What Daigo REALLY thinks about Capcom Cup... | Extra Trashy - Trash Talk

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Adam, what is going on in the world of Street Fighter right
now? What is happening?
Well, while we have Daigo placing high in a tournament,
which actually doesn't happen every other every day, so that,
you know, the world's been flipped upside down and Daigo
also speaking up about CPT beingvery strange.
I'm going. That's the way I would have
heard it. Very strange.

(00:20):
If if you were a Daigo in that position, you would say CPT is
trash because this man has been getting a little blunt, right?
Yeah. Daigo getting second at World
Warrior Japan, followed up by Hibiki with Lily getting first
in World Warrior Japan #2 which was immediately, you know, that
was, that was just following Daigo putting out a video where
he's being very critical of the decision to charge $40

(00:43):
pay-per-view for Captain Cup. Not because he's saying that
charging pay-per-view itself is a problem, but because Captain
Cup is too boring. Very vocal about this.
He was very, very blunt in his response to the Captain Cup
drama. So I guess we got to break all
this down there. There's just a lot of
developments on the story. We're not trying to beat a dead
horse in regards to the Captain cut pay-per-view drama, but

(01:04):
there have been major developments.
And this whole Diego angle, I, Idid not expect Daigo to drop
from the Raptors like, you know,just elbow dropping a Capcom
cup, call it boring and then say, wouldn't it be more
exciting to me? And MENA did pay-per-view and
then get to grand finals of the world Warrior right after.
So that's a, that's a big 1-2 punch.

(01:25):
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(01:47):
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community. OK, that's it.
Back to the episode. So I guess we got to get into
it. So watching this response from

(02:07):
Daigo, what was your first thought, Adam?
I'm, I'm kind of curious becauseI was like, oh, he's going
there. So I don't disagree with Daigo.
Obviously I made the tweet about, you know, nobody wants to
watch their favorite players just get thorough loop the
Capcom Cup. There's the classic you gang
tweet with the no one's paying ¥6000 just to watch my advice

(02:30):
and thorough loop each other. So I'm kind of a bit with Daigo
with the the entertainment's notthere.
I do think there's a lot of waysto make CPT more entertaining or
engaging. Like obviously you could have,
you know, some random extreme battle tournament or you know,
something cuz like Street Fighter six has a lot of, you

(02:51):
know, fun little game modes thatyou could play and make a lot of
the top players play and see howthey take a perspective on, you
know, the silly game modes and just have everyone have a good
time. That also being said, you could
also just have random exhibitions.
I know Daiga brought up, just let me and MENA play the first
of ten. Could everyone's been kind of
waiting for that? Imagine if there was like a, you

(03:13):
know, old man retirement home match and it's just Daigo versus
Justin and Street Fighter say. I'm sure people would pay to
watch that. So I think even like little, you
know, experience like that, it'dbe cool for the audience.
Right, Yeah, right. I kind of agree with what Daigo
is saying. I actually I do want to
summarize a little bit of his his points from his 20 minute

(03:34):
video that was posted to his YouTube channel.
He did not focus very much at all on like any socio economic
issues with charges Enterprise, right.
That's kind of I think the main argument that I myself was
putting forth about this, how I think it's a short sighted move.
And it really cuts off access tocaptain cup to a lot of regions
of the world. When literally the tour is

(03:54):
pulling players from those regions off the back of the hard
work of the T OS in those communities to put up a
representative plucking them andputting them to the to Japan.
And then you charge a price where the people from that
region can't even watch it. So I feel like there's just a
conflict of interest. It's antithetical to the whole
format at the tour, right? There's like, at its core, it's
kind of like not the type of format where you charge

(04:16):
pay-per-view. But me personally, I'm not
against pay-per-view as a concept on a whole.
And I think that's what Daigo iszeroing in on.
And this is coming from a personwho has experience putting on
entertaining shows, right? So Daigo's main argument is that
it's not necessarily the price is too high, it's that the
entertainment product and the entertainment value isn't there.

(04:38):
It's not worth the price becauseit's just kind of boring, is
literally what he says. And he breaks down a lot of
those examples, he mentions how like there's an issue with
getting star players to play andhe even brings up an example he
mentioned, not to toot my own horn, but wouldn't people want
to pave to watch me versus MENA Rd.
And he has a point because Daigois on literally this his Komodo

(05:02):
Michi series, which he hasn't done one in a while, but that
was like a big deal. These big hyped up events which
would be first attend exhibitions across different
titles. You know he even did, he did
Super Turbo, brought back some Ogs for that game.
He even did Tetris I think for. One of them he did a Tetris 1.
Yeah. And then like the big examples
were matches, like I think therewas Taquito Kiwano towards the

(05:24):
end of Street Fighter Five. And then of course, I think the
the most famous one that I can remember was Daigo versus
Taquito in 2018. This first attend set has nearly
1,000,000 views on Daigo's YouTube channel.
It's right it's pushing up against a million.
And that's the first of 10 whereDaigo is playing his guile and
Taquito is playing akuma. And Taquito was trying so hard

(05:45):
to beat Daigo. They did all the pre match
interviews. They had some like documentary
style buildup giving background on the stakes about how Taquito
wants to so badly beat Daigo andDaigo kind of beat his ass and
Tokido cried at the end. This is the set where Tokido
cried in the post game interviewbecause of how badly he was
trying to beat Daigo. And that led into the storyline
of eventually when when Tokido finally beat Daigo at towards

(06:06):
the industry fighter five and toPanga league and overcame that.
Like I can finally beat Umahara.That's always been like the
final step in the long set exhibition.
But that was Daigo constructing an event to build the hype and
excitement to watch 2 star players go at it.
And so I think that kind of format makes perfect sense for
for pay-per-view, right? You, you don't have to watch

(06:29):
that, but you, you might want to, right?
And if you miss out on that, youcan watch it later.
And it's not built on the backs of local TO organizations and it
doesn't pull players from aroundthe world to go here.
I think to me, an exhibition match is, is a lot more
analogous to like a boxing pay-per-view or UFC pay for
pay-per-view, which we've seen be done in the past.

(06:49):
To me, that makes more sense, right?
I, I, I'm totally fine with those kind of things.
And you start constructing more in depth narratives and you care
about the players and their stakes.
So Daigo's argument is Captain Cup, the way it stands doesn't
have any of that. And I've been saying that from
the beginning. That's the big issue with this,
right? With World Warrior, I definitely

(07:11):
I got to speak carefully about this because I've gotten a lot
of Flack for speaking to looselyabout World Warrior.
I think it is important to give access with World Warrior to
players from all all over the world to have a shot to compete
a Capcom Cup. However, the problem right now
is for the most part, they take these players from less visible

(07:31):
regions. They give them no fanfare and
build up. They put them into the Capcom
Cup groups and then they don't explain who they are.
You've never seen their face before.
You've never even seen their name and then win or lose, it's
kind of like over and and that'sit, right?
Best case scenario out of this is Blas, which he broke the

(07:53):
mold. But Adam, can you tell me the
players who upset MENA Rd. and Punk and had a substantial
impact on the course of Capcom Cup last year?
Well, the difference is with that is I was there so I could
actually tell you like Salvatorebe fuck, you know, I can give
you the whole, the whole rundown.
But yeah, I, I understand what you're saying for for sure, for

(08:14):
the more casual audience of the person who's not going to
remember all the players like me, it's it's very hard to kind
of remember their names, remember their faces.
So, yeah, you have to build up the the players, like give them
a story. Blas is kind of the only one who
got that because he got to grandfinals.
But you know, only two people are going to get to grand finals
anyway. So if you're not 'cause in that

(08:34):
scenario, you're just you're kind of forgotten.
Right. They don't spend any time
building you up yeah, Salvatore and Limestone, amazing players
from the South American region and they did they they were
substantial players in the in shaping how that bracket worked
out right. Like they made an impact on how
the tournament ended up, but I feel like that wasn't able to be

(08:59):
pivoted into like bigger brand awareness for them or more
opportunities because we haven'tbeen able to see them travel
internationally to go to more offline CPT events, right?
They, they ended up just going back home and playing in the
World Warrior region again, right?
But to the audiences, the more casual audiences they came
caused an upset. They beat the players that

(09:20):
people know, Punk and Meta Rd. and then that was it.
All they really did was disrupt the viewing process to the
casual audience for the players they know because Capcom didn't
spend time to build up these players so that you care if they
win as well. Obviously their fans back home
from their region, their supporters going to be really
excited about it and I think that's kind of what Capcom is
banking on. But there's also the rest of the

(09:42):
world. Everyone needs to be caught up
to speed on why I should care about these players and that's
what Daigo really goes into. Like give a little bit of back
story about these players lives.He says, I'm sure none of these
people are living normal lives. If you're getting to Capcom Cup,
you have done something crazy like you have sacrificed
something in your life to make that happen, right?
No one getting to Capcom Cup is living a normal life.

