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The second week of Gfinity opened up the competition massively, with huge upsets for some of the country’s best Street Fighter players.
Kicking us off this week was the team I lauded in the last wrap-up, Melbourne Avant, versus the Sydney Chiefs, who were coming off a close win against Ground Zero.
Avant were once again running the super squad of Rumours/SpaceGhost/AWildLlama, while Chiefs subbed out BKsama and ZG for Schenkhan and New Zealand debutant DaBigChoppa.
With both sides 1-0 coming into this, it was important for both pick up a win and secure a 2-0 start to the season, to build momentum and confidence heading into later weeks. This was made apparent when neither team wanted to give an inch.
This was our first match of the season to go to the final game, with Avant securing a 4-3 victory in the end. This was not without its scares for Avant however.
Mr Gfinity himself, a title he earned with an 11-1 record in season one, RumoursofGhosts, went down to both DaBigChoppa and Somniac but managed to rally himself to take the final game, a rematch with Somniac, and win the match for Avant, something that shouldn’t be discounted.
The real star of this match was DaBigChoppa, and it will be exciting to see him going forward. Playing the big boy Abigail, he comfortably took down both Rumours and Spaceghost to prove that New Zealand can kick it with its big brother across the Tasman.
After last weeks shaky performance with the character, AWildLlama seems a lot more comfortable on G and should be interesting to keep an eye on. His defense and anti-airs were on point, allowing him to comfortably take down Somniac and Schenkhan. As the season, and his knowledge and confidence with the ‘President of the World’ continue to grow, other teams should become very wary of this strong player.
Sydney Roar decided to rest Cadzow for week two, replacing him with Challenger Series draftee Fangrear, while Ground Zero swapped Ibuki player Syo for Staticz.
Both teams seemed scrappy in this match. There were flashes of brilliance for all players, but overall it felt very messy and underwhelming. Ground Zero exploded to a 3-0 lead which was reigned in by Roar end up 4-2 in favour of the team from the west.
No player among these two teams stood out for both of their games. Waz played well in his second game, but a couple of mistakes and Freeser getting momentum cost him the first. Freeser started off shaky against Waz and his match with Damosk was just buttons being thrown around.
If I was to give an MVP it would be to Rupps, and as I said last week, he is the player to watch for Ground Zero. His Mika is unpredictable and one mistake is all it takes for half your health to be gone.
Ending the day with Melbourne Order up against the Brisbane Deceptors, we were in for a treat. This set was the most fun to watch and set up a couple of interesting players as we move deeper into the season.
Order made no changes from last weeks team, hoping the strongest three of RoF/Bug/Travis would see them through against Brisbanes cosplaying captain Robbiesla and his merry men Pahnda and M0nt.
After a comfortable win to Travis over Robbie, M0nt showed why he should be taken seriously as a contender for this season. Using Laura’s dashing V-skill to beat Birdie’s V-reversal and take round one, M0nt gained the respect of RoF.
Playing without his trademark sunglasses, RoF looked a bit shook but managed to put up quite a fight of his own, taking M0nt to his last breath in the final round before succumbing and giving the Laura player a taste of victory.
After Pahnda’s phenomenal defense against Bug’s Ibuki, we suddenly saw a 2-1 lead in the match to Brisbane. sadly they could’nt hold that momentum and went down 4-2 in the end.
Pinned by Travis as a player to watch in the pre-match interviews, Pahnda proved that by cleaning up Bug and taking Travis to a very close round three in their match. Special mention goes to Robbie and RoF for the most entertaing match of the day. Alex parries, last hit situations, the players having a blast, this match had it all.
It was just unfortunate an uncharacteristic mistake was Robbies downfall in the final round. A win here would’ve put momentum back on Brisbane’s side and given the regining champions a worry.
At the end of it, week two made almost everything I said in week one moot, but that’s what you get for making predicitions with a sample size of one.
There were some things I got right, AWildLlama’s G has improved considerably in just one week. His defense being on full display while securing wins for Avant. Rupps also played well this week and should make teams prepare more for the Mika match-up than they thought they would have to. The New Zealand newcomer, DaBigChoppa’s performance this week shows that like his character, you can’t underestimate him.
As far as teams go, Order would have to be my pick at this point in the season. They have the same record as Avant, but what I perceive to be more roster depth for later in the season. Brisbane is the big wildcard though. Players like Caesura, Pahnda and M0nt have shown slivers of greatness and should be worrisome to teams going ahead.