Street Fighter League Japan Day 8 Recap

Street Fighter League Day 8 took place today with the situation looking pretty desperate for some teams, especially DetonatioN FocusMe who are still without a win.

The day's matches went like this:

•  Shinobism Gaming vs. FAV Gaming
• DetonatioN FocusMe vs. Nagoya Oja Body Star
• Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto vs. Hiroshima Team iXa

Shinobism Gaming vs. FAV Gaming

VS

FAV Gaming has been the undisputed top team of the event so far, but the last match day saw a couple of cracks begin to appear. They lost their first match of the season against Cyclops Athlete Gaming 25-20, and this time, they suffered another defeat at the hands of Shinobism. Shinobism has had an underwhelming season so far, sitting at 6th spot, just one off the 'relegation' spots. 

Ryusei was up first but lost to Yamaguchi. Tokido leveled things for FAV, defeating Momochi, who opted surprisingly to use Luke. It might seem that Momochi is a little undecided about character choices right now. Unfortunately, his Luke pick did not help out, and he lost. The anchor saw Sako against Shinobism's most consistent performer in Fujimura, and he won, although it is hard to ignore two vital combo drops on the side of Sako on his way to his defeat. 

This gave Shinobism 30 points, which puts them at 110 points total. This puts them right about Good 8 Squad, who are also having a bit of an underwhelming season. 

DetonatioN FocusMe vs. Nagoya Oja Body Star

VS

The next match was one between two teams desperate for points. For almost three match days, DetonatioN FocusMe lost every time. Meanwhile, Nagoya Oja wasn't having much of a great time either.

The first match was between Nauman and Torimeshi. The latter has been a decent source of points, while Nauman has also been the points gatherer for his team. He lost, however, to Torimeshi. Up next was Akira vs. John Takeuchi. This was a game between two players who have been having poor runs. For John Takeuchi, he has been winless so far, while Akira has suffered three straight defeats. The winner was John Takeuchi, who consigned Akira to yet another defeat, and it isn't great considering Akira is the team captain. But, this was great for John, who can, hopefully, go from strength to strength from here.

The scores were level, and the last set was between Fuudo and Kei.B. Fuudo hasn't won this season, so taking the anchor spot was a great show of resolution. He opted for Dee Jay against Kei. B's JP. Fuudo is not a former Evo champion for nothing, and in a very close set, he was just able to take it over Kei. B in dramatic fashion. With resources low, Fuudo was able to confirm into a level two super and, while doing the combo, built just enough bar for a level one super to ensure Kei. B's death. 

More significantly, this ensured that DetonatioN FocusMe got their very first win all season. This gave them 50 points, which still keeps them on 50 points, but at least closer to getting away from their last position. 

Saishunkan Sol Kumamoto vs. Hiroshima Team iXa

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The last match was looking really bad for Hiroshima Team iXa after they lost the first two sets with Jazzy, who had been getting the wins for iXa, losing to Higuchi rather badly and Storm KUBO also losing to Sasamo. The final set was between Nemo and ACQUA, and it was a JP mirror match. Nemo was two games ahead, and it looked like iXa would suffer a nasty defeat. But ACQUA somehow found the will and went on to win the set, tying up the match.

The tie-breaker saw Nemo return, but he found himself up against Jazzy. Jazzy has already shown himself as very adept at the first-to-ones, and he started awesomely, winning a perfect round. Nemo returned the favor with a perfect round of his own, but Jazzy took the third round, reacting to Nemo's command grab with a level three super and winning the match for his team. 

This means that Team iXa now have 100 points and are closer to getting out of the trouble spots. FAV Gaming is still on top and DetonatioN FocusMe is still at the bottom, but everything in-between seems to be in flux. Match day 9 will be another great day as we move ever closer to the second stage.