though he's gotten better since then, and if he can shy away from some of his controversies to keep his head straight during big tournaments, he can surely make some noise.
It's also worth mentioning that Caba made it further than reigning champion Capcom Cup, MenaRD. Not only that, but Caba managed to easily handle Jose "Jochy" Rafael in a 3-0 series after the latter took out MenaRD in the losers' quarterfinal. If nothing else, this tournament was a reminder at just how strong this region is and if they can get some more experience playing against players around the world, they could be quite the formidable threat in the future.
Before we move on, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Kenneth "K-Brad" Bradley finally made it into the Top 8! Well, that's not to say that he hasn't done that yet this year, because he finished 5th at TGU 2018. But last we saw him, he had gone all the way to Korea for Fighter's Spirit, only to finish 9th and end up with no CPT points. He may have only gotten a single point from this event, but it's better than nothing, right?
Check out the final rankings below:
- 1. Chris T (150 points)
- 2. Caba (70 points)
- 3. Brolynho (40 points)
- 4. Jochy (20 points)
- 5. LuiMan20 (10 points)
- 5. MenaRD (10 points)
- 7. JWong (1 point)
- 7. K-Brad (1 point)
Flash easily claims NA West #1
Can I just say that I'm really enjoying these online events? Not that I don't like seeing the absolute best at the major events, because that's always hype. But seeing some of the lesser names battle it out is refreshingly great.
All of these matches were incredibly close, for the most part. Sure, there were a lot of 3-0s and 3-1s in the Top 8, but the individual rounds frequently went down to the wire. Throughout their runs to the grand finals, both Peter "Flash" Susini and Toi "Toi" Bridges had some round wins with a sliver of health. I mean, look at this.
That in particular was a key round for me since it showed off what made Flash the better player in this event. Having the wherewithal to not push a button when you're in the counter facing pressure with a pixel of health is pretty impressive, and then to throw out a Critical Art on a whiff punish before landing a counter is just silly. But Flash did it and took the round. He went on to take the next game to move on to the grand finals where he beat Toi again, this time 3-1, and took home the 150-point top prize. Not too shabby for a member of the Justice League.
One other thing I want to note here is that there was a healthy amount of character diversity at this event. Despite there being a lot of talk of certain OP characters (cough Cammy cough), there were nine different characters played in the Top 8. Not one character was repeated, and Flash even brought out two characters during his run (Abigail and Karin). Not only were there no repeats, but there was some real depth here. We saw M. Bison, Menat, Urien, Rashid (despite everyone saying that he was nerfed into the ground with the 3.5 patch), Dhalsim, Sakura, Cammy, Abigail, and Karin. All around, it was another solid ranking event.
Here's a look at the final rankings.
- 1. Flash (150 points)
- 2. Toi (70 points)
- 3. Tommy2Step (40 points)
- 4. Alex Meyers (20 points)
- 5. Commander Jesse (10 points)
- 5. Jot (10 points)
- 7. JB (1 point)
- 7. Flaquito (1 point)