(10:05):
And even if they are, that meansthey're living a dual life.
Even if they're working a nine to five and you know, they're
doing this after work. That alone is crazy, right?
So Daigo talks about hyping these players up and making
storylines out of them and trying to create star players
and create these narratives or expose the narratives that are
naturally there to make people care.

(10:25):
Because I think it sucks that these players come from all over
the world and they have an opportunity to make an impact.
And Blas did it. And Blas spun this into a
career. And that's amazing.
That's a it's an amazing successstory.
But what about everybody else, you know?
What about all the other playersfrom all over the world?
Those group stages don't mean much to the casual audience.

(10:48):
They they kind of just skip overlike to me, the group stages for
Capcom cup has been kind of fluff even since like the
beginning of starting in like 2022.
If you don't make it out of groups, it's like, oh, well, you
know, sucks and sucks, but that that's the end of the run.
That's kind of why I like the the original EE limb bracket.
Like it's weird because Daigo brings up the fact that you

(11:09):
you're you're playing in a normal like double group bracket
and then you're eliminated, thenyou're out.
But I felt like EE limb bracket kind of like built up the hype
like, oh, you be him, then you got to be him, then you got to
be him. You keep going up and up and up.
Then obviously you're going to get to winners, a grand final.
But the groups to me is just kind of like lazily done.
And then it narrows it down to top 16.

(11:30):
Then you actually get more engaged.
I feel like I don't know if you feel the same way, but I'm more
engaged with top 16 than I am with the group stages of the
Capcom Co. Absolutely, yeah, the stakes are
much more clearly communicated in a double elimination bracket.
It it's just very obvious. Maybe the, the problem with the,
the Tor right now is they have no way to see properly because
they're qualifying from different regions.

(11:51):
And I'm not saying it's an easy issue to solve, but the the way
a double elimination bracket works and why we do it is not,
it's not because we feel that that's the only way to to narrow
down who's the best player in the room right now and also to
extrapolate who's the second best, Who's the 3rd best, right?
Like we care about placements beyond first.
We want to try to rank players. What is the the best way to rank

(12:15):
the players in a room over the course of a couple days from
worst to best and have this be entertaining for the viewers and
be logistically impossible to achieve in a set amount of time,
right? Like there's all these factors
we're trying to balance. So double elimination has
historically been like the best balance of all that.
Now as you go low in the bracket, obviously things aren't

(12:36):
as comparable. Like you have like 4 people
tying for 9th place, right? Like it starts losing its
meaning as you go lower. And it's not like always a
concrete judgement. What would be the the most
accurate would be everybody plays round Robin first to 10
versus everybody. And we, this takes months,
right? Like that would be the best way
to rank everybody. So that's why we don't do it.

(12:57):
But with group stages, what we lose is we lose that rising
sense of stakes and the narrative as you go through the
groups. And we also can't really do a
properly seeded double elimination bracket because
there's no cross pollination with some of these players who
qualify from exclusively online events.
Normally the Tor was solving that by having the points use

(13:17):
the points to see things from CPT, But now if you qualify from
a region, then you've never beento an offline event.
Who's to say where you should beplaced in the bracket, right?
So that's why they do random seeding based on regions just to
prevent two people from one region from playing each other
as much as they can and they go from there.
So it's a difficult format to solve this qualification process

(13:39):
and then to make an entertainingtournament.
So I do definitely agree that it's immediately understandable
to the viewer. Double elimination bracket,
right? You got to you got to keep
climbing the tower, right, and rising stakes.
And if you lose your route, right, it's so easy to follow.
But the group stages are not so,but I think we have to do some
of the group stages if you have this qualification process just

(14:01):
cause of that issue. A seating.
And so Daigo, what he recommendsis he's, I, I, I don't think he
mentioned it explicitly, but he's talked about this before.
I think he's suggesting to, he'ssuggesting that we need longer
set formats. I think that's the subtext of
what he's saying in this video. He always brings that up,

(14:22):
though, and he's always like this very hot, very high on
longer sets, which isn't good ora bad thing.
But even at the same time, I don't think it's just possible
like Daigo's proposing, like first to sevens, first to 10.
We don't have that much time to run a first to seven or a first
to 10 set, to be fair. Well, he said in this video, if

(14:44):
the Cocoa Gun Sumo Arena is too expensive to do all that, we
should be renting a random Community Center for a week and
then have everybody play and by the end of the week you're going
to care about these players. That's literally what he
suggested. And, you know, other games and
other competitive spheres, they do stuff like that.
You know, chess tournaments, they take forever.
They're, they're, they're in there for the long haul.

(15:06):
It's not this whole concept of get in and out in a weekend.
That's an FGC thing. That is not how other games and
championships necessarily operate.
I mean, it depends. Some some other spheres are like
that as well. Maybe like world championship
eating, right. You just you show up, you eat
your hot dogs and you're done. But it's been done other ways
where you take a long time to properly vet out the players

(15:29):
that are going to proceed out ofthe group stages.
And so if we're going to have the qualifiers from around the
world, it better give them a little bit more time to shine.
I kind of agree with what Daigo is saying because we already
have three days of group. It's already too long and
boring, right? Like might as well make that a
week and make them play first toseven sets.

(15:49):
And then if, if Salvatore beats punk in the first to seven, you
know how much screen time he's generating from that.
And you know how much of A historic ass beating and upset
that would be in a first to two upset like that.
It's it's a flash in the pan. But if Salvatore beat punk in
the first to seven and they keptshowing his face over and over,
like, look, look, this guy, you,you, if you've never heard of
him before, he's Salvatore. Remember the name name, you

(16:10):
know, like it, it builds a brandand that can be spun into a
career. You know, like, I just think
these first, these first two upsets and groups, they're big
moments for the players, but it doesn't stick in the brains of
the casual audience and it doesn't then produce more
opportunities for these players.So I I think that's one big

(16:31):
issue. It doesn't build these players
up to be stars, doesn't give them more opportunities and even
if they made an impact in the tournament after Capcom Cup is
over, nothing changed for them. I think that's a that's a it's a
miss opportunity. That's the whole point and, and,
and if they qualify again, then maybe they can slowly build up
their brand awareness. But there's players who have

(16:52):
been to Capcom Cup 4 times at this point and I still don't
think their brand has grown. But I can name a few who we know
are going. But their brand awareness hasn't
built from being the Captain Cupmultiple times.
Multiple times. I think that's an issue.

(17:13):
Yeah, yeah. It's just it's so awkward and
but that's why I also think likeCapcom kind of made the the
tournament and the goose first to two, like you want the upsets
you like obviously beating Punk in like a first of 10 wouldn't
be an easy feat for nobody, but if the person does manage to do
it, you know, wow, you know, Congrats, a round of applause

(17:34):
for you. But that's also why I think they
keep it first to two. They want the upsets to happen.
They want that kind of like flash in the pan.
Oh my God, I can't believe that happened thing.
So I think it's good, but I alsothink there's a reason they're
kind of avoiding the long sets thing.
How We've been campaigning for CPT to be 1st at 3:00, which is
only one more extra game and we still haven't even gotten that.

