Final Round 19 Results
Final Round 19, held in Atlanta, Georgia, has concluded and the results are in! Final Round 19 was the first Premier Tournament of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour season and the first one to feature Street Fighter 5, and what a premier it was! Final Round was absolutely massive, with over 1,000 players taking part from all over the world! Because Street Fighter 5 was released simultaneously worldwide, and with the game being so new, it was interesting to see top players from Street Fighter 4 adapt to the new game and to see so many unknown players rise up to challenge them!
If you missed any of the action, be sure to visit our videos page, where we have a playlist for matches from Final Round 19!
RZR|Infiltration Qualifies for Capcom Cup 2016!
Korea’s RZR|Infiltration was one of the most dominant players of the Capcom Pro Tour in 2015, and he’s off to the best possible start in the 2016 season! His win at Final Round 19 earns him the very first qualifying spot for Capcom Cup in December! He played at an absolutely amazing level all tournament, and his win is well deserved! Congratulations to Infiltration!
Final Round 19 Results: Top 16
| Placing | Handle | Characters | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | RZR|Infiltration | Nash | 256 |
| 2nd | MCZ|Tokido | Ryu | 128 |
| 3rd | MCZ|Mago | Karin | 64 |
| 4th | MJS|Haitani | Necalli | 32 |
| 5th | Brenttiscool | Ken | 16 |
| 5th | PH|Nando Tovar | R.Mika | 16 |
| 7th | GC|Go1 | Chun-Li | 8 |
| 7th | CR|SonicFox | F.A.N.G. | 8 |
| 9th | EG|Justin Wong | Karin | 4 |
| 9th | FlashMetroid | Vega | 4 |
| 9th | Liquid|NuckleDu | Nash | 4 |
| 9th | GGP|Kazunoko | Cammy | 4 |
| 13th | RB|Snake Eyez | Zangief | 2 |
| 13th | PH|Crackfiend | Chun-Li | 2 |
| 13th | FOX|Julio Fuentes | Ken | 2 |
| 13th | PG|Filipino Champ | Dhalsim | 2 |
Photos courtesy of Chris Bahn. Thank you and visit him on twitter here.
Final Round 19 Highlights
Final Round 19, the first Premier Tournament of the Capcom Pro Tour Season and the first to feature Street Fighter 5, was absolutely massive. So many players were signing up that registrations eventually had to be capped, and in the end 1,024 players took part. In addition to the sheer numbers, top players from around the world flew to Atlanta to take part as well, drawn by the lure of the automatic qualifying spot for Capcom Cup for taking 1st place and by the large number of Ranking Points up for grabs for placing high in the tournament.
Street Fighter 5’s Simultaneous Release Worldwide
Another interesting factor for this tournament is the level playing field for access to the game. For the first time for a Street Fighter game, Street Fighter 5 was released simultaneously worldwide. In previous installments Japan got access to the game first, usually in the form of an arcade release, and other parts of the world were forced to play catch up when it was released locally. With no head starts to speak of, aside from a handful of players who got some extra access from Capcom for promotional events, it was interesting to see if the balance of power changed. Asia typically dominated competitive Street Fighter and the early access was usually a ready-made explanation. That is not a factor in this case.
Asia Still Dominates
So, now that the dust has settled from Final Round, how much has changed? Street Fighter 5 is still new so there is plenty of time for this to change but as of now it looks like the power base has not moved away from Asia much. Top players from Asia still owned the top placements. RZR|Infiltration from Korea took 1st place and Mad Catz teammates MCZ|Tokido and MCZ|Mago from Japan took 2nd and 3rd respectively. MJS|Haitani from Japan took 4th and CCP|Kazunoko took 9th.
American Players
Final Round 19 was interesting for American players. There are many players that didn’t make top 16 but played very well. Chris Tatarian’s Ken, PR|Balrog’s Necalli, and EG|K-Brad’s Cammy are just a few examples of players that should be closely watched in further events. PG|Filipino Champ’s Dhalsim makes what should be a slow character look incredibly mobile with lots of versatility and broke into the top 16 finishing tied for 13th. EG|Justin Wong’s Karin, RB|Snake Eyez’s Zangief, Liquid|NuckleDu’s Nash, FlashMetroid’s Vega and Julio’s Ken also made it into top 16. What is very interesting is that the three American players that did get into the top 8 were not the big name players. We talk more in depth about CR|Sonic Fox below with his F.A.N.G., who ended up placing 7th. Brenttiscool’s Ken set opponents on fire for big damage and finished 5th. PH|Nando Tovar’s R.Mika was a sensation on the stream with insane corner pressure and also finished tied for 5th. Brenttiscoool was eliminated by MJS|Haitani’s Necalli and both Sonic Fox and Nando Tovar were eliminated back to back by MCZ|Tokido.
Final Round 19 Highlights (Not in any Order):
CR|SonicFox
CR|SonicFox’s story is pretty unbelievable. He is a top player for other games, such as Mortal Kombat X. Street Fighter 5 is his very first Street Fighter game, and he only started playing during the game’s beta. So, without playing any Street Fighter previously in a serious capacity, he got good enough at the game to get into top 8 (he finished tied for 7th) out of over 1,000 players in around a month and a half! His natural ability is incredible and he was a fan favorite to watch on the stream. Not only that but he plays F.A.N.G., which is regarded as one of the weaker characters in the game right now. He makes the character do incredible things.
EG|PR Balrog vs RB|Snake Eyez
If there’s one thing we know from watching RB|Snake Eyez over the years, it’s that he loves planting people into the ground with Zangief. This match with EG|PR Balrog was a very close one but in the last round Snake Eyez kept planting PR Balrog’s Necalli in the ground with spinning piledrivers!
MCZ|Tokido vs MJS|Haitani and the Last Round Comeback
This matchup between MCZ|Tokido and MJS|Haitani was one of the best matches of Final Round 19’s top 16. It was a hard fought match that came down the very last round. In that last round, though, Haitani had a huge life lead and Tokido made a sensational comeback!
Team Kill: MCZ|Mago vs MCZ|Tokido in Losers Finals
Only 2 of the 3 players from team Mad Catz made the trip to Final Round 19 and they were forced to play each other eventually in Losers Finals. It’s unfortunate but it happens when you get into the top 8.
Grand Finals: RZR|Infiltraton vs MCZ|Tokido
RZR|Infiltration played dominantly all tournament, getting into Grand Finals through the Winners Bracket. MCZ|Tokido had a much longer and tougher road, having to make his way through the Losers Bracket.
Congratulations to RZR|Infiltration!
Congratulations to RZR|Infiltration for his win at Final Round 19 and, as a result, being the first player to qualify for Capcom Cup 2016 this season! Because he has been one of the world’s best players for so many years now, many had him as the favorite to win the event before it started. Unlike last year, where he played many characters in Ultra Street Fighter 4 at a very high level and could counter-pick his opponent if he desired, he played Nash exclusively here. His Nash was unbelievable, with Infiltration using Nash’s forward and back dash to make him seem more mobile than he should be and some absolutely top-tier spacing and footsies. It will be interesting to see what Infiltration does from here, now that he has qualified for Capcom Cup so early in the season. Whatever he does, we can’t wait to see it!
