If you watch competitive Street Fighter you know the names of Japanese pros GyoGun|Moke and BST|Fuudo, both of who are top notch players, both of who placed ninth at Evo this year, and both of who have been feuding over the number one rank online.
While they tend to flip flop between ranks one and two, they’ve recently decided to make things interesting as they race to be the first player to ever reach 2,300MR. During a streaming session on Wednesday, Moke actually ran into Fuudo while both players had 2272MR; their fight wound up being memorable for more than one reason.
This endeavor to be the first to crack 2300MR is no small side quest or fun tangent as Moke could be seen consistently checking Fuudo’s online results between network bouts of his own while streaming, furiously tracking his foe to make sure he wasn’t pulling ahead.
Indeed, the race was hot as both players inched closer and closer to the magic amount of master rank points, neither breaking away from or falling behind the other.
The MR grind is particularly strenuous in Street Fighter 6, never more so than when you’re at the absolute top of the mountain. You gain points based on the discrepancy between you and your foe’s points, and these are the two top dogs in the world right now. That means while wins might offer three or four points of progress, losses tend to sap two to three times that amount away.
Moke’s stream session saw him face off against plenty of recognizable names, such as Rohto|Tokido, and after many impressive wins he reached 2272MR. As the SF6 servers queued up the next match, Dee Jay appeared on screen, and indeed, it was his current rival.
After a relatively convincing first round, Moke had all the momentum in his corner. The second round saw him patiently score a few openings while taking almost no damage, leading to him cornering a burned out Fuudo with a life bar that couldn’t withstand even a single hit.
You never count an Evo champion out, though, and Fuudo somehow miraculously turned things around and survived the near death experience to bring the round count to 1-1. The 2011 Street Fighter champ then won the following round, effectively stealing Moke’s precious MR points right out from under him.
Then he quit.
No joke, Fuudo took his points and ran, opting not to give Moke the rematch and making for perhaps the coldest “one and done” we’ve ever seen. You can check it all out for yourself right here:
As of the writing of this article, neither player has crossed the 2300MR threshold. Moke sits currently at 2282MR while Fuudo has 2258MR.