Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
Yukadon is an interesting person to write about in this series. He has been a player who has had his ebbs and tides on the circuit, and has been called either the best Nash–or just good enough.
He had his chance to qualify directly in his absolute last chance in Busan a week ago, and seemingly had missed the boat. However, with the withdrawl of Tse4444, Yukadon was the next down the line on the Asian leaderboard. Will his sudden addition make him the Cinderella story of Capcom Cup?
The Legend Killer
One of the first instances of Yukadon being paid attention to was Evolution 2016, where he defeated the then-#2-ranked Tokido in top 32 on his way to making top 8 in the event. While this may have been a source of shock for some, it shouldn’t have been.
As was previously reported, Tokido had trained with Yukadon in the lead-up to Street Fighter V Crash’s grand finals in order to defeat RZR|Infiltration, and the Murderface went on to call Yukadon the best Nash player in Japan. While Tokido ultimately squared off successfully against Infiltration at CEO following Crash, his training turned out to be his doom, as Yukadon retained knowledge that he used to defeat his sparring partner when it counted.
While that could spell out that Yukadon is fluke who made top 8 by the way of the luck of the bracket draw, don’t let that become your focus. While the current best Nash in Japan could argued to be RB|Bonchan, Yukadon has still netted wins against the likes of Daigo, MOV, HM|Go1, and GGP|Kazunoko–all of them finalists at Capcom Cup. He has cut his teeth beating the best, and has the capability for doing so again.
Japan’s Finest
Yukadon has kept Japan on their toes over 2016. Having multiple wins in the RaGe series, he captured more upper top 8s than anything over that time, including his incredible 3rd place finish at Evolution 2016.
He has maintained this strong presence in Asia in events such as FV Cup and Abuget cup. He has the ability to make the top 8 at any point, and should never be ruled out.
Downswing
The problem is his latter half of the season. Whereas he had one of the strongest first half of the season, his latter half has been lackluster at best.
He finished 33rd at SoCal Regionals, 17th at both Japan Cup and Southeast Asia Majors, 25th at Canada Cup, and 13th at Asia Regional Finals. While you could typically shrug this off for a lot of players, this is the 3rd place finisher at Evolution this year. Much like Infiltration, he has struggled, and it could be one of his biggest issues in Anaheim.
Nash, Out
But perhaps the biggest issues is how Nash has been dealt with since Evolution. The change in perception of the character since July has been enough to evoke Infiltration to consider other characters. And the difference is clear.
Of the three top Nash players in the world–Infiltration, Bonchan, and Yukadon–only Infiltration has won an event since Evolution, and his grand finals in his most recent one was won with Rashid instead of Nash. One of the other strong players of the character–Liquid|NuckleDu–has seen his usage of the character dwindle to the point that his playing Nash at Capcom Cup would come as a surprise.
Infiltration’s decimation of the field in Vegas has certainly made people pay attention to the character enough to learn to play against him. The character, while strong, still has deficiencies that have become known since Infiltration’s dominating run, and very few top players will be unprepared for Yukadon or Infiltration coming into Anaheim.
Final Thoughts
Yukadon is a strong player, and definitely one of the strongest Japanese players in the field. He has already posted strong results, and will not be slept on come December 3rd.
However, he has had similar struggles as fellow Nash player, Infiltration, and I don’t see him winning regardless of that. But given his struggles, I’m honestly expecting him to finish just outside of top 16.