This past week marked the true debut of Ultra Street Fighter IV on the competitive event scene, with the E3 Exhibition Series taking place in Los Angeles, USA, as well as Dreamhack Summer happening in Sweden. Needless to say, both events kicked off the game’s tournament life with a bang!
In Los Angeles, California, USA, 8 of the top players in the scene today were invited to a special exhibition series at E3. While no ranking points were awarded at this event, a $3,000 prize pool was still on the line, ensuring the players gave it their all. In the end, it was Infiltration who took home 1st place over PR Balrog in the Grand Finals.
E3 Exhibition Results
| Placing | Handle | Characters |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Infiltration | Akuma/Ryu/Chun-Li |
| 2nd | EG|PR Balrog | Evil Ryu/Balrog |
| 3rd | YBK|Jayce the Ace | C.Viper |
| 4th | EG|Justin Wong | Elena/Poison |
| 5th | Prodigal Son | Yun/Sagat |
| 5th | EG|K-Brad | Decapre |
| 7th | EG|Ricky Ortiz | Rolento |
| 7th | LU|Alex Valle | Ryu |
Later in the week, players from Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Europe all descended upon Sweden to show off the efforts from their two weeks of grinding in the brand new title. With the character playing field more balanced than ever, it was anyone’s guess as to what the results would be. Once the tournament dust had settled, it was Infiltration using his patented Akuma, who came back from losers to beat AVM|Gamerbee’s surprising pick of Yun to win the event. Although popular opinion considers Yun to be much stronger than Akuma in this version, Infiltration showed that players can defy tiers when played well enough.
Infiltration took home 25,000 SEK, as well as 128 ranking points for his victory in this event.
Dreamhack Summer Top 16 Results
| Placing | Handle | Characters | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Infiltration | Akuma/Ryu/Chun-Li | 128 |
| 2nd | AVM|GamerBee | Adon/Yun | 64 |
| 3rd | CG|Problem X | C.Viper/Seth/Zangief | 32 |
| 4th | HoG|Popi | Yun/Cammy | 16 |
| 5th | Skatan | Chun-Li/Sakura | 8 |
| 5th | CDV|Will2Pac | C.Viper | 8 |
| 7th | Yagami | M. Bison/Dhalsim | 4 |
| 7th | Phenom | M.Bison/Sagat | 4 |
| 9th | Prodigal Son | Sagat/Ryu/T.Hawk | 2 |
| 9th | Veggey | Zangief/Abel | 2 |
| 9th | ImStillDaDaddy | Guile/Decapre | 2 |
| 9th | Bashfest | Sagat | 2 |
| 13th | Luffy | Rose | 1 |
| 13th | Chinooo | Ken | 1 |
| 13th | King Funk | Zangief/Rufus | 1 |
| 13th | Ixion | Dan | 1 |
2 tournament victories in one week for Infiltration make him the man to beat currently on the scene. We will see in the coming weeks whether anyone can take down.