(17:55):
Yeah, I mean, I think for open bracket tournaments, extending
the formats is obviously going to be an issue because of
logistics, right? But I think Captain Cup is where
they can get creative. They have it's their whole event
and it's people who are qualified for Captain Cup and
it's a closed bracket qualified event.
Open bracket, you got to be, there's a lot more restrictions
for open bracket. I think we, we obviously should
be doing 1st at 3:00, but I'm not, I'm not going to say here

(18:17):
to ever say first of five or first of seven for for open
bracket. Capcom can get creative with all
the things I've been, I've been saying they could get super
creative with Street Fighter League and they still haven't
done that like their actual likeCapcom sanctioned events.
Like obviously there's no other games being played there except
for like Street Fighter and whatever other Capcom game.
But they could do so many cool things just with like their

(18:40):
their own little events, but they kind of just want to keep
the whole first to two flash in the pan that we've seen upsets
happen at Street Fighter League,but that's still first to two.
Like we don't see as many upsetswith the last player match, but
in the earlier stages it's like,oh, first to two, anything can
happen. Yeah.
But I think, I think at this point I would argue, I think

(19:01):
that's totally misunderstanding how entertainment is generated.
I don't think people want flash in the pan upsets, I think.
I I beg to differ. I actually think that's your
role. OK.
I think more people would want the the flash in the pan upsets.
Well, let let me explain what I mean and I'll hear you out right
here. So in my view, I think people do

(19:21):
crave upsets and they do crave new talents being represented,
of course. However, the issue with a flash
in the pan upset a first to two and then immediately falling off
right after that, right? Like when those kind of upsets
happen and they don't build intoa run.
I'm not talking about it like a blas moment, right?
Blas created upsets and dominated and and one after the
other took down world class players after another.

(19:43):
That is not a flash in the the pan.
He cooked a gourmet 5 course meal.
OK that that is completely different.
I'm talking about an occurrence where someone beats a well known
established top player. They immediately fall off and
don't piece together a run. Right.
Those provide entertaining moments, absolutely.
However, it's like it's like eating a piece of candy.
That quickly loses its flavor. It's not something sustainable,

(20:06):
it's not satiating. It's something that is, oh wow,
that was a cool moment, but quickly loses cultural relevancy
And and it's not like a moment. It's so that people look back
on. It doesn't build brands, it
doesn't build players up to be consistent and and known players
in the scene. It doesn't really serve that

(20:26):
purpose. It's more of like a something
that's just a novelty, somethingthat you go, oh, that was
interesting and move on from if someone wins in a first to seven
set versus a known top player and they do a little bit of
build up between the players andit it's the same idea.
Imagine Salvatore beating Punk in that first to seven that
Captain Cup group. I don't I don't believe

(20:47):
Salvatore didn't move on from groups either.
Both of them ended up being eliminated.
Right, But imagine the same way played out.
But Salvatore it was first to seven.
You would know so much more about Salvatore, where he's been
from, come from his struggles toget here and understand how much
he sacrificed to get into this position.
And then he managed to beat Punkand a first to seven in the
mirror match at Capcom Cup and you had all that screen time.

(21:09):
This is going to burn into your brain and put some respect on
the man's name. It's going to mean a lot more
and be more permanent in the minds of the audience, in my
view. So and I think those moments are
much more impactful. And on the flip side, if the
upsets end up happening less because the the longer format
prevents upsets from happening as frequently because it

(21:32):
averages out all these top players to top players for a
reason. They win on more on average.
I think what happens is that means the stars naturally float
to the top more often. And then you get to the rising
stakes of action between the known star players and the
storylines are already in the minds of the viewers.
And you don't have to have issues with the narrative.
It's naturally there. I think it solves both problems.

(21:54):
That's my view, so let me hear. I want to hear what you think I.
So I think having the shorter sets and just having people who
don't get as much spotlight is better because like I said, I
know what you're saying, the flash in the pants, obviously
bad, but it's still an opportunity.
Obviously, you know, we see a million upsets and just you

(22:14):
know, that's just how St. front of 6 works.
But to be you're the top players.
I know you like seeing them as like the star players, but then
I think other people are even other figures in the community.
Just see all the star players are kind of gatekeeping now.
I'm with you like if you're better than me, you're better
than me. You got it.
But you they're kind of more gatekeepy.
And then it's like, oh, well, I can't get what this guy's got

(22:36):
getting because he's just like infinitely better than me.
But obviously everyone wants to achieve that same kind of
position. So it's it's weird because it's
just as a top player, like I obviously want the thing that
you're describing, but at the same time as seeing the flip
side of it, I can see how peoplewould want the other way too.
Well. I I see your point as well, but

(22:57):
I want to be clear that I'm not saying don't give players the
opportunity to play. I'm saying give them more
opportunity in a way. Let let the new guy, the the
unknown player play longer. Let him play have more screen
time. That's what I'm arguing for.
You're giving the person a better opportunity.
But if, like I said, if the guy goes up there and says like
you're saying, oh, if I beat you2, what if I beat you in a, if

(23:20):
we play a set and you beat me two one, And then it's like, oh,
Brian calls the upset. It's like, OK, cool.
Brian calls the upset play a first of seven the score 7 too.
Because I'm like okay, I lost the first two games but I just
turn it on or something and it'slike, that was the point.
It's just like the extra 5 gamesis irrelevant because I.
Sound like you're more like you're more like concerned that

(23:42):
there would never be an upset, so there would never be any hype
moments. I mean, I can see that point,
but I can also say that there could be players strong enough
to make those upsets and then that would be even more
impactful. I do agree.
I get what you're saying. It would be more rare.
It would be far more rare, but Ithink it would be far more
impactful. And then I think that on the
flip side, what by the time you get to the later stages in the

(24:02):
bracket, you know what's going on, you're like, you're involved
and even even say Salvatore or like limestone versus MENA Rd.
even say like he they end up losing in an alternate reality
where these were longer sets. I still feel like that's good
for their brand because you givethem time to shine.
You build up, you build up theircharacter.
All of this guy got so close to beating MENA Rd. in a long set.

(24:25):
Broski versus MENA Rd. at Red Bull Kumite, New York Broski
lost that set. People still say that was the
best set of the. Tournament I I agree with you,
but I also think there's something that you're not
playing a factor in. I was Aki on the screen I I will

(24:46):
forever say the character matters.
Aki definitely like yeah, unknown character yeah, my time
was newer yeah if you're going to make me watch like a first of
seven and it's like my versus bison I'm going to be even less
invested. I'll be like get this batch off
the screen faster. OK, well, yeah, there's there's
issues with the gameplay itself,right?
Obviously that's a it's a huge factor, is the entertainment

(25:06):
factor of the game itself. But I think competitive formats
play a huge role in how we perceive and and process he's
saying. So in my view, I, I definitely
vibe a lot with what Daigo is saying.
I think the group stage format could be done a lot differently.
But even if pivoting away from modifying the format, even if

(25:27):
captain cup remains exactly the same, I still feel like they
need to do so much more for the players.
They they need to be doing some more media Red Bull Kumite
before every player came out on stage, they had a whole mini
documentary with every player, right?
I still remember that Red Bull kumite.
I don't know if they did it for the other ones, but for New York
they had they were doing a random draw for when the players
came out. But but it's when they pulled

(25:48):
them out. They had a little mini doc with
every single player, right? I mean, what did yours say?
Yours says I hope I don't have to play against jury.
That amounts was like I I just wanted to play somebody from not
America, but at the same time itwas a cool like mini doc, mini
docu series. But like there were so much
production and so much time. There was so much behind the

(26:09):
scenes stuff that obviously you got that people aren't seeing.
But like I want to say that tookhow long did that?
I want to say that took from like Tuesday till whenever the
tournament was on, like Saturday, right?
No, it was Sunday. So yeah, it took a long time to
actually get all that stuff, youknow, properly edited and stuff.
So if Calcom wants to do that, sure.

