Japan’s Mago is the first player to qualify for Capcom Cup 2021

Kenryo “Mago” Hayashi is the first player to qualify for Capcom Cup 2021. The 36-year-old remained undefeated throughout the stacked Japan 1 online regional premier. 

The Japan 1 Capcom Pro Tour qualifier was one of the most competitive regional events leading up to the Capcom Cup 2021. As some of the best Street Fighter players competed online for the top place, FGC fans all over the world had a rewarding viewing experience.

Mago went 6-0 in the pools with some dominating performances. The player picked Cammy throughout the online qualifiers defeating John Takeuchi in the opening match. He would then go on to meet Tokido in the upper bracket finals. Ultimately, the match resulted in a 3-1 victory for Mago. Tokido went through the lower bracket in an extremely competitive series against Momochi (3-2 victory) to set up a rematch in the grand finals.

Despite losing the first round to Tokido in the grand finals, Mako was very successful in the subsequent rounds. The reverse-sweep in the Grand Finals highlighted the player’s understanding of his opponent as well as quick decision-making. As the match progressed, fans could see the balance tip in Mako’s favor through the series. 

As he secured an advantage, Mako would press Tokida to get his opponent to make mistakes. Tokido adopted a less aggressive playstyle towards the end, but it did not help him against Mako. 

The tournament was the first CPT event in the 6.01 patch and featured Dan Hibiki’s debut in the Street Fighter roster. 

Here are the final standings for The Japan 1 Capcom Pro Tour qualifier:

Mago finished the qualifier with a perfect 10-0 record. The Japan qualifiers featured 34 of the 41 characters highlighting the diversity in the playstyle. Interestingly, Seth saw no gameplay despite receiving very few nerfs in the last update.

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