SFL Japan Grand Final: Good 8 Squad Win it All!

Good 8 Squad were the big winners as they took the top spot at Street Fighter League Japan's Grand Final. They beat Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto to ensure that there was no repeat of last year's disappointment when they lost to FAV Rohto Z!

Good 8 Squad, consisting of Evo winner, Kawano, CPT World Warrior winner, Pugera, Capcom Cup winner, Gachikun, and Dogura, were in fine form to defeat their opponents, Saishunkan Sol who were the underdogs and had already defeated Nagoya Oja Bodystar earlier in the day.

SFL Japan's Grand Final took place on the 21st of January, but to a closed audience and the show was only broadcast to the rest of the world today, 28th January 2023.

Here are the team lineups for the entities involved today

Good 8 Squad

Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto

Nagoya Oja Bodystar Mildom

The format was like that of the playoffs only that the winner had to accrue 70 points which meant a full match could go for as many as four battles. For those who might not be in the loop regarding Street Fighter League Japan, the format pits two teams against each other. Each team has 4 players each of which only 3 can play at a time. The first two sets will be a FT2 set worth 10 points each. The third set will be a FT3 and is worth 20 points. The league also utilized a home and away system with the away team compelled to release their order and character selection first giving the home team an advantage as they can counterpick against their opponents. For the playoffs and grand final, this system would be repeated until one team hits 70 points. This meant that at the end of each complete match (3 games worth 10, 10, and 20 points respectively), the teams would switch sides and the home team will not be away and vice versa.

The first match was between Nagoya Oja Bodystar Mildom and Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto with Saishunkan starting on the away side. Nagoya Oja raced to a 50-point lead with Fuudo, Akira and Daigo all winning their games and Fuudo claiming 10 points at the start of the second match. But then, Saishunkan Sol woke up and started getting the points back. Instrumental to this was Shuto who was reliable when called upon, especially in the 20-point matches. He played one against Daigo and another against Fuudo and won both. At the end of the third battle, the teams were tied 60-60.

This meant only 10 more points were needed and the next set would be the decider. Shuto came up as expected, but what was unexpected was Daigo taking on the burden of winning it for his team. This was surprising because Daigo had fared rather badly against Shuto earlier while Fuudo, who had also lost to Shuto earlier, had an advantage having taken a set off Shuto.

Daigo fought valiantly, but Shuto, in sparkling form, was too good for Daigo and clinched a final spot for his team.

Next was the grand final versus Good 8 Squad. 

The first two battles ended 30-10 in favor of Good 8 Squad which meant the aggregate score was 60-20. The third battle started with Good 8 Squad needing only 10 more points to win. Saishunkan Sol sent up Higuchi to face Dogura, with the latter promising to end things there. But, he would be proved to be a liar as Higuchi came out on top with a vital win for his team. 

The next match was Nemo against Pugera who had already been instrumental in scoring points for his team having beaten Shuto in the last 20-point match. Also, Pugera and Shuto had played in the Grand Final of the World Warrior series where Pugera had reset the bracket and defeated Shuto to book a place at Capcom Cup. Up against Nemo, he picked his tried and trusted Boxer against Nemo's Urien. 

In a tense match which got to the third game, Pugera again showed his clutch factor, finishing things up with a crouching medium punch to defeat Nemo and cause the hall to erupt in cheers. 

As the winners of the competition, Good 8 Squad will be Japan's representative to take on the winner of SFL USA and Europe next month at Capcom Cup.