(26:31):
But at the same time, that's a lot of work and obviously you're
paying staff and all, you know, everyone else, camera work,
whatever it's going to be. Sure.
But then they're, if they're asking us to do pay-per-view,
this is what this is the point Daigo's making.
If they're asking us to do pay-per-view, then you got to do
something to make it entertaining and that involves
making us care about the players.
So if you're not going to do that and you're just got to pull
players from around the world, some of them who people don't

(26:54):
even know their name or face, but it's it's for it's a lot of
players, 48 players, man, it's alot.
And most of them are going to beunknown to the vast majority of
people. You got to do something to make
people care, right? You just got to right.
And so I definitely vibe with that point from from Daigo.
But at the end of the day, I still feel like regardless, it's

(27:15):
still wrong to charge for this type of format because like I
said, I just don't think it makes sense to charge people
without regional pricing in general.
It's just wrong to charge for this kind of format.
But Daigo's point is more from abusiness perspective, if you're
going to charge, you need to make it more entertaining.
And I also agree on that front. It doesn't make sense from a
business perspective. But even then, people just want

(27:36):
to see, like I said, their star players.
Like obviously Daigo's a fan favorite of a lot of people out
there, but people just want to see their favorite players as
well. But you also got to build up
the, the players for more unknown regions.
Like I said, I, I've always saidthis and I still believe that
this is a, a huge factor. I don't think Daigo's qualified
for Capcom cups since like 2019.I want to say, but if Daigo were

(27:58):
in these Capcom cups, I think the viewership would be much
higher. And I will stand on that.
I will die on that hill. Obviously.
Yeah, absolutely. But that's not what I guess more
people want because, you know, Daigo's old like we need, we
need a new Daigo. But some people are, are kind of
just like, hey, man, I, I grew up watching, you know, Daigo

(28:20):
Perry, Justin. So Daigo's obviously still the
best Street Fighter player and you can't tell me otherwise.
So the you're trying to get new stars, but at the same time
people just want to see the old heads too.
Well, that that's every sport. But that's that's why you have
to build them up. What I think the critique that
we're all making here is that the current format is failing to

(28:42):
properly build up the next generation of stars.
Even when they're giving opportunities, they're giving
opportunities, but they're kind of like you show up and no one
knows your name and unless you pull a blaze, that's it.
It doesn't spin into like, because imagine if Salvatore
Limestone, any of the other players less, less diver,
whatever, like any of the other players from the World Warrior

(29:02):
region who didn't make it out ofgroups.
Imagine if they were able to spin some notoriety from this
event into more sponsorship, sponsorship opportunities to be
able to travel and then have more offline success during the
tour. Then they become a staple of the
offline scene, become a regular and then you it's building their
awareness even more and more andthey can continue to improve

(29:23):
their game game get more consistent results, right.
Like that's that's what I'm referring to these these
players. Unfortunately, I mean, it's the
world economy is tough and E sports is not doing great.
So this is a pie in the sky likeideal world scenario.
What I'm describing. I know there's the reality is
not going to favor what I'm saying here, but that is what I
would want out of Captain Cup, help to build these players up

(29:46):
so that they can become part of the circuit, part of the ongoing
tournament scene with offline tournaments, because you have to
see it. The human element is too
important. You have to see the players,
right? I'm so happy that Blah was able
to to spin this one moment from Captain Cup into consistent
appearances at these offline events.
I love watching him play. I think he's so talented.

(30:09):
It would have been a shame if hewasn't able to then travel to
more events to make, you know, make these other appearances.
Second place at East Sports World Cup shows that, you know,
he's here to play. He's going to be a consistent
player for a long time. He's the next generation of
superstar in the FGC for sure. And so I want, I want to see
more of that and I want to see Capcom make an effort like Daigo

(30:30):
is saying to somehow build up these players.
If they're, if you're in Capcom Cup, you should feel like a
superstar, right? Like, and, and they should I, I
what I, from what I hear, you know, I think the actual esports
division and everyone involved treats the players very well.
And you know, while they're in Japan, it is they do a great job
of their hospitality and make the players feel great, but
there's not really a lasting impact in the production for the

(30:52):
rest of the world. That's what's missing right now
and I I firmly believe that something should be done better,
especially if they want to charge for pay-per-view.
It's not entertaining enough. No one cares enough about the
players when they're watching, which is Daigos main point.
It's not an engaging product butthey shouldn't charge
pay-per-view. But they should still try to
make better opportunities for these players in the future.

(31:14):
But you bring up a good point about Daigo.
Daigo being a captain cup would be a big deal.
He is. He is the star of the FTC still
to this day. And right after this video
dropped, we had Japan World warrior #2 and then who this
morning, literally before we're about to film this, we're
filming this on Sunday here. I, I refreshed the results and

(31:35):
grand finals is Daigo Umihara versus Hibiki with Lily.
What is going on, man? There's too much happening.
It's I, I don't. Even know what to say, it's
just, I don't want to say one ofthose days, but it, it, it felt
like one of those days, you know?

(31:56):
Daigo took a drink from the fountain of youth before he
played in the tournament. He remembered he felt like he
was 2027 again. So.
I think it's been one of those weeks, man.
It's been one of those weeks. Diego spoke up about how bad
Calf Calm Cup was and then he was just like, I got to fix calf
Calm Cup myself. That's what happened.

(32:17):
I mean, he said in that video, he's like, not to toot my own
horn, but if it was me versus MENA that you could charge
pay-per-view for that. And Diego's like, you know what,
let me make it Me versus MENA. Let me get into this Capcom Cup
for once. What am I doing?
Yeah. So he he gets into into the
grand finals of the World Warrior.
Obviously, that doesn't mean that he's in Capcom Cup, but

(32:37):
this is only the Second World Warrior.
It's kind of interesting how farbehind they are with this format
compared to the rest of the world, right?
Like most other regions are done, I think.
Nae, you just finished yours, right?
Yeah, yeah. So where'd you end up?
I am 5th, I got fifth in mind inthe overall regional final so I

(32:59):
got started losing. Damn.
Well, who knows, maybe, maybe Punk and Knuckle Do will turn up
at at Evo France and you get in via points and that regional
final starts getting easier and easier.
Actually, that's what that's what I actually did.
Actually, that's funny enough. Yeah, so Daigo ends up getting
second in this Breck, which Netshim a cool 40 points for 2nd

(33:22):
place for the World Warrior. And just to recap the World
Warrior program, Japan is a super region.
There's only three super regionsin the world this time.
If you're the number one ranked player in terms of points, after
the five tournaments, you ought to qualify to Captain Cup.
The rest of the top 8 go to one last regional finals tournament,

(33:42):
The top 4 starting winners, the bottom 4 starting losers.
So there's still a long way to go.
And I think this is Daigo's first points.
I, I believe that means he got no points for the first
tournament. And so he went from zero to 40,
which will make him probably in the top four like in the winter
side just from that because the results are so all over the

(34:03):
place. Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think a single person who got top eight last
World Warrior for them got top 8this World Warrior, which is
crazy to even say. Yeah, I think it was one.
Repeat Goichi. One last time.
He's not in this Hibiki one thistime.
Yeah, I think you're correct. I don't think there was a single
repeat appearance in this top 8.And I mean that that shows both

(34:27):
the level of competition in Japan and like how crazy Street
Fighter 6 is. First to two man, that is that
is nuts. But it's top eight.
I'll run down the results reallyquick.
We got Junior with his Zengeef there and tied for 7th and
Sahara with Ed. I'm surprised he's in this.
Like my man's qualified for Kaplan Cup and he's gatekeeping
his his Japanese countryman. Somebody entered the tournament

(34:51):
and was already qualified. It's good practice.
I will always defend it. It's always going to be good
practice. Yeah, it's kind of funny.
That was like a big point of contention, or drama if you
like, in the American FGC. Yeah, everyone got mad at me,
but when Sahara does AR, I thinkKawano entered as well.
You know, it's fine over there, but I do it.
I'm a bad person. Well.

