Street Fighter League Japan 2nd Stage Day 1 Recap

Street Fighter League Japan returned with the 2nd stage after a little break followinig what was a breathtaking first stage. Nine teams started the journey and now there are just six teams. Also, the 2nd stage features the home and away system. This system mandates that the away side reveals their lineup with the home team able to counterpick them. 

This time, the top teams will make the playoffs and from there the winner will obtain a grand prize. To start us off, we had the following team matches:

• Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto vs Gyogun
• Team DetonatioN FocusMe vs FAV Gaming
• Cyclops Athlete Gaming vs Shinobism Gaming

Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto vs Gyogun

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The first match of the 2nd stage was between two teams that were flying high from the first stage and this was reflected in their game play. One of the rules for SFL Japan this season is that each team can swap out one player and bring in someone new. There was speculation that a team might pick up Kakeru, but it was Kabe, the man who has terrorised Japan with his Ken that was the one brought in for Sainshunkan Sol to replace Sasamo. He was up first against Mizuha and while he started really well, Mizuha was the winner.

The next ten points was fought for between Moke and Higuchi. Guile typically can find things really hard against Chun li, but if there is anyone that could get through it, it was Higuchi. Up against Moke though, who has been on fire this season, was always going to be a tough ask. Higuchi did get some headway, but ultimately, Moke was the winner. 

This left Nemo as the man to bring it back against Mago who was much improved from the early stages of the 1st stage of this league season. However, Nemo, who has been trying out A.K.I. quite a bit, was relentless. His JP nullified everything that Mago could throw and he got the win. 

This meant there was going to be a tie breaker and it was Nemo again, but this time against Moke. Nemo started in barnstorming fashion getting a perfect on the board and looking unstoppable. Yet, it was Moke, whose adaptability is top-notch, that was going to be the one to steamroll Nemo right back. He got his perfect in the second round, taking the first match to the very last round. It was Moke again that was the winner getting Gyogun the 25 points to start the season. 

Team Detonation FocusMe vs FAV Gaming

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Team Detonation FocusMe had only qualified at the very last day and needed Good 8 Squad to perform atrociously to make it into the 2nd stage. Now here, they got themselves Tachikawa as a coach and came in with the aim to make the playoffs. First off, it was Nauman against Tokido of FAV Gaming and in the Ken mirror, Nauman was more than a match and he won the set. Next was Fuudo who started the 1st stage of the season really poorly, but he is certainly back and he showed this against Ryusei's JP whom he defeated with some ease. 

The anchor match was Bonchan against John Takeuchi and like the last match, Bonchan was able to win the set and level the scores. And so, we found ourselves with another tie breaker and it was Fuudo who stepped up against Bonchan. Maybe it is the coaching of Tachikawa or something, but Fuudo was phenomenal and defeated Bonchan in the first-to-one to take 25 points for his team. 

Cyclops Athlete Gaming vs Shinobism

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The third match was also tense, but did not go into a final set. Cyclops, who are the new team to join the league this season featured a plethora of stars, and on the other side are one of the stalwarts of the league, Shinobism gaming. Shinobism have a very settled team and this is typically really helpful for them. They had Fujimura go first against Go1's Chun li. He was able to get the win while Momochi, who was up next using Modern Luke, lost to Kazunoko. This meant a tie breaker was impossible. So it was that Yamaguchi went up against Dogura.

Dogura is one of the strongest players in the league and was a huge asset on Good 8 Squad's way to winning last season's league. This season he has been good again, but Yamaguchi, known to be something of a prodigy along with Higuchi, was too strong. Yamaguchi used Dee Jay and beat Dogura in the mirror match and even when Dogura switched to Blanka, it made no difference. 

With that, Shinobism are on top of the table with 30 points, and they have started as well as they would like to continue.