In remarkable fashion, professional Ultra Street Fighter IV player EG Momochi defeated Xian to claim first place in the Capcom Cup Grand Finals, despite him being knocked out into the loser's bracket early by Ryan Hart in the second round. As the last stop of the Capcom Pro Tour, the Capcom Cup Grand Finals took place in San Francisco at The Warfield theatre.
Momochi needed to win two sets of three rounds each against Xian, who had outplayed Daigo earlier in the winner's bracket in a shocking fashion by defeating his world-class Evil Ryu with Dhalsim. But he was able to counter Xian's first pick of Poison and second pick of Gen by masterfully using Ken's aerial hurricane kick, crouching jabs, and spacing control.
Momochi calimed a prize of $50,000 while Xian took home $15,000 for his efforts. This year's EVO Champion, Meltdown Luffy, claimed third place for $5,000, battling his way with his signature Rose in the winner's bracket before losing steam in his last two matches and making uncharacteristic mistakes and whiffs.
The highest placement for a U.S. player went to PR Balrog, who finished in fourth place after successfully defeating both Daigo and Fuudo in the loser's bracket, though he blamed his ultimate loss on forgetting to place a shortcut on his fightstick for a triple-punch.
Between the 16 players in the tournament, I counted them having used 21 different characters on Ultra Street Fighter IV's roster, highlighting that most of the top-tier players need to master at least one secondary character and perhaps another counter character to be competitive. Tier lists, be damned.
