Wang “UMA” Yuan-hao of Taiwan burst in the Capcom Cup X finals, defeating Juri to win the championship, becoming Street Fighter 6’s first world champion, and winning an instant $1 million for his efforts.
Coming from the World Warrior Circuit, UMA entered Capcom Cup X as one of numerous players with limited global recognition, having played virtually solely in online competitions such as the InterContinental Fight Club since SF6’s release. That did not prevent him from putting up a spectacular performance, winning his first group-stage matches and sweeping the competition in the finals.
The primary theme for this year’s Capcom Cup playoffs was upsets, as many huge names like NuckleDu and incumbent Capcom Cup champion MenaRD were eliminated in the first round—not to mention the amount of strong hitters who did not make the top 16. Gachikun had the deepest run of any past Capcom Cup champion, finishing third following a close 2-3 loss to Chris Wong after UMA eliminated the Hong Kong player in the winners’ finals.
During his run, UMA only lost one playoff set, to Chris Wong in the grand finals, when the final Luke player remaining took a 3-0 win to reset the bracket and put himself back on equal footing. UMA won the title by defeating Chris in every game. He received a $1 million reward and was dubbed the “first FGC millionaire” by analysts. He won the event as one of only four Juri players participating in a field dominated by Luke, Ken, and Dee Jay, who were used by nine, eight, and six of the 48 fighters in the main event, respectively. Anyone who voted for him to win at a recent SF6 event will receive a special Juri outfit colour.
Capcom Cup X was initially chastised for its mix of online and offline qualifying format, which resulted in several familiar faces being relegated to competing in the Last Chance Qualifier, as well as some strange group seeding. However, now that the event is concluded, the verdict on the event is very positive, as we witnessed two consecutive weekends of SF6 played at the greatest level.
To capitalise on the buzz, Capcom has stated that Capcom Cup IX would include a $1 million top prize. The prize distribution, however, will be closer to that of prior events in the series, implying that second place and down would likely receive a significantly lower payout than this year.
