The regional finals of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour were a series of closed Street Fighter V tournaments held throughout the world. The champions of the four different regions – North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia – automatically qualified to compete at the 2016 Capcom Cup. People qualified to compete in their regional finals by scoring highly on their regional leaderboard or winning ranking events during the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour. The four tournaments all took place between October 15 and November 19, 2016.
General background During the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, people competing at any of its 72 tournaments gained points on both the "regional" or "global" leaderboard, the former of which depending on the location of the tournament. Among these 72 tournaments, twelve "ranking events" and two "online events" were held in each region. The champion of each of these 14 events qualified for their regional finals, while 18 more qualified by placing high on the regional leaderboards. The four champions of the regional finals all automatically qualified to compete at the 2016 Capcom Cup.
Tournaments Four regional finals took place throughout the world between October 15 and November 19, 2016. These events were held in Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia.
Europe The European regional finals of the 2016 Capcom Cup were the first of the four events, held during the Milan Games Week in Milan, Italy on October 15–16. The tournament, produced by FACEIT Media, featured an open 256 player "Last Chance Qualifier" on the first day, the top two players of which qualifying for the 16-player regional finals taking place on day 2. The Last Chance Qualifier was won by two Japanese players: Naoto Sako and Masato "Bonchan" Takahashi. Other Asian players who won enough European tournaments to qualify for the European regional finals included Daigo Umehara, Joe "MOV" Egami, and Kun Xian Ho. Besides these, the finals featured eleven high-level European players such as Olivier "Luffy" Hay. The regional finals was eventually won by Daigo Umehara, who defeated Arman "Phenom" Hanjani in the grand finals.
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Daigo Umehara BST|Daigo Umehara Ryu 2nd Arman Hanjani BX3.TP-Link|Phenom Necalli 3rd Masato Takahashi RB|Bonchan Nash 4th Sean Dench DA|ImStillDaDaddy Guile 5th Olivier Hay RB|Luffy R. Mika 5th Kun Xian Ho RZR|Xian F.A.N.G 7th Marcus Parker PRLS|Packz Karin 7th Joe Egami MOV Chun-Li 9th Younes Lazaar AWS|CCL Chun-Li 9th Chris McEntee Rize|Cobelcog Cammy 9th Naoto Sako HORI|Sako Chun-Li 9th GS|TKR Chun-Li 13th Benjamin Simon PxP|Problem X Alex 13th Abdulla Buhannad Fruit Laura 13th Nathan Massol MD|Mister Crimson Dhalsim 13th Christ Onema AWS|Akainu Nash
Latin America The Latin American regional finals were held on Wednesday, November 2 in São Paulo. Like the European finals, the Latin American event featured an open Last Chances Qualifier before the main tournament. The Latin American regional finals was won by Dominican competitor Ray "DR Ray" Rosario, who, playing as Vega defeated the Brazilian Diego "Dark817" Lins Gois and the American Kenneth "K-Brad" Bradley in the final rounds. Brazilian favorite Keoma "Keoma" Pacheco was defeated by K-Brad in the semi-finals.
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Ray Rosario GAM|DR Ray Vega 2nd Kenneth Bradley EG|K-Brad Cammy 3rd Keoma Pacheco Innova|Keoma Karin 4th Diego Gois Umbrella|Dark817 Alex 5th Felipe Torres Brook|Misterio Karin 5th Lenny Matos SP|Crossover R. Mika, M. Bison 7th Wilfried Jean-Baptiste Will2Pac Laura 7th Álvaro Cruz DM|Baek Nash 9th Ericke Maciel Ericke Maciel Chun-Li, R. Mika 9th Richard Clivio Chancho Kay Laura 9th Antonio Medrano Kusanagi Karin 9th Renato Martins AAG|DidimoKOF Dhalsim 13th Vitor Luiz Umbrella|Tubarao Necalli 13th Robson Santos JAM.FGBR|RobKOF Ryu, Birdie 13th Thomas Proença F3|Brolynho Alex, Ibuki 13th David Gomez MJ|Gama Cammy
North America The North American finals were hosted by Red Bull GmbH and held on November 4 to 6 in the Seattle Exhibition Hall. The first two days of the event featured an open bracket of 1,024 competitors, while the official qualifying tournament was held on the final day. The event was named the Red Bull Battlegrounds and was described by PC Gamer as a "high-budget, extremely well produced event," akin to a television game show. After the conclusion of the tournament, the character Akuma was announced to be added to the game.
The top eight of the tournament featured a large number of well-established American players, such as Justin Wong, K-Brad, and Ricki Ortiz. The finals of Red Bull Battlegrounds was held between NuckleDu and Tokido. NuckleDu lost to Tokido in the first round of the top eight, but managed to come back through the loser's bracket and face Tokido again in the finale, where he defeated him through a bracket-reset. As NuckleDu had already qualified for the Capcom Cup, the qualifying spot opened up for another player on the global leaderboard.
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Du Dang Liquid|NuckleDu Guile, R. Mika 2nd Hajime Taniguchi Tokido Ryu 3rd Victor Woodley ANBU|Punk Karin, Cammy 4th Justin Wong EG|Justin Wong Karin 5th Arubi Kao RB Urien 5th Kenneth Bradley EG|K-Brad Cammy 7th Ricki Ortiz EG|Ricki Ortiz Chun-Li 7th Antwan Ortiz F3|alucarD Balrog, Birdie 9th Julio Fuentes FOX|Julio Fuentes Ken 9th Ryan Ramirez PG|Filipino Champ Dhalsim 9th Chris Tatarian DNL|Chris Tatarian Ken 9th Miky Chea XSK Samurai Ryu 13th Ryota Takeuchi /r/Kappa|John Takeuchi Rashid 13th Ludovic Mbock NS|Ludovic Chun-Li 13th Peter Susini Flash Vega 13th Raynel Hidalgo PG|RayRay Chun-Li
Asia Australia's Battle Arena Melbourne 8 and OzHadou Nationals were two of the twelve ranking events for the Asian regional finals. The Asian regional finals took place on October 17–19 at the Global Game Exhibition in Busan, South Korea. The tournament was won by Kenryo "Mago" Hayashi, beating Joe "MOV" Egami in the grand finals. As Mago had already qualified for the Capcom Cup, his qualifying spot went on to Tse "Tse4444" Wa Ping, who was ranked eleventh in the Asian leaderboard.
Place Player Alias Character(s) 1st Kenryo Hayashi Mago Karin 2nd Joe Egami MOV Chun-Li 3rd Tatsuya Haitani YD.MJS|Haitani Necalli 4th Ryota Inoue GGP|Kazunoko Cammy 5th Hiromiki Kumada DNG|Itabashi Zangief Zangief 5th Masato Takahashi RB|Bonchan Nash 7th Jonny Cheng HuomaoTV|HumanBomb Chun-Li 7th Seon-woo Lee RZR|Infiltration Nash, Rashid 9th Bruce Hsiang ZW|GamerBee Necalli 9th Ricki Ortiz EG|Ricki Ortiz Chun-Li 9th Hiroyuki Nagata HM|Eita Ken 9th Naoto Sako HORI|Sako Chun-Li 13th Atsushi Fujimura YD|Yukadon Nash 13th Chris Wong Chris Wong Nash 13th Goichi Kishida HM|Go1 Chun-Li 13th Kun Xian Ho RZR|Xian F.A.N.G
References