This article is part of our Street Fighter series.
With the most stacked bracket of the year so far, it's no surprise that many victims would fall to the gauntlet at Combo Breaker 2018. The Street Fighter V was no stranger to such carnage, as competitors fell like flies on Sunday afternoon.
2016 Capcom Cup champion Du "NuckleDu" Dang? Fell in losers' Top 12.
2017 Capcom Cup champion Saul Leonardo "MenaRD" Mena Segundo? Fell in losers' Top 12.
EVO 2017 champion Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi? Fell in losers' Top 12.
Toryuken 7 champion Justin "JWong" Wong? Fell in losers' Top 24.
Stunfest 2018 champion Fujimura "Fujimura" Atsushi? Didn't even make it out of Pools.
Reigning ELEAGUE champion and EVO 2017 runner-up Victor "Punk" Woodley? Didn't even make it out of Pools.
2018 EVO Japan champion Lee "INFILTRATION" Seon-woo? Still alive, but on the losers' side of Top 8.
Basically, your heroes straight up got bodied this weekend. Outside of INFILTRATION and Sim "NL" Gun (who won Saigon Cup), no one in the Top 8 has won a single event this year. And with INFILTRATION coming out of the losers' side, you get the feeling that we will likely see a new champion coming out of this event.
When it comes to who has the best chance take the title, it's honestly a bit hard to predict. This isn't one of those brackets (like Dragon Ball FighterZ) where someone is coming in as the odds on favorite. This is a situation where all eight guys have been playing lights out and any one of them can make a run to take this event.
If I was forced to make a prediction (which I guess is kind of my job), I'd have to put my money on Hyungsuk "Verloren" Kong or Kun Xian "Xian" Ho. Verloern is playing Cammy, widely considered as one of the two best characters in the game right now, and is looking incredible with her. Xian is playing Ibuki, a character who has been rising in the ranks a bit over the last couple weeks. Many players seem a bit caught off-guard by her style given her rarity in the upper echelons of play.
Whoever ends up winning, though, you can bet that the action will be a sight to see. Just about every Top 8 so far has seen some incredible moments and there's no reason this should be any different. You can find the first matchups of the Top 8 below.
- Verloren vs. Xian
- NL vs. Bonchan
- INFILTRATION vs. Oil King
- Nemo vs. Dogura
