Street Fighter League USA Week 4 Recap: Endemic Slipping Behind

Week 4 of Street Fighter League Japan was on and the teams have been fighting for good positions so as to make the playoff spots. NASR and Bandits were the leaders, but there was some hope that the likes of UYU and Versus Vortex could ruin the party. 

The games in store were:

• Versus Vortex vs NASR
• UYU vs Red Rooster
• Endemic vs Bandits

VERSUS VORTEX (HOME) VS NASR (AWAY)

VS

Match Results

• NL (Luke) 2 - Nephew (Juri) 0
• Xian (Dee Jay) 2 - Big Bird (Rashid) 0
• DCQ (JP) 2 - Angrybird (Ken) 3
• Oil King (Rashid) 0 - Punk (Cammy) 1

NASR continued their winning streak against the players that took Street Fighter League USA last time around with a 20-25 win. Versus Vortex have been very formidable and so it was again when NL demonlished Nephew 2-0. NL's Luke has been a terror and he cut off Nephew's options by ensuring he was always burnt out and using it to his advantage. Nephew had no answer and lost. The next match saw Xian also break Big Bird down. The Marisa main switched to Rashid for this match, but it made no difference as Xian, who has been looking back to his Street Fighter IV best in this game, suffocated Big Bird and got the 2-0 win. 

This then led to the most interesting set of the day as Angrybird looked to defeat DCQ who has been the breadwinner for Versus Vortex since last season when they were UYU. The set was incredible with a lot of back and forth. A particular sequence was insane as DCQ found himself in the corner with both players with low health, DCQ did a DI and Angrybird, who was burnt out, did a level 2 without missing a beat (52:31). There was also another sequence at the end where DCQ was so close to getting an incredible comeback against Angrybird, but the Evo champion got the win. 

This tied up the match and Punk came up against Oil King for the tie breaker, and he won the game with little issue completing the comeback by NASR.

Final Scores

Versus Vortex (20) vs NASR (25)

UYU (HOME) vs RED ROOSTER (AWAY)

VS

Match Results

• Nuckledu (Guile) 2 - PR Balrog (Juri) 0
• Dual Kevin (Luke) 2 - Ajax Fidelity (Juri) 0
• Vxbao (JP) 2 - BananaKen (JP) 3
• Zhen (Dee Jay) 1 - Mono (Dee Jay) 0

When UYU lost all their players to Versus Vortex, you might have wondered what they would do. But from the looks of it, they have done just fine with their new players especially Nuckledu who is a former Capcom Cup winner and one of the very best in the world. He set the ball rolling with a 2-0 win against PR Balrog and the same result was in play again when Dual Kevin defeated Ajax Fidelity. One of the questions raised about Red Rooster coming into this season was the choice to take two Juri mains which limits the options available. It also doesn't help that Mono doesn't seem to be in the best form right now having lost all of his games so far. 

However, one of the brightest spots for Red Rooster has been BananaKen who has been their main points earner this season. He was on hand to replicate his great form again by defeating Vxbao, who is no slouch, in the JP mirror. This set up another tie breaker which Zhen won to ensure that UYU left with 25 points. 

Final Scores

UYU (25) vs Red Rooster (20)

ENDEMIC VS BANDITS

VS

Match Results

• Flash Metriod (Blanka) 0 - Xiaohai (Ken) 2
• Samurai (Luke) 1 - Chris T (Ken) 2
• ChrisCCH (Ken) 0 - MenaRD (Luke) 3

Endemic haven't had the best of times so far as they sit bottom of the table. Facing Bandits who have been so strong this season was always going to be difficult. It didn't get better for Endemic as they suffered another 0-40 defeat making it the second in a row. The most important match was Chris T against Samurai as both players were without a win so far and both really needed the W. It was Chris T who got it as he was able to take the game against Samurai. 

MenaRD made short work of ChrisCCH and Endemic find themselves in the unenviable last spot. 

Final Scores

Endemic (0) vs Bandits (40)

Bandit's win puts them in top spot with 10 points on NASR who are still without a defeat, but have also failed to close out any match with a 40 point gap. At the tail end, Endemic seem to be losing ground as they remain on 35 points after four matches and are 35 points from their closest rivals, Red Rooster. 

The next set of matches will see the bottom two teams face off which could be a chance for either to rise up the ranks, or in the case of Endemic, at least catch up a bit. 

The matches are as follows:

• Endemic vs Red Rooster
• NASR vs UYU
• Bandits vs Versus Vortex