Capcom Cup X is kicking off this weekend with the Last Chance Qualifier tournament with one player trying to secure the 48th and final spot for the main event, and the viewing experience from home has been interesting in a few regards.
Today’s action included Pool F for Street Fighter 6, which may become a bit infamous for just how many JP mirror matches there were back to back to back.
The top 4 this strong pool were all JP mains between Julio Fuentes, Saishunkan|Nemo, Gank|Seo and FAV|Ryusei, and we saw basically all of their matches on stream.
In order, there was Seo vs. Ryusei, Nemo vs. Julio Fuentes, Mago vs. Julio, Seo vs. Julio, Nemo vs. Ryusei and finally Nemo vs. Seo all back to back.
6 out of the final 7 matches in the Capcom Cup LCQ pool F1 are set to be a JP mirror match. With the lack of variety there, this character seems really unlikely to escape the nerf bat in Season 2 of Street Fighter 6.
— Jon “Catalyst” Grey (@CatalystEH) February 18, 2024
That’s almost exactly one hour of broadcast time dedicated to matches that featured JP with the only one that didn’t exclusively feature him being with Mago, who played Juri.
Now, part of that just comes down to how tournaments work, but also which matches were chosen to be streamed — as well as placing four extremely strong JP mains in the same bracket.
3rd JP mirror in like 30 minutes lmao
This mf gonna get nerfed into the ground
— Ty (@Tyrant_UK) February 18, 2024
Aside from those caveats, the JP mirror situation caught the attention of anyone watching the stream and got people talking.
There’s been a lot of Lukes, Kens and JPs running around the pools this weekend, but we didn’t see anything quite like that before or after.
And understandably, Seo doesn’t seem the happiest about the situation.
Technically, Luke showed up the most on stream in the first day of the LCQ according to CatCammy though he’s been a bit overshadowed today.
That sequence of events also unsurprisingly left players talking about or feeling affirmed that JP is definitely going to get nerfed in Season 2 for SF6.
Luke Fighter 6… #SF6 #CapcomCup #CAPCOMCUPX #StreetFighter pic.twitter.com/5FEn6qiDOy
— Cat Cammy (SF6 Stats and Data) (@CatCammy6) February 17, 2024
After over eight months of play, JP’s tools are still proving to be hard to deal with and fight against, and he may not have the popularity / main character privilege that may prevent Ken and Luke from being smacked with the nerf bat too hard.
We’ve talked quite a bit before on multiple occasions before about what makes JP so strong in SF6, and a lot of that is still ringing true with his screen control, Amnesia reversal, level 2 Super and difficult to escape pressure situations.
As a JP main myself, however, the thing that perhaps stuck out to me most that may be gone for next season is just how much juggle combo potential this character has.
The dude can already knock you back to full screen with a single special, and not only that, he can keep you bouncing in the air for nearly 10 seconds while doing it in many cases off of an errant hit.
JP is also the character with the most representation in the top 16 finals for the LCQ at 5 while Ken and Luke combined only have 2 at the time of reporting.
LCQのグループFの印象 pic.twitter.com/rh0b2xIi2j
— おんぐる(格) (@AS5d0914) February 18, 2024
As for that strange Pool F situation, it would actually be Julio Fuentes to come out on top of the rest and advance on winners side.
This is despite, however, revealing in his post-match interview that Fuentes apparently only really competes at locals now and doesn’t really participate in online events prior to this.
Fuentes was one of the biggest names in the early seasons of Street Fighter 5 with his fiery Ken, but he essentially had to retire from the game after developing tendinosis in his arm that he still has to make adjustments for in his playing like pressing buttons differently and using “slower” move requirement characters.
“I always felt comfortable,” said Fuentes about the mirror match. “After like four months, I’m like I feel stable in this match up. I know it was Nemo, but I felt comfortable. I don’t know.”
JULIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! What a beast. Also NTs Seo, LOSERS RUN in the bracket of JP. BRING IT BACK pic.twitter.com/BsoBzjGASE
— Versus Vortex (@VersusVortex) February 18, 2024
It’s going to be very interesting to see how Fuentes, Nemo and the rest of the JP players continue to perform at the LCQ and Capcom Cup proper too in the coming days and if he’ll remain overpowering when it comes down to the nitty gritty.
And may be one of the last big stages to see JP in his current iteration before he’s almost inevitably hit with some big changes next season.