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Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez is perhaps the best villain in Street Fighter. The Panda Global representative is a polarizing figure in the FGC. People love him. People hate him. People love to hate him. People hate to love him. And FChamp appears to love being hated.

Love him or hate him, FChamp has proved himself, finding his way into Capcom Cup through points. Naturally gravitating toward the heel role of the community, can FChamp feed off the boos all the way to glory?

Namaste

Champ has stuck to his roots in Street Fighter V. A dedicated Dhalsim main in Street Fighter IV, he has not budged off his man in Street Fighter V. And what a great time to pick Dhalsim.

Of all the original characters, no character changed more than Dhalsim in Street Fighter V. Despite having the floatiest jump in the series, Dhalsim has always been mobile. Between his dive kicks and teleports, he can move around the screen fast. But in SFV he adds fast normals, arced projectiles, and a V-Skill that keeps him in the air for longer than usual, the recipe for a fast-paced guessing game.

This is what the best Dhalsims show off in SFV, and Champ is no exception. Having already solid fundamentals, adding the sort of gimmicks that brought such success in the Marvel games has made him a true monster. Furthermore, like in most Street Fighter iterations, Dhalsim isn’t a popular pick, allowing Ramirez to test his opponents with character unfamiliarity. The combination of these factors is why Champ will often find himself deep in every tournament he goes to.

Impervious

If there is one thing that doesn’t bother FChamp, it is nerves. He has experience in dealing with a plethora of circumstances. He has dealt with the inherent bad matchups that come with his character. He has dealt with crowds being against him. He has been in high pressure situations, on the verge of cracking, and held it together all the way to an Evo title in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

At this point, Ramirez isn’t merely unfazed by what happens at events, he embraces it. He embraced his role as the heel of the community; the boos feed his ego. Confidence of any sort helps to breed champions, just like practice. Champ has found his confidence, and flaunts it.

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Dhalsim is always an overwhelming character at the onset. When players find their usual methods of approach being shut down by Dhalsim’s unique style of play, they become frustrated and crack. That’s one of the greatest assets of the character, and Filipino Champ takes full advantage.

The problem is, with time, players will learn the matchup. Once they are no longer stymied by Dhalsim’s superior poke game, Dhalsim now has to rely on gimmicks to win. Eventually, the best players learn the predictability and the ease of reaction to these gimmicks. Once that equation has been solved, it’s lights out for all but the top Dhalsim players.

I don’t feel like any Dhalsim player can call themselves a cut above the rest just yet. Nobody has added any additional equations to the problem of winning as Dhalsim. All the top players can assess exactly how to approach, and how to react to Dhalsim mixups. It makes winning as Dhalsim a very daunting task, and FChamp faces that task.

Middling

Facing that very task, Champ has faltered. Without going to Google or searching his name in our rankings list, how many tournaments has Filipino Champ won? It’s shocking that out of 19 events, he has won two. This is not to insult FChamp, but just to speak of the incredibly uphill battle Dhalsim mains face in any given tournament.

Sure, he has made a lot of top eights, but were they where they count the most? When you look at the most stacked events, the answer is no. At SoCal Regionals, Brooklyn Beatdown, and Evo, he was unable to crack top 32. At CEO, he didn’t make Top 16. At Canada Cup and Red Bull Battlegrounds, he just narrowly missed out on top eight.

Those latter tournaments suggest he is elevating his play to compete. But given how stacked the bracket is at Capcom Cup, will he be able to replicate that success?

Final Thoughts

Filipino Champ is arguably the best Dhalsim player right now, but just being the best at your weapon of choice isn’t going to propel you to the top spot at an event like Capcom Cup. Especially given that no one else playing your character is even coming close, and you’re just barely cutting it at times yourself.

I expect Filipino Champ to go 1-2 at Capcom Cup. I’d love–or hate to love–to see him bring more innovation and work into Dhalsim next season to make an even bigger splash on the circuit. But as always with Dhalsim, that’s a hard road to traverse. If there’s anyone with thick enough skin to do it, it’s FChamp.

In addition to the changes to ledge invincibility and the advent of maneuvers like ledge trumping in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, players need to take into account the “one second rule” which stops people continually regrabbing the ledge. Unlike in Melee, where you can stall at the ledge by grabbing it as many times as you want, Smash 4 makes you wait 55 frames before you can regrab the ledge.

With this knowledge in mind, the Beefy Smash Doods have made a new video tutorial, detailing how players can utilize this “one second rule” when it comes to ledge-guarding. By using low knockback moves like Megaman’s Mega Buster or Pikachu’s Thunder Jolt, on-stage players can cause opponents to recover just above the ledge, teeing them up for a forward-smash or to take the opponent’s double jump and causing them to fall to their doom. If your recovering opponent isn’t aware of this quirk in Smash 4’s ledge mechanics, it means you can have a lot of fun setting up stage spike setups or early-percent kills.

Source: Beefy Smash Doods