Street Fighter V at Texas Showdown 2023: Shine Takes the W

Shine was the winner of Texas Showdown 2023 for Street Fighter V after taking an exhilarating victory over Justakid, who goes by the name 'JAK' nowadays. 

JAK had secured a reset, but Shine's experience at the highest levels shone through once again, and he was the victor on the day. 

Texas Showdown saw Shine return to Ibuki, a character with whom he made his name with, but had disappeared for a bit. Shine typically picked Cody and did pretty well, but perhaps with SFV coming to an end, we saw the return of the ninja girl.

He defeated Brian_F, JB, and JAK to claim his victory, and it is clear that he is well worth his win.

Top 8 at Texas Showdown 2023

Top 8

The top 8 started with a great match between JAK and JB. The two are some of the younger talents who have been making waves for the lifespan of Street Fighter V. JAK, in particular, has blossomed into a phenomenal player with great tournament placements including top 8 at Evo 2022. He did the same here as he first lost to JB, mostly due to a mistimed DP which was punished to oblivion. But, he was not to be deterred and made it through the gauntlet on losers' side to drag himself into Grand Finals. 

On the way, he had to defeat Kyndrix, who had defeated Traphustla's Ken, to face JAK. Kyndrix has a great Vega, and when fighting JAK's customary Juri, he was very smart in dealing with Juri's air options which JAK used a lot to exploit Vega's lack of reliable anti-airs. Unfortunately, JAK's quality was just too much, and after watching the first round get stolen from him, it seems Kyndrix never really recovered, and he fell 2-0.

He then had to face Docta Afrikan, whose Bison had taken out fan favorite, Brian_F, just a round earlier. Docta Afrikan had done really well, using Bison's insane normals to great effect and depriving opponents of options. This was how he beat Brian_F, whose Oro largely depends on activating Tengu Stones. Docta Afrikan either ensured that Brian was unable to activate or, he rather smartly avoided and, in some cases, outright disrespected the stones. 

Against JAK, Docta Afrikan attempted to corner Juri, knowing that his corner pressure would be impossible for Juri to deal with. But, JAK was wise to this and evaded the corner rather well. This enabled him to execute his gameplan against Bison, and he was victorious, 3-0.

In the losers' final, he endured the runback against JB and was victorious this time. It did seem for a little bit that JB was going to run away with the game, but JAK, despite making another DP error, was patient and brought the tie back to 2-2. It was a close match, but JAK came through and was rewarded with a Grand Final match against Shine.

Shine, on his part, was just Shine. He used Ibuki, and many were reminded of the terror of the little ninja girl. He had defeated JB comprehensively. This was due in part because, for some reason, JB decided to use Ken at the start of the match. Perhaps he didn't favor the Rashid-Ibuki match-up, but it did not work, as he was unable to get his game going. He switched back to Rashid and got a game on the board. There were even a few scrambly situations, but nothing Shine was unable to handle. 

The Grand Final was a fun affair with JAK, fresh from winning JB, ready to fight Shine. Shine set the pace early on, taking the first game, but JAK was just getting started and, with some phenomenal play was able to force a reset. 

Unfortunately for JAK, Shine was unfazed and instead played as he normally would, and he battered JAK into submission, winning the reset 3-0. 

This is his first tournament victory of the year and perhaps his last for Street Fighter V, with Street Fighter 6 coming out in a little over a month. 

Congratulations to Shine!