On the same day as WWE's summer-themed fighting event, SummerSlam, this past Sunday was the conclusion of Summer Jam X, with a grappler ending the latter tournament as the victor.
Du "NuckleDu" Dang used a combination of Nash and Rainbow Mika to complete a comeback and claim victory, proving that he belongs in the upper tier of North American threats in Street Fighter V. But the level of parity that exists among the North American contingent makes predicting results in the top eight almost impossible. There were plenty of candidates for tournament favorite and it may just stay that way for the rest of the Capcom Pro Tour.
It's hard not to be impressed by the consistent performances of Echo Fox' Julio Fuentes, Team Naventic's Peter "Flash" Susini, Evil Geniuses Ricki Ortiz, EVB Gaming's Chris Tatarian, and Circa eSports' Long "LPN" Nguyen.
The grand finals
Team Liquid's NuckleDu needed to switch his play and character choice to take down his opponent, Evil Geniuses' Ricki Ortiz. Instead of his reliable Nash, he opted to go for a snowball approach in Rainbow Mika and it paid off. The pace was quick and both Ortiz and NuckleDu had little time to focus on past blunders.
NuckleDu's risk with Rainbow Mika was an instant success as he took round after round and forced a finals reset. When the reset began, NuckleDu never relented his pressure. His character's comeback potential erased all fear from deficits and put the pressure on Ortiz instead. Despite stellar play from Ortiz's Chun-Li, it was NuckleDu who was the aggressor for the majority of the set; he'd finish the tournament with a perfect victory.
Another victory for character variety
Rainbow Mika took down the grand finals, but the top eight was a combination of many characters. From grapplers like Birdie, Rainbow Mika, and Alex to control characters like Chun-Li, Nash, and Vega, it was a varied field. There were 10 characters represented on the final day alone; and although there are many opinions about which characters rise above others, it's evident that Street Fighter's competitive lifespan will not falter due to a lack of character choice. It'll be exciting to see if more newer characters like Balrog or Ibuki will make an appearance when the stakes are higher.