The main event to crown the first world champion for Street Fighter 6 is now underway, and there’s so many big matches going down for the top 48 competitors who managed to qualify.
With the first day of the group stage at Capcom Cup X now winding down, we’ve gone through and gathered the best sets and moments from this initial run through the brackets.
Out of the dozens of games played just today, there’s a handful in particular we’d like to highlight in case you missed it or need to see it again.
We’ll also try not to spoil the end results of the sets unless the ending is the interaction we’d like to highlight.
There’s plenty more matches coming over the next two days as well followed by the finals on Sunday, so this is just the beginning of the fun.
We’ve included one clip for each set as well to get a taste of the action.
NASR|BigBird was one of the strong contenders going into Capcom Cup week, but he had his work more than cut out for him against China’s Naraka|DespairKing and his Juri.
Instead of the Marisa, BigBird spent the set with Rashid and found himself burned out in the opening seconds of the first game followed by going down in the set after almost fighting his way back.
Things would get tied up after game 2, but it looked like we were approaching an upset early in the day.
One of the best Dhalsims in the world in France’s Falcons|Mister Crimson seemed to get off to a strong start against Argentina’s UB|Dookie, but the Rashid player would prove that he’s at Capcom Cup for a reason.
After a back and forth first game that went to Crimson, Dookie quickly tied things up with an impressive combo into his level 3 though that wasn’t be best Rashid string we saw today.
It would come down to the wire with an ending most of you out there probably didn’t see coming.
This is one of the few we will be spoiling because of just how wild that ending was.
With his back against the wall, RB|Gachikun was able to burn out Gumout|NL’s Luke and push him to the corner with Rashid’s level 2 Super.
The former Capcom Cup champ was able to string together a combo that lasted nearly 15 seconds to give him just enough meter to finish NL off with another Super.
15 seconds SA1 combo #CAPCOMCUPX pic.twitter.com/TJ9dpwoHaW
— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) February 21, 2024
This is our first highlight from the killer Group F, and it was a doozy between Evo champion NASR|Angrybird and Bandits|Caba that seemed to start well for the Ken main, but the Dominican dude was ready for this character.
Caba was able to check Angrybird time after time and nail him with standing heavy kick into his Sonic Hurricane Super a ridiculous five times throughout the set.
We’ve rarely seen someone as ready to take on the arguable best Ken in the world like we saw out of Caba today.
To continue this blood bath, we were also gifted an intense set from two of Street Fighter 5’s best prodigies between two-time Capcom Cup champ Bandits|MenaRD and the young powerhouse M80|Ending Walker.
Both players were fighting like they were on the verge of elimination trading games back and forth after almost ending in a clean sweep with Ending Walker’s Ryu managing to keep up with Mena’s overwhelming Luke.
They’d each be forced to take more risks to get through the footsies and defense of the other though not every attempt would pay off.
Going from the Evo 2023 grand finals to meeting in the first round of Capcom Cup, Angrybird and MenaRD was basically the match everyone was looking forward to today, and the top pros did not disappoint.
Through Street Fighter League, Evo and other events, both of these players have become very comfortable with each other and know what to look out for, so there’s a lot of caution and great counters in this high-stakes set.
It would all come down to the final game, and one of these champions would end the day 0-2 with their chances looking very slim now to make it to the top 16.
These are our picks for the best sets and moments for day one of Capcom Cup’s main events, so let us know in the comments what your favorites are and if there’s any others you’d include.
Since these matches haven’t been uploaded separately yet, you’ll have to follow the clips to the main YouTube video or Twitch broadcast archive to see these sets in full.
We’ve listed them all in order that they appeared in.