Fighting game competition is tense no matter the circumstances, but one recent moment from a local New York City tournament takes the cake as perhaps the most agonizing round of Street Fighter V Iâve seen since the gameâs release.
Capcom Cup champion Derek âiDomâ Ruffin and fighting game legend Sanford âSanthraxâ Kelly met in the winners finals of the Street Fighter V bracket at last nightâs Next Level Battle Circuit, using Poison and Sagat, respectively. Unsurprisingly, iDom shot to a quick 2-0 lead over the veteran, and with just one round to go, he looked to be on the verge of a dominating win. But Santhrax wasnât down for the count yet. After surviving a near-death super, he slowly whittled iDomâs health down to an imperceptible sliver. With both players living on a prayer, it all came down to who could land a hit first.
In any other game, the strategy for Santhrax is simple: throw fireballs as Sagat and try to catch iDom blocking. But because Street Fighter V doesnât have chip killsâreducing an opponentâs health to zero by way of the tiny bits of damage they take from blocking certain attacksâexcept by way of supers, he needed to either get lucky with a single attack or create a situation in which he could force iDom to block his super move. iDom, on the other hand, had a slight advantage in that he could simply trade hits with Sagat and win the game since he was already up one round.
Even without chip kills, Sagatâs fireballs played an important part of Santhraxâs strategy. By producing a constant stream of projectiles, he was able to stay outside of iDomâs range with Poison and slowly push the Capcom Cup champion to the corner. With his back against the wall, iDomâs options were limited, and Santhrax used this to enforce his own rhythm on the match. That said, Poison is proficient at keeping opponents at bay with her whip, meaning that Santhrax couldnât blindly rush iDom despite having the advantage. In the end, Santhrax gambled on a kara uppercutâa high-level technique by which players can add range to their attacks by canceling a whiffed normal into a special moveâand caught iDom slipping, giving him the round and keeping his hopes alive in winners finals.
Whether Street Fighter V is better without chip kills is a discussion for another day, preferably with smarter people than me. The playersâ inability to win with chip damage here, however, created a gripping, nuanced situation that resulted in the veteran competitor finding victory thanks to his level of experience. iDom might have gone on to win the entire tournament, but in this moment, Santhrax showed why heâs still a force to be reckoned with after all these years.
(h/t HiFightTH)
Ian Walker loves fighting games and loves writing about them even more. You can find him on Twitter at @iantothemax