(35:11):
You know, see, the difference here is they didn't win their
tournaments. When you did it in Street
Fighter Five, it was kind of. It was a watch, man.
No one was beating you in StreetFighter 5.
I feel like people are just tight.
Like, man, I know I'm going to win again.
And he's already qualified. How dare he?
Yeah. So you should have just lost
that. Would that people would have

(35:31):
been a lot more nice about that.In 5th place, we had Yamaguchu
with his ma and Kawano with Akuma and apparently Luke.
I didn't see what matches he's Luke in.
That's interesting. He brought that out.
Meg Five in fourth place with the jury.
Are you familiar with Meg 5's gameplay?
Some new names here to me. I cannot, I cannot say that I've

(35:54):
ever heard of Meg 5. Saitamu with Cami in 3rd and
then Daigo in second. Hibiki with Lily in first.
So yeah, just really like what? Like no one expected this to
happen and wasn't even Daigo coming in through losers.
Daigo won winners finals. Hibiki had to go into OverDrive

(36:15):
to to make this comeback here. And it went down to the very
final game. So I haven't been able to watch
the actual matches yet because like I said, we just woke up.
We're filming this podcast. I refresh Event Hubs to see
what's going on. And Daigo and Ibika are in Grand
Falls. I'm like, what what what world
is this? So Daigo did say for a while
he's trying to cut back on streaming and to lock in ever

(36:36):
since he lost that first of fiveto Noah.
Noah beat the streamer out of him, right?
Noah beat him so bad at Red BullKumite.
He's like, you know what? I can't be a streamer anymore.
I got AI, got a lock in and his results were kind of fluctuating
for a while. Definitely shaky, but you know
that I think that was his first good event since then.
So, you know, maybe he turned upnow.

(36:58):
Like I said, it's a it's a Capcom cup being pay-per-view.
Tiger's trying to save Capcom. I'll respect you.
He's trying to make the ticket price worth it.
He's like, look, man, they're charging 40 bucks.
We got to make sure to to give him a show.
I got to be in there. So maybe that's what's
motivating him. But we saw the signs of this
right at UFA. You know, his win over Punk, I
think that was a big notable win.
He he's had notable wins over strong players for a while and

(37:21):
he's been putting together runs here and there.
But that was like, I think for the first time in a long time, a
very big public forward facing win on a high profile player
like Punk and then now putting this run together.
So maybe maybe he's finally figuring it out, like it's it's
finally coming together. But meanwhile, I do want to talk
about Habiki here. Habiki winning with Lily of all

(37:44):
characters. Yeah, it's, it's something to
say, 'cause like I said, I, I personally think I think Lily's
the worst character in the game,but you know, Hibiki still won
what the most stacked World Warrior?
I think there were like 1700 people in this one.
I think they had to put a cap onthis one because there were too
many people in the first one andit took too long, so they had to

(38:05):
put a cap on it. But a strong region.
Everyone thinks Lily's a bad character, but Ikki still did
it. I don't, I don't know how I
didn't get to see any of his matches, but he on the
tournament somehow. Right, yeah, Hibigi has always
been referred to as the the bestLily in the world and has put
together tournament runs that went pretty deep into these

(38:27):
Japan Online brackets and has taken sets of her top players
for a while. I think there was a World
Warrior last season where he actually played Daigo like round
one and beat Daigo like before. He was in those like top player
seeds. He was unseated into Daigo and
he mediately beat Daigo. So it's kind of fitting that
they ended up playing again now and in grand finals.

(38:49):
But some of the players he beat,he beat Haitani, he beat Cosa
and of course took down Daigo there.
So it was just an interesting top 8IN general, how many sort
of like newer players were seen?I think the the previous top 8
was a lot more of the established pros, right?
Last topic was the Fujimora Kobean, Haitani Tachikawa so

(39:10):
Toro and kings Vega. Kings Vega were like the newer
players in the scene and then Dogro Goichi that was kind of
the ogs like established Street Fighter six and prior title
players. This top 8 definitely and a lot
of new blood plus Daigo showing up but Hibiki managed to get
through that with Lily. I had just put out a video

(39:32):
talking about is it possible to win without a top tier
character? And discussing the perfect place
to land on the spectrum for regarding playing a character
you connect with versus playing a viable strong character.
And generally you need to find acharacter that you connect with.

(39:54):
That's a requirement. But to win major brackets
historically, you better connectwith the character that that's
at least kind of good, especially depending on the
title. I guess it.
I disagree with you. I depending on the title,
obviously. Obviously if you're playing like
Marvel 3 and you really like Hashenko, you're probably not
going to win. But in like a game like Street

(40:15):
Fighter 6, I think if you just vibe with the character and you,
you know, put hours and dedication in for I'm swear you
can win with any character in this game.
That might be like a blessing orcurious depending on how you see
it. But the way Street Fighter 6 is
like made, you could win with any character.
You just got to put the time in a dedication there.

(40:37):
It's not like older games. I promise you, anyone who's
saying I can't win because my character sucks, it's not like
older games. I've played older games, you
couldn't win with certain characters.
Right, Yeah, yeah, that was a point that I made in that video.
I definitely said it. Street Fighter 6 is the most
balanced around the central universal mechanics, so it's the
most likely where you can play any character.

(40:57):
As you go further back in titles, it becomes more and more
impossible. Like go to 3rd Strike and pick A
trash character and try to win amajor event, right?
It's not happening. So I definitely agree with
Street Fighter six. It's much more likely still with
Lily to to make that happen. Like you got to be a little
special. Like you're you're this is the

(41:17):
Lily. You know what I mean?
Like this is this is a. Rare occurrence Vicki Vicki's
insane, but like I said, for I'malso like you said, I'm not that
surprised. I would be more surprised seeing
like a nemesis win a Marvel tournament or a DJ win a Street
Fighter 4 tournament. Like it's not it's not the same

(41:38):
as seeing Lily win a Street Fighter six tournament because
you know, I dry brush is really strong, you know, perfect pair
is really strong. So it's it's kind of the game
mechanics. Also Lily Hibiki being amazing.
Right, Right. Yeah, I, I agree.
I, I 100% agree. It's still surprising, but I
definitely firmly agree that it's not it's not shocking.

(42:01):
Yeah, it's surprising, not shocking.
I mean, other titles, for those who didn't play older fighting
Intern know about them. It really is almost impossible.
Like the the character, the balance is just so bad.
And yeah, you I think you bring up a good point.
You could view it as a blessing or a curse, right?
The the universal mechanics being so powerful makes it so
that almost any character you can win with.

(42:23):
However, it also leads to I think some homogenization of the
gameplay. There's always kind of that
trade off with having variety, really intense variety and play
style. Obviously that means that
there's going to be some characters that end up being
better than others. Like it's going to lead to
imbalance at this for the sake of variety, which could could be
part of the fun. I think sometimes it's part of
the fun. Street Fighter 6, I think just

(42:44):
struck a really good balance. But some people for their
personal taste might not like the the the universal mechanics
being that powerful, which causes things to kind of flatten
out like that. But it also leads to moments
like this where someone can playcharacter people view as I, I I
don't think you're alone and thinking that Lulu is the worst
in the in the game, I would put her down there as well.

(43:05):
And Hibiki still wins, but she'svery scared to fight.
I mean, yeah, yeah, exactly. And she gets that win win
charge. She charges at you.
You're guessing it doesn't matter if you're Daigo Brian F
item, you know, Johnny Donuts. She she gets that win charge.
She she Condor Spires at you. And then you got to guess
command grab or not, right? So Oh, you got to hold that.

(43:27):
It's it's so much different because like even in a a newer
game like 2 XK or like I'm more like, oh, this guy didn't play
Yasro. Yes, I don't have to fight Yasro
versus like, oh, this guy pickedlike blitz, crank or brawl.
I'm like, OK, you picked a bad character.
It's more it's more like, oh, OK, I don't have to fight this
guy versus like a Street Fighter6 like Hibiki plays Lily, but at

(43:50):
the same time like this Condors fire.
I'm I'm guessing at this point. So it's kind of just like scary.
But like I said, it's it's very balanced.
It's a balance scary. Yeah, right.
And Hibiki is definitely so likea cut above your average Lily.
There's there's people bring up a interesting point when we talk
about these conversations. There's a bit of a self

(44:11):
fulfilling prophecy when it comes to weak and strong
characters. Strong players always end up
gravitating towards strong characters because why would you
waste your potential like that? So it ends up usually being that
the the lower tier characters have a player base of weaker or
more casual players right there.There's kind of a self
fulfilling prophecy that occurs there because when you see like
a player like Habiki, he your average Lily is not doing things

(44:36):
like anti airing with DP every single time like he does.
He he was cross. I remember I watched him play
one time and I was like oh Lily can do a cross cut DP.
This is a year after the game released.
I had never seen a Lily player do cross cut DP because all they
do is spam Crouch fierce becauseit hits behind her head for some
reason. And he was like walking
underneath people and doing uppercuts to set up okie and get

