No one could have been happier when Abigail was released than Atlas Bear|StormKUBO. Famously making his mark within Ultra Street Fighter IV as a Hugo main, he struggled to find his footing in the competitive landscape of Street Fighter V with Alex.
People shouldn’t be surprised at his success this season, after his stunning performances at Capcom Cup Last Chance Qualifier last year and Evo Japan. So will he be able to maul his way through the bracket in 2018?
Moving Forward
One thing that StormKUBO is known for is using big characters with mobility and good buttons. This was evidenced by his early Street Fighter IV pick of Rufus, and his subsequent switch to Hugo. In Street Fighter V, this started with Alex, and then Abigail. While the former in Street Fighter V struggled because of his buttons, Abigail has those in spades.
This is why he has been dangerous. He loves to have long-reaching normals, and good confirms that deal a lot of damage. He has also been heavily innovative in his conversions off of hit confirms, which makes him a very dangerous foe.
He’s also one of the best at making it very hard to get away once he gets the momentum going. Obviously it’s really hard to get out of Abigail’s sweet spot once he’s in it, but StormKUBO finds himself in that spot more often than not. It’s just the mound of experience he has in using the character — and other characters of the like — and how he makes people sweat in his approach.
More Counter-picks to Go Around
While Itazan may have issues with some of the more traditional Abigail counterpicks — Menat, Guile, Rashid to name a few — StormKUBO has dealt with more, primarily due to character unfamiliarity. The most famous example being GamerBee’s usage of Necalli at NorCal Regionals. While some of it makes sense on paper, the V-Skill which could be used to keep Abigail out was not the biggest factor for how GamerBee won this.
More or less, StormKUBO lost a poking game that Abigail should not be losing to Necalli. And more often than not, you will see StormKUBO lose sets you just couldn’t foresee him losing to. Whether it’s unfamiliarity or nerves, somethings going wrong.
Can’t Run Away
What makes this worse is that much like Itazan, StormKUBO doesn’t really have a counter-pick he can bank on. If he were to switch to Alex at all, it would actually be to his detriment to run a far worse character with more liability on mobility than Abigail. Nor would you really expect a surprise counter-pick of one of the top 5 to come out of him, or even the higher tier pick of Bison that Problem X utilizes. This presents problems for any big body player who shows up on the scene.
Final Thoughts
With all of that said, StormKUBO actually has a better bracket situation than his Abigail counterpart. He faces off against NL first, who has a poor record against Abigails. He also has yet to lose against NL.
The next round could be more difficult. Daigo already has the advantage in picking Guile. Depending on the stubbornness of Punk, he could have the advantage by picking Chun-Li. So while StormKUBO could flirt with a top 8 finish, he may not get there.
CAPCOM CUP 2018 ANALYSIS SERIES
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Tokido finally hoist the cup?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will MenaRD claim the throne once again?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Is the third time the charm for Problem X?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: How Sako made me eat my words in two tournament wins
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Fujimura take the title in his third shot at the cup?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Is Fuudo more poised this year than last?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Justin Wong finally make top 8?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: How will NuckleDu reclaim his lost throne?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Oil King cut his opponents as short as his shorts?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will NL capitalize on his stellar 2018?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Daigo Umehara finally scale the one height he has yet to reach?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Has Luffy prepared enough to make a serious run this year?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Has Haitani Improved Enough?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Has Xiao Hai finally fixed his focus issue?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Is Big Bird big enough to take it?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Caba prove Dominican domination at Capcom Cup?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Phenom stand out as phenomenal?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Gachikun survive his fateful first round?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Xian be quickly on the top 8 scene?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Is momentum on CJ Truth’s side?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Bonchan let out a roar?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Has Punk put himself in the right position for this year?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Mago’s top tier pick work out for him?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Itabashi Zangief shift into overdrive?
- Capcom Cup 2018 Analysis: Will Momochi put his opponents on ice?
