Gamers8 Brackets and Results: Kakeru Claims Huge Win

The Gamers8 Street Fighter 6 invitational is over and the winner is none other than Kakeru from Japan. The JP player won the Grand Prize of $400,000 by defeating Evo 2023 Champion, AngryBird 3-0, after forcing a reset.

Kakeru overcame his demon, Ken, in incredible fashion to get the win. Ken had been a problem for Kakeru as he lost to two Ken users in Evo, AngryBird, and Tokido, to crash out of the tournament. In Gamers8, he had also suffered at the hands of Ken, losing to VXBao twice and AngryBird again in Winners' Final. But, he was able to recalibrate and was able to defeat AngryBird the second time around, making great use of perfect parry and optimizing his combos. 

Behind them was Punk who took third place as he was unable to break the third-place curse that has plagued him for the lifespan of Street Fighter 6. He was third at CEO, Evo, and now, Gamers8. Punk was looking unstoppable in the tournament and even defeated his tournament demon, MenaRD. But, he was unable to overcome Kakeru even after going two games up. 

Kakeru's win not only guarantees him some life-changing money but cements him as the best player in Japan right now. Kakeru, in his winner's interview, said that he was really happy to be able to win this and that he is now looking forward to Capcom Cup. He will need to fight hard to qualify either through the CPT Online for Japan or through the World Warrior, but with his form, you can see how he can make his way to Capcom Cup. 

Kakeru was also the MVP award, while Daigo won the most dominant win after defeating Luffy with three perfect rounds. Finally, MenaRD won the best group performance after making it out of his group without a single defeat. 

The prize pool on offer, $1,000,000, is the biggest for a Street Fighter game so far, and Kakeru's win is another feather in the cap of Japan which can continue to lay claim to the award of the strongest Street Fighter region.