Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis and his Zangief already posed a massive threat back in the first season of Street Fighter 6, qualifying for Capcom Cup by powering through one of the game’s absolute worst match ups, but now the Russian wrestler has been substantially buffed.
Snake is the kind of player who can get into opponents’ heads quicker than almost anyone, a tool that pairs exceptionally well with a high reward character like Gief. Give a player like this a handful of shiny new tools and he’s going to matter of fact reach all new levels of domination, which is what we see in our highlight reel from NoMiiAegis.
In a nutshell, Zangief became much better at playing the all-important “meter game” within Street Fighter 6. Even when you block his attacks he’s winning as many of his moves lop off insane amounts of precious Drive Gauge, rapidly restricting options and careening characters ever closer to the dreaded burnout state.
You’ll notice the frequency Snake uses Gief’s improved headbutt attack (perhaps the most effective Gauge sapper in his kit) and the creative mind games he comes up with after making foes hyper aware of certain threats.
Beyond using the more straightforward basics, Snake’s Zangief looks, moves and strategizes unlike most any other (and there are suddenly a lot these days, especially in ranked).
His mastery of the character leads him into particular set ups and sequences that aren’t all that intuitive, but lead to maximal damage and/or meter gain when they’re pulled off correctly; you can tell that the player has spent plenty of time exploring the ins and outs of Gief’s all new potential.
Check out Snake’s Zangief on full display via the video below and let us know in the comments whether or not you think he’ll be a top contender to qualify (and perhaps even win) Capcom Cup this year. Where do you feel like Zangief is on the tier list in Season 2?
We also wouldn’t be surprised to see the other cream of the crop Zangief, DFM|Itabashi Zangief, make a far bracket run into Capcom Cup this year. We recently covered an absolutely heartbreaking drop of his at DreamHack Summer, which shows off his massive potential if he can just fine tune his execution/decision making.