(44:57):
more optimal damage from the anti air.
Like he clearly had a level of of technique and experience, the
character that seemed unfitting for a character like Lily, who
was generally played as a much more like gorilla one note
character. And he was bringing finesse to
the character. And I'm like, are are you
wasting your talent here, Hippiki?
Like, like what are you? That's not what you're supposed

(45:19):
to do here. You're supposed to press heavy
punch, anti air behind your headwith the your crouching heavy
punch. And then, you know, counter
aspire. That's it.
So IA little lower bit, but I still remember Sanford told me
way back when he was like he feels like they put low tier
characters in games to like it'sjust a distraction for players

(45:39):
to get like, hey, I'm going to play this low tier and waste my
time versus just picking a top tier.
So low tiers are actually just like personally put into a game
so people wasted talent. It's a sign from from Capcom to
preserve the the top player Illuminati.
They're they're trying to anyonewith potential like, oh, a new

(46:00):
kid on the block has potential, but we put in this shiny low
tier to to steer him off the path to protect the top tier
Illuminati. Yeah, of course it makes sense
to me, obviously, but they're, Ilove when people win with low
tiers because I do think it shatters a lot of players egos
like that. I have been there.
There's a certain type of of fighting game player that I have

(46:23):
been unfortunate enough to overhear their conversations and
they drive me insane where theirentire personality is that their
character sucks. That's their entire personality
and all they do is cope about why they can't win because they
play a bad character. And I remember witnessing this
first hand, overhearing it firsthand in the Street Fighter 4

(46:46):
era, right, which it was more true back then.
This is very true if you were picking a character like Dan or
DJI. Mean, even Dan was actually a
lot better by the time Ultra came out in the end.
He had some sauce, actually. But still, you know, he's not
winning major tournaments. And DJ had a lot of problems.
Yeah. You know what you're signing up
for. Like, you're signing up to lose.
You're signing up to see if you can make it some upsets and then

(47:09):
eventually taper off and lose. Like that is your goal.
Like, you know this going into it, but then some players would
make their whole personality, personality.
Oh, you're so lucky. I'm playing a trash character.
Oh, I, my character is so bad, so bad, so bad.
And I was like, if you care, they're not even being funny
about it. It's like, if you actually care,

(47:29):
Oh man, fuck, why is my character so bad?
Switch characters. They live in the states.
There's, there's a certain member of the FTC who lives in
this, this delusion or this, this fear they built around
their ego of my character is bad.
That's why I lose. And when someone like Khabiki

(47:50):
comes out or someone who plays your character and they win a
major event, it starts to shatter that little armor that's
protecting your ego. It starts to chip away at it.
And I love that because either put up or shut up, man.
Like if you're playing a low tier character and you seriously
are caring about winning, then you know, give it your all.

(48:11):
Accept your character shortcomings and you know, vent
whatever fighting against peopleget salty.
You got to vent here and there, but like you got to accept
accountability for the characteryou choose, right?
I don't know if you've experienced these kind of
players before, but I man that that something drives me nuts.
Yeah, I, I, I've seen players like that, but that's like I
said, a lot of people could get away with that.

(48:32):
There are plenty of players likethat.
A shoe fighter five. But like I said, and six is much
different because not really I there's not really any bad
character. I don't like when people say
even say like, oh, Manon is trash because like, I don't
think she's that bad. I feel like if I put more, you
know, time and effort into the game, I would do a lot better.
But at the same time, I don't think it's Oh yeah, Manon's
trash. That's why I'm losing.

(48:52):
Yeah, no, she's up and not trash.
I mean, obviously we see consistent trends, right?
But like you've won tournaments and like Tajikawa's been doing
pretty well. If someone wins with a Manon and
A and a tournament, it'll be like a Hibiki moment.
It'll be surprising, but not earth shattering.
Yeah, I don't think it's that surprising.
Yeah, it's not it's not ground breaking.

(49:13):
Like I said, to me, that's kind of the the cool thing because
even, you know, we're getting completely off topic, but I'm so
Yoshi, I I was still one of my most hype as moments of Melee.
I was so sick. Yeah, yeah, I'm so Yoshi.
He, he put in the work for yearsto make Yoshi work in Melee.
I think there's a bit of a difference there considering how
consistent Neylee is, right? I think that is like a long term

(49:36):
project and how much tech skill there is in that game.
That's literally something that you can grind at over the years
to keep improving your techniqueand find new techniques as well
and improve your execution, yourmovement.
It's like a long term project that you can chip away at and
you could slowly see his climb up that mountain over the years.

(49:57):
Literal years and years and years.
No patches, no nothing, right? So for a modern FGC E sport
title, you don't really have that comparable journey because
the patches will come, balance updates will happen frequently
and also like you got to win nowman, you got to win.
You got to get into Captain Cup this year.
You don't have 10 years of everyone playing on season 3 of

(50:17):
Street Fighter 6 or whatever without a patch for for 10 years
to to get into a grand finals ofa grassroots major.
No, you got to get the Cabin Cupthis year right now.
So it's the pressures and expectations are also a lot
different I would argue. And also the game, like Street
Fighter 6, is not anywhere near as technical as melee.
Nowhere near not. Comparable.

(50:38):
Right, Yeah. So to me, it's more about like
we were just talking about the the short set versus long set
format. Do do you think we'd be having
the same kind of conversation ifif Capcom, if these tournaments
were like first to seven sets? They never would be.
Just to be clear, I understand. I'm just, I'm just saying like
theoretically, right? Like what Hibiki would
characters like Lily Manon? What lower tier characters in

(51:02):
the game? Jamie.
Have a shot still. That's that's a good.
I would say it would be less likely that they would win.
I actually think their likelihood of winning would go
down. Not dramatically, but it would
go down, yeah. I think a little bit as well.
I, I, I still agree with your assessment that the game is
pretty well balanced, but I think in general, shorter sets

(51:27):
favor lower tier characters justby nature of the odds.
If, if your odds of winning are less than 50%, then less times
that bat is better for you, right?
It just keeps decreasing the more games you add.
But Hibiki did the thing, man. He did the thing in first to
three sets, by the way, right? Once you get to that top eight,
it's all first to three. So his run was definitely

(51:51):
really, really impressive. I, I can't wait to actually
watch the matches. We haven't been able to see it,
but that that final set, 32 versus Daigo taking it with
Lily, Lily stock's going up. I don't know.
Has anyone got to switch over toLily now?
Do you think that's the meta? No, no, people don't.
People don't switch to characters like that.
I, I feel like even when, even when like the grappler's broken,

(52:15):
nobody switches, Abigail is broken.
Nobody really switched Potemkin's match strongest drive
right now, nobody switches. Nobody switches to grapplers,
even if they are broken. Or extreme zealers like Dulson
if if they're too upstream. Mm hmm yeah that's true.
Nobody switches to extreme zoneseither.
That's why I always say the the basic character being good is
never good for the game. I stand, I will die on that

(52:37):
hill. My being good is not healthy.
I kind of agree, I do think having more extreme archetypes
being kind of busted is annoying, but it's.
Better. It's more healthy.
Yeah, like, are you really goingto switch over to Lily if she's
number one in the game? Well, maybe Lily.
Lily's a bit more of a streamlined character than, I
don't know, maybe Lily Zinke. I don't think, I don't think

(53:00):
people would switch to if she was the best.
I don't think people would stillswitch to that way.
I don't think so at all. But if the character, the best
character is like a Luke, then everyone's just jumping Jim.
But. Yeah, that's that's very fair.
Yeah, I agree. We need more extreme archetypes
to be broken. That's what I'm saying.
Grappler revolution coming up. Make Manon broken Only Idam and
Tashikala. Grappler's owner.

