Street Fighter 6: LeShar Seals Capcom Cup Place With Combo Breaker Win

Shin Moon-sup, better known by his gamertag, LeShar, has won Combo Breaker 2025 for Street Fighter 6. 

LeShar first came to the fore in 2024 during the first Capcom Cup for Street Fighter 6 where he qualified from the proverbial 'group of death' and made top 8. Since then, he has been one of the most consistent players in the world, placing highly in many of the top tournaments including a 3rd place finish at Capcom Cup 11. 

However, he has never really managed to win a major and so his win at Combo Breaker is significant for this reason. He also got the win against 44-year-old monster, Itabashi Zangief, who was looking to ruin someone's day. LeShar, also happens to not like facing Zangief much, but this didn't look the case as he first reset the bracket with a quick 0-3, before becoming involved in a much tighter 2-3 win to secure his first major title.

LeShar had gone through a legendary losers' bracket run, falling to Bonchan in the race to top 24. From there, he defeated Momochi, Higuchi, DCQ, Go1, Bonchan, EndingWalker, Dual Kevin and finally Itazan. He used Mai for most of the tournament, but against Itazan, switched to Ed and was able to get the win. 

He even said in an on-site interview that he only wanted to use Mai and Terry from KOF seeing as he has a background in the game, and stated that he doesn't need Ed. Well, it turns out that the forgotten character was the one that came in clutch for him. 

The top 8 itself was a lot of fun and things started out with Bonchan going up against Itazan. Bonchan, fresh from winning Brussels Challenge, was looking to secure back-to-back tournaments. But, against Itazan, who has shown some real tournament menace following his win at East Coast Throwdown in 2024, was more than a match. Itazan's ability to threaten opponents by just walking them down and threatening with Zangief's devastating grabs was enough to keep Bonchan honest, and his Akuma couldn't get in close. Coupled with Akuma's low health, he was soon lost, and he was tossed into loser's bracket. Down in loser's bracket, he now had to come up against LeShar, who he had won previously, and the two had a really close game, but Bonchan again lost and finished the tournament in 5th place.

The next top 8 match featured Blaz against Dual Kevin. The former has had a whirlwind year that culminated in a 2nd place finish at Capcom Cup 11. Since then, his name has been on everyone's lips, and there has been huge expectation on his young, 15-year-old shoulders. On the other side, Dual Kevin knows a thing or two about being considered a fighting game prodigy, having come to the fore himself when he was much younger in the Marvel vs. Capcom games. Dual Kevin also endured a pretty brutal 2024 as he struggled to qualify for Capcom Cup with impressive finishes in tournaments, but no wins. This meant that while being one of the most consistent players in the world at the time, he had to rely on qualification through his World Warrior circuit to make it to Capcom Cup. This year, with the points system being brought back in some capacity, Dual Kevin will probably not have to endure what he did last year to make it into Street Fighter's biggest tournament. 

For Blaz though, top 8 turned out to be a traumatic experience as he saw all his options shut down by the wily Dual Kevin and he lost 3-0 and dropped to loser's bracket. There, he came up against another young genius in EndingWalker who dismantled him in the Ryu mirror match and Blaz ended up losing six straight games to crash out of the tournament in 5th place.

For Dual Kevin, he made it to winner's final, where he would meet his nemesis character— Zangief. Dual Kevin has suffered in Zangief's hands, most notably at Cream City Convergence 2024 where he lost in Grand Final to MenaRD who was using Zangief at the time. Against arguably the best Zangief player in the history of the game, he was unable to find a way to win. While he sped through the first match and won it by rushing Zangief down, Itazan adapted and soon suffocated Kevin to submission. Over in loser's final, he also lost to eventual winner LeShar and ended his run in 3rd place. But on the bright side, he didn't leave empty-handed as he bagged a place at the Esports World Cup by virtue of the fact that LeShar was already qualified for the event thanks to his top 8 finish at Capcom Cup. 

Another person that had a legendary loser's run was EndingWalker. The 18-year-old Brit is one of the best players in the world, and while he has a major victory with Ultimate Fighting Arena 2022, he hasn't had as much success in tournaments in the United States and many of his wins have come through European competitions. EndingWalker would have wanted to end that drought and make his name even more feared. To get to top 8, he had already run the gauntlet, taking down Tachikawa, MenaRD, and Fuudo. In top 8, against a Combo Breaker winner in JAK, he took the win with a comprehensive 3-0. He then did the same to Blaz before finally falling to LeShar.

LeShar now becomes the 7th player to qualify for Capcom Cup 12, and all attention will turn to CEO 2025, which takes place between the 13th and 15th of June 2025, with the new season 3 patch and a brand new character in Elena. The winner of CEO will also get a place at Capcom Cup 12, and things should get rather interesting from here on out. 

Congratulations to LeShar.