With Street Fighter V coming out next Tuesday, Capcom are going full throttle with their plans for this year’s Capcom Pro Tour, giving eager World Warriors the schedule for this year’s series of events. All of these tournaments will eventually lead up to the grand 32 man final at the Capcom Cup in December, where we will have our first Street Fighter V World Champion crowned.
They have changed up how events work this year, with there being multiple ways to qualify for a spot in that final bracket. The 32 players are chosen through these methods:
- 11 will qualify from Premier Events
- 1 will qualify from EVO 2016
- 4 will qualify from the 4 Regional Finals
- 8 will qualify via the Regional Leaderboards, with 2 coming from each region
- 8 will qualify via the Global Leaderboard
Each tournament level gives a set amount of points, with players earning the most from EVO 2016, followed by Premier Events and Ranking Events earning players the least amount of points. In terms of the leaderboards, Global Ranking Points supersede Regional Ranking Points so you can only qualify using one or the other. Say if you have 2000 Global Points but only 1500 Regional Points, you would qualify for Capcom Cup via the Global Leaderboard, rather than the Regional one.
In regards to structure, the biggest change to Capcom Cup 2016 compared to 2015, are these 4 separate regions with their own Leaderboards and ways to qualify for the final tournament. This is to guarantee that more global talent gets a shot at the Capcom Cup, rather than Japan and America dominating the bracket. Each region gets 12 Ranking Events and 2 Online Events, where players can gain both Global and Regional Ranking Points as well as 1 Regional Finals event. If you win either an Online or Ranking Event, you are automatically placed in the Regional Finals bracket without having to go through the one day open qualifier in order to even get into the bracket. Only two can go through from that one day open qualifier to reach the final stage of a Regional Final so it really is all to play for if you still haven’t secured your place. Also note that winning a Regional Final gives you no Ranking Points, but automatically places you in the final 32 man bracket. In theory, you could never attend an event, come out of nowhere and stomp through the Regional Final to win a place at Capcom Cup 2016.
Don’t worry about those pro players who attend all the events on the Capcom Pro Tour, the next highest placing player is selected if someone wins a Ranking Event but already has a place in the Regional Final. It sounds very complicated but as the Pro Tour actually starts, it will make more sense. Capcom are also adding pot bonuses to EVO 2016, each Premier Event and of course Capcom Cup, with the grand prize pool for all the events adding up to $500,000.
You can check out the official Capcom Pro Tour page for all the details on every Ranking and Premier event but the local ones you need to keep marked on your calendar here in the UK are Hypespotting 5 up in Scotland from the 2nd-3rd of April, VSFighting 6 in Birmingham from August 6th-7th and the big Premier Event at EGX 2016, also in Birmingham from September 22nd-25th. I personally will be attending both events in my hometown, probably going 0-2 in pools and then watching the madness from the comfort of the audience. The Pro Tour is looking to be bigger and better than ever for this year so mark the dates for your local events, tune in for more details on the special Online Events for each region and see you in the streets.