(53:22):
It doesn't matter what. But he's dropping the
subliminals Yeah, he's dropping the subliminals to Capcom to
make Manon absolutely broken. OK, well that's the the CPT
World warrior update. We do have one other topic to
get into. We have Evo France coming up, if
it even happens The the big story going into this was First
off or was anyone going to be able to make it into France in

(53:44):
the 1st place because they have an air control strike going on
right as all the the players areplanning to fly in.
Apparently as of today, the air traffic controller strike, which
was planned between Tuesday and Thursday of this week is put on
hold. So I'm not exactly sure how this
will shape shape up as we go through the week, but a lot of

(54:06):
players were concerned about even making it into France in
the 1st place. So that was an interesting bit
of trivia there. But you know, France, they're
serious about the protest, man. Like, yeah, the French
Revolution, man. They're not.
They're not messing around. They've kept that culture alive.
So if they're if they're having a protest, you might not make it
into France. But so far it seems like it's

(54:29):
going to be happening. And this is one of the last two
events for the CPT season. So it we're at the very tail
end, it's it's Evo France. And then we have the CPT event
in China coming up. So people are trying to get
those last bit of CPT points. And pretty much everybody in the
top 15 or so of the CPT leaderboard is at this event if

(54:52):
they're not qualified. So it's one of the less entered
Evos that we've had, only 1664 participants, but it's going to
be extremely top heavy, right? Like all the killers who are on
the precipice of qualifying via that top 6 on the CBT point
leaderboard are showing up. Do we have any predictions?
What are we thinking? You know, so I think I'm just

(55:17):
going to say this right here. Bloss is going to get one and
it's going to be Bloss has to win one tournament.
And I think this might be it. I think this might be the the
end of the, the, the drought forBloss.
He's going to win. He's going to win his first CPT
and it's going to be evil France.
OK, I like it. Yeah.
I mean, he's gotten second at Captain Cup Esports World Cup.

(55:39):
This could be the one. This could be the one.
I don't know. He's always gotten good
placements but never was the theguy who won.
So this, this would be it. This is going to end the
drought. He definitely wants those points
as well because he's in second place for CPT points with 470,
but you go down to the the last person in the top 6 for

(56:00):
qualifying Kings Vega 350 points.
So almost nobody is really safe in that range and all those
players are in this bracket. Memochi's in here as well.
He has 570 CPT points, so he's the most safe, but even he's
showing up for this event. Just trying to put a bow on it
and make sure he really earns that qualification to Captain

(56:21):
Cup because the the point placement is so top heavy,
right, 300 per second and then you go down to 100 for 8th
place, right? Third place is 250.
So really top heavy point placement.
So it's definitely possible for you to get knocked out of this
bracket or knocked out of this top six and end up losing your
spot to qualify. So I think a lot of players are
going to try to like seal the deal right now.

(56:42):
Players I'm looking at, of course I'm looking at NA
players. We have nephew Punk and Dual
Kevin in this bracket. They have 310 up starting with
dual Kevin, 300 and 10300 pointsfor Punk and 2:50 for nephew,
all just outside of that range for top 6.
So if any of them have a good run here, they'll make it in.
And I'm looking at Dual Kevin. He started off the season doing

(57:03):
so well, right? He had like I believe 3rd place
at Combo Breaker. Really strong performance there
and hasn't really had that big top 8 appearance since then.
So I'm wondering if this is going to be the one because he
was so consistent in this previous CPT season as well.
That was kind of the storyline with him.
I think he's gotten a lot of like thirteens and nines and

(57:24):
seven teams. I feel like that's kind of where
he's been hanging around these past couple of tournaments,
like, which obviously isn't, youknow, bad placements, but like,
you know, Capcom only care abouttop 8 enough, so you're not
really getting that point, that many points for those
placements. But he's been pretty consistent.
He's just had a lot of thorns inhis side going into certain
brackets or going into certain tournaments.

(57:44):
Yeah, Tangy primarily. It's always Zangief, right?
It's. Yeah, it's always Zangief a lot.
And Speaking of Inabashi Zangief, I mean he's in this
bracket, but he's been doing a lot of Marissa as well.
But he's he's 4th place currently 440 points.
So he'll be here as well trying to make it in.
The only player not in this liketop 15 who's attending is who is

(58:06):
not qualified is Ryuki Chi RyukiChi's in 3rd place with 460 CPT
points. He had a really strong early
start, especially with this. I believe he got second at EVO
Japan. He's not here.
And you were saying he's having a bit of a character crisis.
Yeah, he so that the CPT startedbefore the season 3 patch came

(58:26):
out. So that was when the CP, we were
still in season 2 and you know, Ken was still Kenny and had a
really good throw loop had, you know, kind of everything.
But then like season 3 came out,Elena came out, then Ken got
nerf and he was still going to events, but like Ken was still
kind of, you know, not as good as he was.
Ken got nerve. I don't like saying Ken got

(58:47):
nerfing is relevant because I'm not trying to be like Phenom and
say, you know, Ken sucks. Kind of how Phenom's probably
been putting everything online and, you know, spending the Ken
propaganda. Ken's still pretty good, but I
know he's been switching. Ryukichi's been switching over
to my how Phenom's even been switching over to my, but you
got to like, not my player, if that makes any sense.
He's like I guess he doesn't really vibe with the character

(59:09):
or maybe he's just having struggles learning the character
maybe. Right.
I mean, this goes to our previous conversation.
What's more important? Playing a top tier, playing a
character you connect with, right?
So maybe the power difference between my and Ken in this patch
currently is definitely noticeable, but does Rio Kiichi

(59:29):
have the ability or the connection with my to really
make that switch in time for theseason?
It's always a difficult factor because I do think for some
players they're able to make those switches very easily,
especially when they're more general characters like a Mai's
show to adjacent character, right?
You know, low for dry brush fireball uppercut.

(59:50):
Some players with their fundamental skills and those
archetypes can make those switches no problem.
Punk and Vietnam do it all the time, right?
But for Ryuki Chi, maybe this isnot really working out.
We also saw that with Moke, right?
Moke was playing a lot of my andit felt like he started to lock
in a bit when he picked up more Chun Li again.
So I do think you can get marginally stronger and more

(01:00:13):
consistent results by switching going up the tears.
But how do you how do you make that call in the middle of the
CPT season when you started out with second place at EBA Japan?
In the beginning they nerfed your character.
It's a really tough position to be in and I think Ryu Kiichi
might be struggling to make thatdecision.
To be a fan this season was justawkward because they started mid

(01:00:34):
season. Like you started the season with
Ken and then Ken gets nerfed because Elena and Nintendo and
like switched to and whatever it's going to be kind of messes
up everything. So they put Ryukiichi into an
awkward situation. I feel like they put every Ken
player in an awkward situation. I don't think there's any Ken
player in the top 15 ish. I think they all switched now

(01:00:55):
they if they didn't switch, yeah.
Even Tokido is like seems to be firmly making the switch over to
JP right? Like you wouldn't think
originally would be Akuma but then he started busting out the
JP and kind of playing well but not closing out his sets.
Who did he have that set versus the?
I believe it's at UFA, no? I took it that Tokyo Game Show

(01:01:20):
he played right now, but he won that set.
I'm I'm referring to the Marissaplayer at UFAI.
Think he was Korean as well. Korean.
Wrestling man, Yeah. Yeah, he had a really, I thought
that was a really entertaining set for Korean Wrestling man.
And it just came down to Korean wrestling man having great
awareness for like a Level 3 reaction for for looking out for

(01:01:42):
the teleport or the portal activation from Tokido.
So it's getting there, right? But those little moments like
that where people snipe your projectile set up and you get
Level 3 like those, but that's the difference maker right now.
So Tokido's trying to make that switch and he's not even on this
board like that. You know, he's having a really
rough CPT season for himself. I I always feel bad for stuff.

