Combo Breaker 2017 Results: USA’s Liquid|NuckleDu takes 1st Place! Update: Highlights!

Combo Breaker 2017 Results

Combo Breaker 2017, held in Chicago, IL, USA from May 26th through 28th is over and USA’s Liquid|NuckleDu has taken first place! This is the first Premier Event win for the Capcom Cup 2016 Champion. CYG BST|Snake Eyez took 2nd place and PIE|Smug took 3rd place. Both players are also from the USA. Now let’s take a look at the full Combo Breaker 2017 results for top 64!

If you missed any of the action, be sure to visit our videos page, where we will have a playlist for matches from Combo Breaker 2017!

Combo Breaker 2017 Results: Top 64

Combo Breaker 2017 Highlights

As expected, Combo Breaker 2017 brought the hype with some truly incredible action and one of the most exciting Top 8s of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour season so far. This was despite several of the world’s top players not being at the event. PG|Punk and Japan’s RB|Bonchan were both taking part in another non-CPT event and could not attend.

Scarz|Sako vs EG|NYChrisG

Japan’s Scarz|Sako was the only international player to make it into top 8 and in this match he faced off against EG|NYChrisG in top 16. NYChrisG took an early 1-0 lead against Sako’s Akuma, but Sako switched to his prior long-time main character Chun-Li. NYChrisG won again and went up 2-0 and had Sako on match point, but Sako worked his way back by working NYChrisG into the corner while exploiting openings. In a huge reversal of fortune, Sako went on to win the next 3 games to win the set 2-3!

Scarz|Sako vs EG|NYChrisG in Top 16

CYG BST|Snake Eyez vs ECHO FOX|Justin Wong

CYG BST|Snake Eyez had to work so hard for every round at Combo Breaker 2017 with his resurgent Zangief and it was a thrill ride to watch! Against every opponent Snake Eyez had to patiently back his opponent into a corner (while often taking lots of damage in the process) or make a great read to find an opening. If he achieved either, it usually led to a big damage spinning pile-driver and a mix-up opportunity for another. There’s something about landing a spinning pile-driver that excites the crowd, and Snake Eyez was scooping opponents all evening! This great match against the legendary ECHO FOX|Justin Wong is an exhibit for this, as Justin tries to use Karin’s superior movement speed to hit and run.

CYG BST|Snake Eyez vs ECHO FOX|Justin Wong in Winners Semi-Finals

PIE|Smug vs Brian_F

Combo Breaker 2017 featured two Balrog players in the top 8. PIE|Smug has had a great month, having taken 1st place at Texas Showdown 2017 early in May. He’s a veteran CPT player with multiple years on his career profile. Brian_F is a well respected player but is new to CPT placements, with his first points being earned with a 25th place finish at Dreamhack Austin. What do you get when two high level Balrog players face off? You get a slug-match of course, and one of the most kinetic matches you will see!

PIE|Smug vs Brian_F in Losers Semi-Finals

Liquid|NuckleDu vs CYG BST|Snake Eyez

Both of the face-offs between NuckleDu and Snake Eyez were thrilling to watch. CYG BST|Snake Eyez put on an incredible performance at Combo Breaker mostly with Zangief, a character that can do a lot of damage but is at a disadvantage against some characters. Liquid|NuckleDu, reigning Capcom Cup Champion and one of the best players in the world, happens to have Guile as one of his main characters. Guile, with his iconic Sonic Boom projectiles and Flash Kick anti-air/reversal, is one of those characters that Zangief has problems with. To win, Zangief has to weather the storm of projectiles and take maximum advantage of the scant opportunities where Guile is close enough to reach out and grab. In Winners Finals Snake Eyez stunned all onlookers by defeating NuckleDu in a match where you could feel the electricity in the crowd with each spinning pile-driver!

CYG BST Snake Eyez vs Liquid|NuckleDu in Winners Finals

Snake Eyez and NuckleDu would face off once again in Grand Finals. Because NuckleDu was in the Losers Bracket, he would have to win two complete best of 5 sets to win.

The first match of the first set was very close but NuckleDu came out on top and went up 1-0. Interestingly, Snake Eyez decided to switch his character to Akuma. Akuma can put up tremendous damage and, on paper, has more options to get around Guile’s withering Sonic Boom assault. The change in character didn’t work well for Snake Eyez, as it seemed that NuckleDu was still able to keep Akuma at arm’s length. Akuma’s low health also made each strike much more painful than it would for the tank that is Zangief. NuckleDu went on to win 3-0 and reset the bracket. Whomever won the next set would win Combo Breaker 2017.

For the second set Snake Eyez returned to Zangief, to the obvious delight of the crowd. The choice of Zangief started paying dividends immediately and Snake Eyez scooped and pile-drived his way to an 0-2 lead! NuckleDu, usually stoic in the face of pressure, took a long pause after this, looking to his phone for answers. This time NuckleDu adapted, opting to fight for his ground instead of slowly giving way in order to keep some distance. NuckleDu went on to take 3 games in a row to win the set 3-2 and earn a 1st place finish at Combo Breaker 2017.

Grand Finals: Liquid|NuckleDu vs CYG BST|Snake Eyez

Capcom’s Top 5 Moments of Combo Breaker 2017

Here is Capcom’s Top 5 Moments from Combo Breaker, many of which are mentioned above.