By Zackary "Zackage" Potter
Dogura earned solid placements here and there in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2017 that we would begin to witness Peak Dogura. He finished seventh in CPT points that season and earned Top 8 placements left and right, including victories at Canada Cup 2017 and TWTFighter Major in Taiwan. These wins were almost exclusively earned with Urien, making Dogura one of the top Urien players in a season where many started to realize the character's true power.
Dogura slowed down a little in 2018, barely missing a Capcom Cup spot. However, one may forgive him considering he was also juggling top-level competition in Dragon Ball FighterZ at the same time. Things are looking to be shaping back up for Dogura after a more successful 2019 season, though, which saw both a return to Dictator and the Capcom Cup.
By Zackary "Zackage" Potter
After a quiet 2016, Hyungsuk "Verloren" Kong rose to prominence in Season 2, wielding a vicious Cammy that featured some of the most optimized play of one of SFV's most powerful characters. His consistency over the next two seasons was remarkable, as he qualified for both Capcom Cups, placed top 16 at both Evo 2017 and 2018, and finished Top 3 at three CPT events, including twice at Battle Arena Melbourne. With wins over such top-level competition as Tokido and Fuudo, Verloren could truly hang with the best in the world at his peak.
Like many other Cammy mains, faced with overcoming the character’s Season 4 nerfs, Verloren made the switch to Ibuki. His results weren’t the same, as he managed only a couple hundred CPT points, well outside Capcom Cup qualification range, and made just one Top 8 at a Ranking event, Fighter’s Spirit 2019.
Still, Verloren’s achievements with Cammy and his work in shaping her meta throughout Seasons 2 and 3 deserve recognition. Perhaps we may see a more seasoned Ibuki or even a return to Cammy as Street Fighter V marches forward.
By Brandon "Writewell" Brathwaite
Street Fighter doesn’t have many crossover stars at its highest levels, but Zhuojun “Xiaohai” Zeng, better known for his accomplishments in The King of Fighters, had a strong hold over Street Fighter V in its early days. The Chinese player has used Cammy since the game’s inception and his innate ability to react and punish played well into the throw mixup game that was established early on.
Xiaohai quickly became the top Chinese player in 2016, winning a number of events in the nation, but it was his fourth place finish at Stunfest that put him on the radar for SFV. His prominence skyrocketed as he took tournament wins at G-League, Brooklyn Beatdown, and SoCal Regionals 2016, beating Xian, Momochi, and Haitani in the months before Capcom Cup. His second place at Canada Cup culminated in an iconic set against NuckleDu
His 2017 lacked such peaks, but he did round it out with a fifth place finish at CEO 2017 and fourth place at Japan Cup. 2018 was a redemption year, as Xiaohai picked up second place finishes at premiers like CEO, SoCal Regionals, and Canada Cup. His performance was enough to get him back in the Capcom Cup that year, where he finished 13th.
The balancing act of being a top player in The King of Fighters XIV and SFV isn’t easy, but Xiaohai has maintained it with aplomb.
By Brandon "Writewell" Brathwaite
When a player from the Dominician Republic is in an important match, you’ll know it, and the player that gets the most support from DR is none other than Saul Leonardo Mena Segundo, better known as MenaRD. Known for Birdie play, Mena plays with a style that can only be described as “high-risk, high-reward,” using Birdie’s long-reaching buttons to slowly and surely create opportunities to make decisive plays.
Mena came into prominence with a second place finish at Fighting Fest in 2016, along with an intense battle against Punk at Northeast Championship, where he would win another silver medal. For much of 2017, Mena was a force to be reckoned with in the Latin American region. He won Game Over in his home country of DR and attained second place finishes at The Fight in Columbia and First Attack in Puerto Rico. Late in the year his momentum started to grow at high-profile events, including a fourth place finish at Brooklyn Beatdown where he got big wins over Nemo and Smug.
