Street Fighter 6 at CEOtaku VII: The Family Man Wins!

CEOtaku 2023 kicked up a bit of a fuss when it was announced that Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 would be featured games at the event. This was because CEOtaku, as the name suggests, is an event focused on anime games. So, having these two triple A games had people a little worried that it would take away from the attention to the anime games. 

But, considering that 505 players entered the tournament for SF6, it seems this was a good decision all round. As for who took the tournament, it was former Capcom Cup winner, NuckleDu who defeated Punk 3-1 to win his first somewhat major tournament of the year. NuckleDu has been on a roll recently with impressive placings at both Evo 2023, and Gamers8 Invitational. He also won the Aegis Esports SF6 Invitational, and the Intel Gamer Days 2023 - Street Fighter 6 Invitational. 

His journey through the 504 other players in the bracket seemed so easy and by the time he got to top 8, he was certainly seen as one of the favorites. 

He defeated NBNHMR 3-0 avoiding the Guile mirror match and opting for his pocket Cammy instead. He thenn faced THE Cammy player in Punk in winners' final. Switching back to Guile, he played it really cool and was able to defeat Punk 3-1.

Punk made it back to confront NuckleDu in Grand Final and Du was on hand to win again showing no signs of weakness against Punk whose footsie game is one of his greatest strengths. 

Top 8 At CEOtaku Street Fighter 6

Punk had a very eventful CEOtaku entering for both MK1 and Street Fighter 6 and taking 2nd place in both games which is an incredibly impressive feat. He defeated Flash Metroid in losers' final to get his runback against NuckleDu. In that game, he opted for Ken against Metroid's Blanka and beat him 3-0. This was not an easy thing to do considering he defeat JAK 3-2 after being 0-2 down and making an insane comeback. 

Punk was awesome at CEOtaku, however, it is possible that it was his tweets about Japan and what he feels is undue love for the FGC over there was what got more attention. 

Punk has already said this is likely his last MK1 tournament but is happy he had fun doing it and it would be one that lasts long in the memory for him.