(01:02:04):
Like that because like, Tokido'sinvesting all this time in AJP,
bro, who's to say? Whenever you know, whenever we
get the Season 4 patch or whenever the next update for
Street Fighter 6 comes out, JP might get gutted.
I don't think there's a lot of JP players doing well this
season, but we we never know who's going to get nerfed in
both. But who's to say JP doesn't, you
know, get his get his ankles taken off, get his knee caps,

(01:02:26):
you know, blown out and then J PS terrible.
You waste. You invested all that time into
learning JP just for him to get nerfed or something.
And then it's so awkward just being a top player.
Right. So, but once again, what if you
just stick with your nerfed character that you connect with
so much, right? Like is it is the difference
that much? I I think it's it's different

(01:02:46):
when we're looking at like theseone off tournaments versus the
CPT leaderboard. I think the CPT leaderboard is
where you start to see those tier differences compound over
time, right? That's when you start to really
witness that getting a one off win can happen with any
character. But if you're trying to go for
the CPT leaderboard, you definitely need, I think that
that those marginal differences in power levels start to

(01:03:07):
compound over and over and over and we see that shake up.
So all these players are definitely in a tough spot.
But at the end of the day, thesepoints are so top heavy.
Who who's to say right? Who's to say Tokyo doesn't show
better? Nowhere wins evil France and
he's just in the tournament, right Auto qualifier or points.
He gets it. It took you to get second place.

(01:03:28):
He's going to be potentially in the top three for points, you
know what I mean? Like you can just jump the
leaderboard. So, yeah, So that that's always
a possibility as well. You need, you just need one good
tournament. And like I said, who's to say
we, we don't know who's going towin.
Nobody knows who's going to win this, right?
I, I said it's going to be blahs.
Blahs might drown in pools. Honestly, it could happen.

(01:03:48):
It probably won't, but it could.Listen, we all know it's Noah
the prodigy, because when Noah the prodigy goes to France, for
some reason, he just, he turns it on, man.
He's the he's the greatest player in France, right, Right.
It's French. Noah is is undefeated.
So we got to see Noah the prodigy take his first EVO
title. And Speaking of this will be an

(01:04:10):
EVO, right? Like this is an EVO title.
It's it doesn't feel like it. I'm, I'm sorry to any, you know,
French watch it doesn't feel like an Evo, but you know, it's
the first one. So it's got to get it cemented.
Yeah, we got, we got to give it a chance as well.
I mean, who knows, maybe with the production, the vibes, the
vibes will determine how this isperceived for for the rest of

(01:04:32):
the year, right? So maybe the vibe will be there,
I don't know. I think the vibe is very
determined by your production, your audio.
You have to mic the crowd. That is something that is so
important to me about an EVO is feeling like the crowd is loud
in there. Like if they can get transfer
that energy via the stream, to me it'll feel like EVO.

(01:04:54):
But interestingly enough, MENA Rd. is not attending this.
I forgot I should have brought that up earlier.
Actually we were looking at potentially the first ever 3
peat. I mean we got the first ever 2
peat with MENA Rd. Vegas in Japan in the same year
right? We could have had a three peat
but MENA Rd. isn't attending this Evo.
I think he specified he had somepersonal base coming up.

(01:05:16):
Wasn't able to attend infiltration.
Knock win. He won 2016.
Oh wait, no, he was Japan 2018 years 2018.
Yeah, like players have done both tournaments, but I don't
think they've been done back-to-back in the same season.
No, I thought it was. I thought Infiltration won EVO
Japan 2017. I'm sorry, that was that was

(01:05:38):
something. Yeah, I think he won the year
after the Vegas actually 2018 I think was the first one.
I think he won 2018 there. Was a gap, yeah.
He won 20. 18 so he won both tournaments, but no one's done
it in the same season no one's starting with evo Japan like who
the winner of evo Japan then going on to win evo Vegas.
That's how that's how I view it right.
So you have to win Evo Japan 1stand then the Vegas after.
So this is the first time we hadthe run building right And now

(01:06:01):
we have it would have been done if it at Evo France, but but now
it's like, oh, now you got to win another one.
MENA like you can't give up now,so he's not going.
So we're losing out on that storyline, but there's going to
be an Evo champion out of this one.
You think it'll stick in people's in people's minds?

(01:06:21):
It's, it's hard to say because there's so many EVO champions
technically like, you know, I have an online evil champion.
You know, people don't even knowthis.
Yeah, where's your Evo trophy, man?
I have, I have it, it's it's there.
It should be. Sitting right next to you at all
times, You should just be pulling that up whenever you're
making a random point. It should just be there all the

(01:06:44):
time. Evo champion, But you know,
there's a lot of nephews an EVO champion.
People don't know that nephew has his EVO championship.
Wolf Crone is an EVO champion. Hurricane is an EVO champion.
There's a lot of EVO champion Wolf Crone.
Wolf Crone. He won a Street Fighter four.
There was an online Street Fighter 4 EVO champion I.

(01:07:05):
Did not know that. Yeah, I knew about the Street
Fighter 5 ones. I did not know about Street
Fighter 4 online evo Wolf. Crone is an evo champion but
like they're all not. Like obviously there's different
weights to them, but I hope thisone has the same weight as like
the Evo Japan one. But it's it's, it's hard to say
nobody. It depends on who you're asking,

(01:07:27):
really. Right.
It's the first year. I think it has to build up.
It's it's legacy because like I I always mention, I feel bad for
players like Naumann and Oilking.
They're both they're both EVO Japan champions for Street
Fighter five. I mean, I think Naumann's is a
little bit more notable. It was in the middle of the
game's lifespan and he did it with Sakura.
But Oil King winning after the final EVO Vegas for Street

(01:07:50):
Fighter Five and right before Street Fighter Six came out.
I don't know. I just don't feel like people,
when people think of Oil King, do they think of EVO Champion?
I always, I, I feel bad for ragging on him for that point,
but I, I, I'm just pointing on an issue with the format, You
know, I don't think people have that mental picture.
Honestly, I think you probably just informed a lot of people
that Oyokee won Eva. Yeah.

(01:08:12):
Yeah, people are, I mean, it's abad time.
People are just waiting for Street Butter 6 at that point,
you know. So yeah.
But yeah, Oil King did win Evo Japan after getting top 8 at Evo
Vegas. He he got like 5th or 4th at Evo
Vegas that year and then also won Evo Japan.
So he had a great final year forStreet Butter Five.
He was he was on fire for sure. So we'll see who makes history

(01:08:32):
or if history can be made at this Evo France.
I'm hoping it comes together. If we're going to have three
evos, I'm hoping that they feel all legit.
So hopefully the players have a great time.
Hopefully it's a good show. We'll see how it all pans out.
Let's get some predictions in the comments.
I want to see what the people think.
Who is going to win Evil France and how much will you care?

(01:08:56):
I'm very curious. I'm very curious what people
think about this, but I think that's where we wrap it up here
for this episode of Extra TrashyInom.
Listen, the floor is yours. Any final words for for our
audience who is so enthralled with our show here?
I have to say, you know, I've had kind of reformation.

(01:09:20):
You know, I made my apology video for street five O 6.
So, you know, I I've been kind of reformed.
I've seen the light. I I understand the the blessing
that is St. Five O 6 and I am thankful for
all the great matches we are going to receive at Evo Japan,
Evo Japan, Evo France. I'm sorry I'm getting the evos

(01:09:40):
mixed up, but I can't wait to watch the Gourmet Street Fighter
that will take place at Evo France and I can't wait to pay
$40.00 for Capcom. Zoom out your camera right now.
Can you? Can you pan the camera to the
right? Who's who's sitting off screen?
Do the cap cops have you in their sights right now?

(01:10:00):
What's going on here? Items.
No comment, just just thankful for every day we have Street
Fighter. Okay, well, thanks for sharing
your true feelings there, Adam. We, we surely do appreciate it.
All right, guys, we're going to wrap it up here for extra
trashy. Thanks for tuning in so how
about that Daigo huh critiquing Kaplan cup and immediately
getting second at world warrior Hibiki winning with Lily evo

(01:10:22):
France coming up a lot of exciting things happening in the
world of fighting games and Street Fighter right now.
If you're watching on our video feed over at Spotify or YouTube,
you should be seeing some names scrolling by on the screen right
now. These are our Patreon supporters
over at patreon.com/bryan under Score F.
This show Extra Trashy and TrashChuck would not be possible

(01:10:42):
without their support, so we just wanted to take the time to
say thank you so much for supporting this show.
If you want to get in on the action and also get in on the
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Trashy, please consider heading on over to patreon.com/bryan
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(01:11:06):
Smoking Sea Bass, Chuckle Chuck,and Kelly Lyles.
Thank you so much for your continued support and thank you
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}What Daigo REALLY thinks about Capcom Cup... | Extra Trashy