This article is part of our Capcom Pro Tour series.
Another weekend, another pair of Capcom Pro Tour events to sink our teeth into. First up there was Fighter's Spirit 2018 early Saturday morning (in the States, at least, as the event took place in South Korea) before the Capcom Pro Tour Latin America Online Event #1 closed out the day.
Fujimura torches the competition at Fighter's Spirit 2018
With this just being a Ranking Event rather than a Premier, the stakes were a bit lower than we've seen in previous events this year. The field was still stacked as hell, however. There was Victor "Punk" Woodley (well, he didn't actually show up to the event after all), Kenneth "K-Brad" Bradley, Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, Lee "Infiltration" Seon-woo, and Yusuke "Momochi" Momochi. Despite big names like Infiltration and Tokido being heavy favorites coming into the event, only one managed to even make it into the Top 8. In fact, of the names I listed above, only Tokido and Momochi cracked the Top 8. Tokido, EVO 2017 and NorCal Regionals 2018 champion, barely managed fifth place. That left things pretty wide open for the rest of the competition.
It was Atsushi "Fujimura" Fujimura that capitalized on this the most, using his Ibuki to dominate the field on his way to the Fighter's Spirit crown. It wasn't a complete cakewalk, though, as Keita "Fuudo" Ai made one hell of a loser' bracket run with his R. Mika. After losing to Fujimura in the winners' semifinals, he went on to take out Tokido, Momochi, and Nemo to get back into the grand finals where he fell to Fujimura in a 3-2 series. Both of these players will surely be ones to watch out for as the year progresses.
Despite the success of everyone in the Top 8, it was a pretty rough weekend for North American players. In addition to Punk not even showing up (really, he signed up but didn't actually go), K-Brad did show up but came in ninth place. While that may have garnered some points for him in past seasons, with the updated Capcom Pro Tour point system, he was one spot shy of picking up any points. At least he got to see Korea, I guess?
You can check out the final placings for the Top 8 below.
- 1. Fujimura (150 points)
- 2. Fuudo (70 points)
- 3. Nemo (40 points)
- 4. Momochi (20 points)
- 5. StormKubo (10 points)
- 5. Tokido (10 points)
- 7. NL (1 point)
- 7. HotDog29 (1 point)
Caba takes first CPT online event
While the offline tournaments of the CPT have been going on since January, Saturday was the official start of the various online tournaments that will take place throughout the year. Up to bat first was Latin America and the winner might surprise you.
With reigning Capcom Cup champion Saul Leonardo "MenaRD" Mena Segundo being in the pool, he was surely looked at as a favorite. When it was all said and done, however, he came up a bit short. After finishing 33rd at Final Round 2018 and 13th at NorCal Regionals 2018, he managed a fifth place showing at the online event. Certainly not the win he was hoping for, but with his spot in the 2018 Capcom Cup already secure by way of being the reigning champion, this is nothing more then practice for him.
The ultimate winner of the event was none other than the exuberant Christopher "Caba" Rodriguez, who was most recently seen dealing with controversy surrounding his loud outbursts at the NorCal Regionals a couple weeks back. This time he let his play speak for itself and hot damn did it ever speak loudly. After losing in the winners' semfinal of his pool, he proceeded to rattle of a ridiculous seven straight wins to make his way into the grand finals where he then won two more to claim the 150 CPT points. Perhaps even more impressive was that not only did he take out MenaRD along the way, but he only dropped six games in the nine series during this run. He'll definitely be another one to keep your eyes on moving forward.
You can take a look at the full Top 8 placings below.
- 1. Caba (150 points)
- 2. DR Ray (70 points)
- 3. Juanfraroth (40 points)
- 4. MJMaster (20 points)
- 5. MenaRD (10 points)
- 5. Choco (10 points)
- 7. R.R. Keekay (1 point)
- 7. Droker (1 point)