His 2017 efforts earned him a spot in Capcom Cup and the result was nothing short of spectacular. His road to victory saw him defeat legends in the fighting game community—Xian, Kazunoko, Daigo, Itabashi Zangief, Nemo. All were taken out by the young phenom from DR. Tokido, in his Evo Championship year, dropped Mena down to a 2-0 deficit, but Mena rallied back and snatched himself a life changing Capcom Cup victory.
Mena would continue to be among the top players in the world, getting wins at Kumite in Tennessee 2018, Texas Showdown 2018 and Fighting Fest back in DR. More importantly though, he began to reinvest in the DR fighting game scene that cheered him on all the way. His title of The People’s Champion is an understatement considering everything Mena has accomplished at such a young age.
By Andrés "AndrewEast" Aquino
Ryota "Kazunoko" Inoue is fighting game royalty. After seeing out Ultra Street Fighter IV as its final Capcom Cup champion in 2015, Kazunoko’s transition to Street Fighter V went as smoothly as you could expect.
It didn't take long for Kazunoko's explosive playstyle to yield results, as he snagged ninth at Final Round 19, third at Red Bull Kumite 2016, and fourth at KVO x TSB 2016. His first tournament victory came at Tokyo Button Mashers where he would beat two of the five gods from Japan — Daigo and Nuki — as well as Fujimura.
The 33-year-old almost became back-to-back Capcom Cup champion with a run that saw him overcome GO1, Haitani, Fuudo, and MOV on his way to a third-place finish. Months later, Kazunoko would also get third at Evo 2017 defeating NuckleDu, Phenom, and MOV again.
Don't write Kazunoko out just yet. His 2019 attendance was minimal as he took a rest year to focus on spending his time with his family. But there should be little doubt that If he sets his eyes on SFV dominance again, he'll get back on track quickly.
By Nathan "Blackimar" Cole
Making his international debut at Evo 2016, Taiwan’s Oil King made a grand entrance to the scene, finishing thirteenth. Since then, everyone’s favorite shorts wearer has proven to be a prominent new face in Street Fighter V, ripping through brackets with his trademark wild and tricky Rashid.
Just a year later, Oil King’s results exploded when he stacked an impressive heap of results, including fifth place at Battle Arena Melbourne 9 and second place at Dreamhack Summer. He would stay consistent from there with a multitude of good results, such as fifth at Tokyo Game Show 2018, first at Final Fighters China, fifth at Final Round 2019, and second at Canada Cup 2019.
Not only is Oil King a standout player, he is also a community leader, having taken over organizer duties at TWFighter Major from GamerBee since 2018. With no signs of slowing down, the Taiwanese menace with a Rashid as slick as his hair has a bright future ahead of him in Street Fighter.
By Nathan "Blackimar" Cole
With a fighting game accomplishment list longer than a CVS receipt, Justin Wong needs no introduction. He’s become a fighting game expert with his slow but deadly defensive playstyle. He continues to carry that torch in Street Fighter V with Menat and, formerly, Karin.
After his fruitful careers in Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, nobody could be surprised by Justin's early SFV dominance. Highlights of his amazing Season 1 include a third place finish at Norcal Regionals and back to back first place finishes at Northwest Majors and Dreamhack Austin. Justin’s Season 2 and Season 3 performances remained mostly strong, with results including fifth at Canada Cup 2017, fifth at South East Asia Major 2018, third at Canada Cup 2018 and fourth at VSFighting 2018.
Now a proud father, shifting priorities in 2019 are likely why Justin Wong isn’t higher on this list. Make no mistake, though: his peak is one of the strongest in Street Fighter V history. His 11 tournament wins ties him for fifth in the PGRSF dataset with Fujimura; only Punk, Tokido, NuckleDu and Problem-X can boast more. That kind of company proves Justin Wong deserves his reputation as a Street Fighter legend.
