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NuckleDu, Wolfkrone, Punk, PR Balrog dominate ELeague Street Fighter V Invitational opening round

Michael Martin

The results are in and 24 of the 32 invited players have moved on to ELeague’s Street Fighter V Invitational Regular Season. Currently, the top four players are all from North America.

Eight of the advancing players have been rewarded spots in the semi-finals of the Regular Season thanks to finishing first and second in their groups:

Group A: Victor “Punk” Woodley and Yusuke Momochi

Group B: Eduardo “PR Balrog” and Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis

Group C: Joshua “Wolfkrone” Philpot and Ai “Fuudo” Keita

Group C: Du “NuckleDu” Dang and Arman “Phenom” Hanjani

Capcom Cup 2016 champion Du
Capcom Cup 2016 champion Du “NuckleDu” Dang (Red Bull)

The other four players in each group advancing to the Regular Season will compete to see who gets a chance to play against the top two semi-finalists from each group. The end result will see two players from each group move on to the Playoffs round of ELeague.

ELeague’s group competition was full of exciting matches and controversial moments. The Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley and Wolfkrone beef raged on. The two did not disappoint as viewers were treated to hilarious and awkward interviews and some choice words from both competitors, including an F-bomb from Wolfkrone. Martin “Marn” Phan, Leah “Gllty” Hayes, and Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez might not have won as many matches as they would have liked, but they scored victories on social media with their outlandish personalities and outfits.


The four days were full of surprises as well. Former top-ranked player Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo looked mortal, going a pedestrian (for him) 4-3 to advance to the next round. Snake Eyez stormed into contention with a 5-2 record playing as Akuma and Zangief. Wolfkrone decimatedthe international competition, beating three Japanese legends — Fuudo, Joe “MOV” Egami, and Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi — to prove that Laura is a force to be reckoned with.

Strangely, all three European participants (Ryan Hart, Phenom, and Olivier “Luffy” Hay) were placed in Group D, meaning they will have to beat each other if they want to make the Playoffs. However, the Europeans are safe for now as they have advanced to the next round.

The prelims finished mostly as Yahoo Esports expected. Six of the eight semi-finalists were correctly predicted in our group rankings (technically seven if you count Wolfkrone, who was chosen as a dark horse.)

Unfortunately, each group had a player finish with a record of 0-7 (Ricki Ortiz, Gllty, Gootecks, and Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli.) We picked three of them as dark horses, so it stands to reason we should probably never pick dark horses again for Street Fighter V events.

ELeague’s Regular Season begins Friday, April 7 and will continue through Playoffs, which take place Friday, May 26. Combo Breaker and Red Bull Kumite also take place that weekend.

For more news and information on ELeague’s Street Fighter V Invitational, be sure to check out our Street Fighter V hub.


Michael Martin predicted 7 of the 8 ELeague semi-finalists correctly. He wins nothing. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.