SF6 Blink Respawn 2024: Beat MenaRD in his home tournament

Blink Respawn 2024 was an esports event in the Dominican Republic. It featured a few tournaments, but the community’s focus was on one of them. While other competitions, such as TEKKEN 8 and Mortal Kombat 1, were rather local (which is also exciting), Street Fighter 6 had a big international gathering. 

The SF6 tournament was a Capcom Pro Tour 2024 (CPT 2024) Premier qualifier. The winner advanced to the Capcom Cup 11, the final event of the prestigious official circuit. To get this spot, some of the best competitors attended Blink Respawn 2024, specifically from Japan and the US.

One player made this event so special. Saul Leonardo "MenaRD" Mena II is a two-time Capcom Cup champion for Street Fighter V, and he won SF6 Evo Japan 2024. MenaRD has already qualified for the Capcom Cup 11 — he won one of the previous qualifiers. But showcasing his power in a home tournament? This sounds like a mission of honor! And for everyone else, defeating MenaRD in the Blink Respawn 2024 could be as awesome as qualifying for the Capcom Cup Finals.

As an official Capcom Pro Tour 2024 event, the SF6 tournament at Blink Respawn was streamed on the Capcom Fighters YouTube and Twitch channels. Also, you can watch the top 8 matches here, as the stream is embedded below. You'll find the Pools VOD in the results section.

Check out the results of this CPT 2024 Premier qualifier here.

MenaRD fell to the loser's bracket after his match against Nain Jr during the pool stage. He still made it through his group and the top 48 stage to play in the top 8 brackets. And his first opponent was Nain Jr again.

The VOD of the SF6 Blink Respawn 2024 is embedded below.

The final tournament day started with these matchups.

In a super close winners' semi-final, NoahTheProdigy defeated Craime. It was a Luke vs Ken match — in a way, classic Street Fighter vs the new gen of characters. In the parallel bracket, JAK (Juri) sent Dual Kevin (Rashid) to the losers.

MenaRD lost another game in this tournament and got eliminated. Both these losses come from one opponent, Nain Jr. MenaRD faced Luke. To suppress the young power, he took Zangief for most rounds and Blanka for the last one.

The winners' final was another close win for NoahTheProdigy. He exchanged games with JAK, including some Perfect KO rounds. NoahTheProdigy was the first one to reach the match point, and making the score even did not save JAK.

JAK and Dual Kevin played again in the top 8 part of SF6 Blink Respawn 2024—in the losers final this time. They did not change their characters, and Rashid took his revenge on Juri. Dual Kevin made it through the losers' brackets and advanced to the grand final.

Two US players battled in a decisive match of this Capcom Cup 11 qualifier: NoahTheProdigy vs Dual Kevin. NoahTheProdigy lost two starting rounds, and it was enough for him to adapt to the opponent. The adjustments were excellent, as Luke responded with a six-game winning streak over Rashid.

NoahTheProdigy is the Street Fighter 6 champion at Blink Respawn 2024. He qualifies for Capcom Cup 11.

The legendary player takes the role of a host: MenaRD shared a video inviting everyone to Blink Respawn 2024. He wants to show people Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Also, MenaRD is eager to know who… takes the 2nd place in the tournament. He has no doubt about winning his 3rd Blink Respawn, so the Capcom Cup 11 qualification spot should go to the runner-up.

Only two Premier qualifiers left in the CPT 2024 series, so the fight intensifies immensely. On the other hand, some top competitors have already got their Capcom Cup 11 tickets. This gives the Blink Respawn 2024 participants an extra chance and motivation to travel to the Dominican Republic.

The previous Capcom Pro Tour 2024 event was in Japan. Succeeding in that CPT 2024 Super Premier is an extraordinary achievement, and Tokido with Leshar finished in the top 2 to qualify for the Finals event. As for other top players from Japan, some of them decided to prove their mettle at SF6 Blink Respawn 2024.

Some players from the US join the party too.

As for the local competitors, it’s interesting to follow the performance of Cristopher "Caba" Rodriguez. The player is totally great at the team matches: within Bandits Gaming, he won the Street Fighter League World Championship 2023 (MenaRD was in the team too). Caba was the runner-up at Blink Respawn 2023.

While Street Fighter 6 has the biggest game at Blink Respawn 2024, the event features tournaments for the fighting games community (FGC) and beyond.

The last CPT 2024 Premier qualifier for the Capcom Cup 11 is Kings of the World which happens in London, from Dec. 13 to Dec. 15. For all Street Fighter 6 news and updates, stick around on esports.gg!