Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not reflect Shoryuken as a whole.
If there’s one name that’s coming up a lot lately, it’s Du “NuckleDu” Dang of Team Liquid. The American phenomenon has taken a very aggressive approach to the latter half of the Capcom Pro Tour season, becoming the first American this year to win a Premier event, at Canada Cup. He followed up that impressive performance by winning a second consecutive Premier event at the North American Regional Finals over Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi. He is now one of only three players to win consecutive Premier titles on the circuit this year, with only Razer’s Seon-woo “Infiltration” Lee and Zowie’s Bruce “GamerBee” Hsiang replicating that feat.
Dang is most definitely the hottest player in the lead up to Capcom Cup. But will this hot streak be enough to propel him to the most prestigious title in Street Fighter?
Author’s note: I know it’s so hard to promise, but I will do my very best to abstain from every pun I can make on NuckleDu’s name. Now’s your chance to bet on how many I make over the course of the article and see how close you are. For bragging rights only, of course. [Editor’s note: I suppose I promise not to remove any, then…]
From the Bottom to the Top
When he first emerged on the scene, NuckleDu has was a strong player. He wasn’t a closer however, and when the pressure was too high, he tended to lose his bearings and get eliminated far earlier than most other respected players did. This happened on a consistent basis–it was no one-time thing.
It wasn’t until extremely recently that we began seeing Du as the closer. With his wins in Toronto and Seattle, Dang has proven that he can clutch out events. Further, over the short lifespan of Street Fighter V, NuckleDu has won seven tournaments of any scale. He only won 9 tournaments of any scale over the lifespan of the Street Fighter IV series combined.
While this can be attributed to Street Fighter V being a game he has found himself comfortable in playing–and rightfully so, there’s more factors involved. It’s quite possible that had Du been involved in SFIV from the start, he would’ve had many more consistently strong finishes in events. But we’re talking about what is reality, and here’s the reality.
Confidence Boost
When I talked to Du after his win at Canada Cup, one of the keywords of that interview was “confidence.” When he was playing in Toronto, he looked confident the whole way through. Being the cornerstone of the American team who won the 5-on-5 team exhibition certainly helped strengthen his confidence, but even before that, he had far more swagger and confidence than I have ever seen him perform with.
NuckleDu has not been a confident person during his time in the FGC. These are words coming from his own mouth. But something has clicked recently that has put his self-esteem in a stronger place. Being rooted like that definitely plays a major factor in how you perform in competitive environments. And that is not the only thing that works in his favor.
Pro: Character Choice
Du was one of the first top players to not only have a main, but high-level pocket characters that he would bring out over the course of a tournament. For all the confidence he claims to lack, he was gutsy enough to throw secondaries out in top 8. But one of his secondaries is starting to shine to the point where you have to wonder if he has to start calling them his main, and that is R. Mika.
I won’t mince words–Du’s Mika is dang good. Du pretty much rode her to victory in the latter half of Canada Cup. Only bringing out Guile one time during top 8 against Xiaohai in winners finals [And unsuccessfully, at that. – Editor], Du wreaked havoc with players in his usage of R. Mika between singles and the 5-on-5. It was like no one knew what hit them.
But why is it so good? Says Gaston “zZInsaneZz” Reid, a prominent R. Mika player from South Korea, “His ground game is really strong, and he blocks everything well, which is what he does best.”
But let’s talk about his Guile–since we’re on the subject–as the above observation works well in Du’s Guile play as well. As a complete parallel universe to Canada Cup, Dang only played R. Mika once in top 8 against alucarD, but otherwise ran Guile exclusively during the NA Regional Finals. The characters were opposites, but the results remained the same as he ran through Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi in decisive fashion in grand finals.
Both these characters seem to have eclipsed his presumed main of Nash in his hands, as he is taking them and dominating with them, as opposed to the lowly numbers he was putting up by maining Nash exclusively.
Con: Character Choice
One of the things that is NuckleDu’s greatest strengths can also be his greatest weaknesses. He has two characters that are strong theoretically. You could even argue R. Mika as top tier. But over the course of time, they prove to be problematic.
One of my favorite comparisons for Mika is to Sagat in Street Fighter IV. She is strong, and has taken a lot of players off-guard. But once people sit down and look at her, they start to see things that they should do differently than they do against the largest swath of the cast. Says Etienne “Cpt. Maumau” Maurin–one of ArcadeStream’s commentators–of Du’s match against Xiaohai at Canada Cup, “It was more about Xiaohai not punishing well [than anything NuckleDu was doing.]” And that seems to be the anthem of players losing to R. Mika.
Players tend to give way too much respect to Mika, while she is one of the characters whose aggression should be respected least. Once she gets going, she gets to play her game, and until you stand up to her and begin throwing out V-Reversals or wake-up DPs, she will continue to apply the pressure. Once you are able to stand up to her, she will ease up on the pressure and wait for you. Once that happens, players find that Mika’s winning game plan crumbles.
That is what NuckleDu found to work for him at Canada Cup. When he arrived to Seattle, he found players doing exactly what makes Mika not work in his favor. Thus you saw him playing Guile for the remainder of the event.
With the instant exposure he has received in the last couple weeks, people are most certainly watching his Mika now and it has been put on notice. While his Guile did the job in Seattle, he is by far the most linear character he plays. If all it took was a week to download his Mika, how sooner will they know how to play against his Guile?
He could always go Nash, but as I have already stated, his play with Nash has not garnered the results as the former two characters has. Unless he has been putting in secret lab time with Nash, players heading to Anaheim will be focusing far more on Infiltration and Yukadon (should he qualify) than NuckleDu’s Nash.
Can He Last?
Yes, NuckleDu is on a white-knuckle ride right now, riding a surge of momentum that he will try to carry into Capcom Cup. But whether he can is a big question on what his expected return from Capcom Cup will be.
The problem with trying to ride momentum into Capcom Cup is the dearth of events in the month leading up to the event. The only CPT event remaining is the Asia/Oceania Regional Finals at the end of the month. On top of that, there are no real major events to be had in North America at this point. Riding momentum requires you to continue to press on through events and keep winning. Du cannot du this, simply because of the lack of events.
If it were possible, you have to bear in mind that when you are riding momentum for this long, you have to factor in one more thing–burn out. At some point, Dang will likely burn out. It has happened to everyone, including the greats like Daigo Umehara and Infiltration, so he is not the only one who suffers to stay on top of his game. The question now is when? It could be a month from now; it could be far later down the line. The likelihood is that he will. Given his waxing and waning confidence levels, I would anticipate it being sooner rather than later.
Final Thoughts
NuckleDu has proven a lot to the FGC this year. He has proven he has a bright future within esports and he will go far. But I do not believe he is going to shine the brightest at Capcom Cup.
He picked the wrong time to peak this season, when every killer is giving far more scrutiny during the lead-up to Anaheim. This, among other reasons, is why I don’t see him making it to top 8. He can still make it, but he probably has the hardest road at this point with the huge target he has just placed on his back this month. Should he make it, I don’t see him making it in winners bracket, or making it higher than seventh place. My projection is that he makes top 12 and no higher, but look forward to what he can du next season.
(If you guessed I would make four puns on NuckleDu’s name, congratulations, you win!)