PG - Filipino Champ
The always-outspoken FChamp took a bit of a hit at the start of the year, playing the game he is pretty much a legend at—Marvel vs Capcom—against rival KaneBlueRiver, where he lost in the Grand Finals. Some may let such an event shake their confidence, but since then he has refocused onto Street Fighter V, establishing himself as the best Dhalsim player in the World. A solid top 8 performer, with wins at Thunderstruck in Mexico and in one of the US Region Online events grabbed him enough points to make it into CapCup via the global Leaderboard.
AWS - CCL
Belgium’s CCL is currently Europe’s best Chun-Li player and in gaining that title has had a pretty good Capcom Pro Tour 2016. Sticking exclusively to the EU region, he was a threat in every tournament he entered and won FFM Rumble in Frankfurt and VSFighting in Birmingham. As mentioned before, it’s silly to rule out anyone that is good enough to get this far in the Pro Tour season who plays as Chun-Li.
DNL - Chris Tatarian
The second member of ‘The Trinity’ to qualify for Capcom Cup, Chris Tatarian is, of course, a Ken player who has had a pretty good first year of Street Fighter V. Largely top 8 finishes and two tournament wins at West Coast Warzone and Japonawa in Mexico gained him one of the additional qualification slots on the global leaderboard. Shout out to Chris for being one of the only US players who made the trip to the UK during this CPT season, when he finished 2nd at VSFighting in Birmingham.
MD - Mister Crimson
Mister Crimson arrived on the Street Fighter V scene by carving out his own little piece of Capcom Pro Tour history, winning the first ever tournament of the Street Fighter V season—Cannes Winter Clash. His tricky Laura play turned into some even trickier Dhalsim play and consistently good results in the region (he never travelled further afield this season) allowed him to qualify through the global leaderboard.
GGP - Kazunoko
Last year’s Capcom Cup winner has had a pretty disappointing first year of Street Fighter V. His Cammy play is exceptional, but he hasn't been able to translate this into a big win, instead getting some consistent top 8-16 placements and securing the final global leaderboard qualification spot. Despite this, you absolutely cannot rule out Kazunoko at any point. Perhaps this will be his breakout SFV performance?
HORI - Sako
Another one of the five gods of Street Fighter that qualifies for Capcom Cup, Sako is a Chun-Li player who has had a fairly quiet year, but with some good performances in the Asia region, with a first place finish at FV Cup in Malaysia, qualified for Capcom Cup as the highest ranked player in the Asia leaderboard that hadn’t already made it into the tournament via other means.
PxP - Problem X
Last year’s sole UK competitor at Capcom Cup again qualifies during this first Street Fighter V season. Had a pretty consistent year, with a big win coming at Hypespotting V. Switched from M. Bison to Alex and is the only Alex in the tournament, based on what we know about the qualified player’s mains. Stuck to Europe this year and qualified by being the highest ranked player that hadn’t already made it into the Cup via Premier win or global ranking.
Ryan Hart
A genuine UK legend of fighting games, Ryan Hart has been competing for years now and always at the very highest level. This first year of Street Fighter V has already seen him do that, but by his own admission this season hasn’t seen the performances he would like. Ryan sadly finished just outside the EU qualification spots, but when NuckleDu won his Premier and automatically qualified, that freed up a global spot for CCL, and with CCL qualified, that freed up a European spot, which went straight to Ryan. After some chatter regarding possible retirement at the end of this CPT season, it'd be amazing to see Ryan take the biggest prize of them all and walk off into the sunset like some kind of Street Fighter cowboy.
EG - Ricki Ortiz
Ricki is one of the best US Street Fighter players currently playing as Chun-Li, and statistically she's the best American Chun player. Had a fairly solid year, finishing mostly within the top 8 of every tournament she entered, mainly in the US and Latin America regions, accruing enough points in the US to be one of the players to qualify through that Regional leaderboard. Biggest win of the year was when she took first place at Defend The North, which likely was what solidified her as one of the Capcom Cup qualifiers. With a bit of hindsight, that win was extra impressive when you consider it was against NuckleDu, who is expected to do really well at Capcom Cup.
WFX - XsK_Samurai
Recently sponsored by Winterfox, XsK_Samurai is America’s best ranked Ryu player. Only entered three tournaments in the US this season, but managed to win the first US Online ranking event, grabbing a big old 128 CPT points and putting himself into a leaderboard position that meant everyone above him had already qualified for Capcom Cup through some means, meaning that he was the recipient of a regional leaderboard spot alongside Ricki Ortiz.
SOA - Brolynho
This year’s sole Brazilian qualifier, Brolynho had a solid performance through 2016 on the Latin America circuit. He won Fight In Rio in, well, Rio De Janeiro and one of the Latin America online events, sticking himself right at the top of the Latin America leaderboard and qualifying for the Capcom Cup without having to see if anyone above him had already made it in through other means.
Brook - Misterio
Finishing third in the Latin America leaderboard, behind Justin Wong who had secured a global spot, Misterio—from Chile—takes the second Regional qualification spot. However, there’s some chat at the minute about Visa issues and should Misterio be unable to attend the event, this place would go to Evil Geniuses’ K-Brad, who has hit a real run of form slightly too late to qualify himself.
Tse4444
The final qualifier for Capcom Cup, the 4,444th Tse must’ve been extremely stressed during the Asia Regional Last Chance qualification event. Depending on who won, a series of different players could receive a qualification spot. When Mago finally took first place, Tse was blessed with the now-extra spot on the Asia Regional leaderboard. He only entered two tournaments this season, winning Yancheng Cup in China and finishing in the top 8 at FV Cup. Pretty good average!
