Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
Benjamin “Problem X” Simon has long been one of Europe’s elite. The British player was one of the world’s most explosive proponents of Seth over the course of Street Fighter IV, and has maintained his consistent results throughout the first year of Street Fighter V.
With him making his way to the Capcom Cup through the European leaderboard, what does he have to offer when he crosses the pond?
A Bevy of Characters
Where Problem X mostly stuck with Seth throughout the course of SFIV, he has diversified his play with Street Fighter V. After seeing early success with M. Bison, he has added Alex to his repertoire, making the Brooklyn brawler his go-to character. He has also employed four other characters during the season, including Guile, R. Mika, Zangief, and Birdie. He has had success during his time with all of these characters.
However, his diversity could be a double-edged sword. Having too many characters can also be a problem, especially in early phases of a game’s life.
One thing that I always remember was a set at Evolution 2010 where Korean player Laugh played against a Dhalsim. Ever the tactician, expert, and counter-picker, Laugh–after dropping the first game with his patented Ryu–moved over to Rufus, a character he knew was a counter to Dhalsim. While knowledge is one thing, execution is another–and Laugh failed to execute and lost the set.
While Problem X’s mileage may vary in this department, the risk remains the same. If he knows on paper one of his characters wins a certain matchup, but hasn’t had experience of it, he could go for the counter to his detriment, rather than sticking to the character he has the most experience with and gutting it out. Further, with his proclivity to play various characters, we could see him risk his entire tournament run on a character that we have yet to see him play, just because Problem knows it’s a good counter-pick.
Really, the only players I see doing this and succeeding at this point could be RZR|Infiltration or Liquid|NuckleDu. Problem X doesn’t come to mind here.
Tiers
One of the biggest problems facing Problem X is that his characters will not be strong enough to bring him to the top 8 alone. The two characters he regularly plays–Bison and Alex– are both considered far from top tier. Both have flaws, and both of them have more bad matchups than good.
He has already shown that he can play higher tier characters such as Guile and Mika at times. If he was hungry for the Capcom Cup win, he would have played one of them on a more regular basis. He hasn’t. His standard picks are going to give him lots of problems facing the players going to Anaheim.
The Losing Edge
Simon has consistently been a threat to make top 8 in Europe. However, where are his wins?
The problem is that all of Problem X’s tournament victories are way back within the first two months of Street Fighter V’s life. Not only that, but they were local events in the UK. Even with these locals being stacked with talent, and his strong understanding of the game from day one, he hasn’t been able to ramp up his chances of closing out events beyond the local scene.
He has come close since, sure, but he is not playing at the level he should be if he wants to be a serious threat at Capcom Cup. His consistency should be applauded, but he needs to be winning more consistently to have any serious projections coming into Anaheim.
Final Thoughts
Problem X is problematic for everyone he plays. He’s a solid player with a great understanding of Street Fighter V. However, he has problems in sealing the deal, and his characters–as well as his character crises–are not doing him any favors.
Simon is yet another player that I see going 0-2 leading into Capcom Cup. He could possibly steal a win from someone not prepared for Alex or his other unusual pocket characters, but it’s a long shot.