By Nathan "Blackimar" Cole
The man once described as "the future" by none other than Daigo the Beast, John Takeuchi is among Street Fighter’s biggest rising stars. He first gained a bright spark of recognition after winning First Attack 2016. Ever since then, the spotlight came down on him and has seemingly never gone away, a fitting fate for such a bright person.
For a newer face, John Takeuchi has procured a good amount of high placements. These include fourth place at Canada Cup 2016, fifth place at Combo Breaker 2019, and most notably a second place finish at Evo Japan 2018, where he ran through more experienced players such as MOV and Kazunoko.
At just 23 years old, Takeuchi saw a major upswing in results in 2019. He reached his first Capcom Cup, where he rode a first round upset over Gachikun to ninth place. ith multiple wins on elite players like Tokido, Bonchan and Gachikun and winning records over Phenom, Haitani and Oil King (3-1) under his belt, Takeuchi is already proving Daigo correct.
By Brandon "Writewell" Brathwaite
A product of the famous Next Level, Derek “Idom” Ruffian embodies the classic tale of the local hero who ventures outside of it to shock the world. Hailing from Queens, the Laura extraordinaire has mastered the art of mixing up his opponents.
The 2016 year in Idom’s career may look blank if you’re not aware of his rising stardom at Next Level Battle Circuit. At NLBC, he was constantly in the winners circle amongst well known NYC Street Fighter players like Shine, Sabin, Sanford Kelly and Smug. Eventually, the conversation around how he would handle himself at a major tournament began.
In 2017, Idom answered the call by winning Defend the North 2017 over Punk, who was in his own incredible breakout year as an SFV player. Idom attended more events in 2018, sealing second place finishes at New York-area tournaments Defend the North 2018 and East Coast Throwdown 2018.
Impressively, he was able to qualify for the NA Regional Finals in 2018 without traveling east of Philadelphia, but without more chances to accrue points, Idom fell short once again of grasping a Capcom Cup spot. That trend would change in 2019. With a tournament win at Defend the North 2019 and key finishes at premiers like his seventh place finish at Combo Breaker 2019 and his fifth place finish at Evo 2019, he secured a place at Capcom Cup for the first time.
By many standards, Idom making the Capcom Cup would have been enough to earn him the utmost respect, but he went beyond and delivered one of the greatest runs in SFV history. Idom’s Capcom run included victories over Fujimura, Infexious, Mago, Phenom, and his tournament demon, Punk. The Grand Finals match saw Idom come back to life from a 2-0 deficit to reset the bracket and beat Punk in the year he collected the most points ever in a Capcom Pro Tour season. Idom overcame all of that.
After winning Capcom Cup, Idom was back at Next Level on Wednesday. Like always, he was winning matches against the players he’s competed against for years. There isn’t a more poetic way to conclude his story than that.
By Zackary "Zackage" Potter
Originally a Ken player, Adel “Big Bird” Anouche became an early believer in Rashid of the turbulent wind. Big Bird takes advantage of Rashid’s exceptional space control and corner carry. Of course, every top player uses Rashid differently, with Big Bird preferring a strong neutral presence and solid air-to-airs over aggressive and unpredictable play.
Big Bird’s impressive placements and point accumulation only increased when he decided to travel internationally more and compete in foreign CPT Premier events. Sure enough, his work started to pay off in 2018, when he won South East Asia Major and qualified for his second Capcom Cup. He saw double the success this past CPT season, as he earned second at Evo and won both EGX and the CPT European Regional Finals.
The fact that Big Bird had to travel for premiers meant he had to make his placings count, and he certainly did. Despite entering just over 40 of the 250-plus events in the PGRSF dataset, Big Bird's 15 Top 4 placements ranks him 14th all-time, impressive consistency for someone who rarely enjoyed the comfort of competing at home.
Big Bird has also amassed winning records over such killers as Fujimura (2-1), Fuudo (2-0), and Xian (2-1). With such a resume in such a short span of full-time Street Fighter travel, the sky's the limit for Big Bird.
