If you can’t get enough pro Street Fighter V, then this weekend is for you.
Starting April 22 and running through April 24, you can fill yourself up on Street Fighter V exhibitions, grudges, and more with PAX East’s PAX Arena, Red Bull Kumite 2016, and Capcom Pro Tour Ranking Event Texas Showdown. Somewhere in the world this weekend, your favorite competitor is playing. Here’s the rundown.
(Image: PAX East)
PAX Arena
PAX East is hosting a Street Fighter V invitational for PAX Arena, which will feature eight players from around the country in a battle for $8,000. PAX Arena brings together Evil Geniuses’ Ricki Ortiz and Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley, Liquid Du “NuckleDu” Dang, Arturo “TS Sabin” Sanchez, Peter “Flash Metroid” Susini, Martin “Marn” Pham, Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli, and Angel “Moons” Gonzalez, all who have had recent success in Street Fighter V in and out of the Capcom Pro Tour.
You might recall Ricki Ortiz making top 8 at NorCal Regionals (NCR) and West Coast Warzone where she finished in seventh and fifth place, respectively. Meanwhile, her EG teammate K-Brad is currently in eighth place overall on the CPT leaderboards after a second place finish at Capcom Arena Jam in Brazil. Recently, Arturo Sanchez was the first to hit Diamond Rank in Street Fighter V’s ranked online leaderboard. And how could anyone forget Marn’s epic trolling as he steamrolled his way out of the “Death Bracket” and right into a shocking fourth place finish at NCR?
Musician/DJ and notable Street Fighter fan Steve Aoki will also be on hand for exhibition matches at the event.
The invitational group stages will take place on April 22 and finals will wrap up on April 23. The event will be streamed on the PAX Arena’s Twitch channel.
(Photo: Red Bull)
Red Bull Kumite
“I body you!”
Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi’s taunting at Red Bull Kumite 2015 will forever be remembered in Ultra Street Fighter IV lore. He, of course, was referring to the beat down he intended to put on Masato “Bonchan” Takahashi. But like so many stories where the underdog overcomes the bully, Bonchan came out of the losers’ bracket to meet Tokido in grand finals.
Bonchan didn’t just win the match. He made a statement. He would no longer stand to be the “silver collector,” a reference to a string of second place results, including Evo 2014 where he lost to Olivier “Luffy” Hay. Bonchan took two sets, 3-1 apiece, and cemented himself as a viable champion.
He’ll get a chance to defend his title this year at Red Bull Kumite 2016, a 16-player invitational tournament taking place April 23-24 in Paris, France.
Fourteen of those players received special invites, while two has to play their way in through a 256-player open qualifier. Last year’s open qualifier was half that number, and was often referred to as a “bloodbath” because so many strong players showed up to take the final available spots. From its MMA-style cage to the trash talk during interviews, Red Bull Kumite was easily one of the most entertaining Street Fighter events of 2015 and this year should prove to be even more entertaining with a brand new game.
In addition to Bonchan and Tokido, Mad Catz’ Daigo “The Beast” Umehara, Red Bull’s Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis and Luffy, Team Razer’s Ho Kun Xian and Seonwoo “Infiltration” Lee round out the returning players.
Source : https://esports.yahoo.com/pax-arena-red-bull-kumite-and-texas-showdown-224827203.html
Source : https://esports.yahoo.com/pax-arena-red-bull-kumite-and-texas-showdown-224827203.html