The first match pitted two of Dundee's star players against each other, Branstar and Muirtron. Having ranked top in the qualifying season and placed top 4 in the previous Scottish Street Fighter season Muirtron was arguably the favourite for the tournament. Having stuck with M.Bison from Super he was clearly comfortable with his characters' capabilities. Branstar on the other hand had switched from being an E.Honda player to being a T.Hawk main now. One of the more underused characters, T.Hawk has some dangerous setups and very high damage output. Still, this could not help him overcome the powerful M.Bison, with his various ways of being able to escape any wakeup pressure with meter and excellent control of space with his standing kick attacks.

Greyhamne, Muirtron's brother and one of Dundee's other top players, then came up against Edinburgh regular SmokesCement. Both these players have switched characters since the previous iteration of Street Fighter 4, with both now using Gouken and Seth respectively. Anyone unaware of Gouken's potential need only look at Infiltration's match against Bonchan at the Canada Cup to know what the character is capable of. Greyhamne was in dominating form as well, utilising Gouken's buffed normals and high damage and stun output to take down the glass cannon that is Seth.

NT360 and KC260 then faced off in a Vega vs Dhalsim match, a familiar sight for any regular in the Edinburgh scene. NT360's knowledge of the match appeared to be steering him to victory, using unorthodox but effective anti-airs to counter any wall-dive attempts from Vega and then controlling the space well with his stretchy limbs and Yoga Fire's. Just as it seemed as though he was about to take the 2nd set a well time Ultra 1 from KC's Vega flew straight through Dhaslim's flames and tied the match at 1-1. Despite this setback the general momentum did not shift. NT regained composure and managed to take the third set and progress to the next round.

Regular Superwinston then came up against wildcard o Briannn x. Despite being a tournament newcomer o Briannn x had already made a name by winning a Scottish community winner stays on stream a couple of months previous. His relentless Viper play was rewarded with an eventual double perfect against Superwinston.



The winner's semis then saw a true case of sibling rivalry, with both matches being played out by sets of brothers. The Dundee match was first up, with Greyhamne's Gouken taking the first set impressively, using an FADC combo to set up a stun and take the final round with a near perfect. Muirtron came back strongly there after though, using Bison's ridiculous crouching light kick pressure to mixup between grabs, Scissor Kicks or further low attacks. He eventually took the match 2-1.

Nt360 then made a character switch against Briannn, opting for Seth against C.Viper due to it being a disadvantageous match for Dhalsim. The two players familiarity with each other was apparent, with each round going down to the wire. Briannn's C.Viper eventually proved two strong though, and he took the match 2-0.

The winner's final then gave us a grudge match of sorts between Muirtron and Briannn. Briannn's impressive win streak on the stream was only ended by Muirtron, who then proceeded to beat Briannn in each subsequent meeting between the two. History looked like repeating itself when Muirtron took the winner's final 3-1, taking advantage of Briannn's apparent lack of Bison matchup experience. After Briannn navigated past a difficult loser's final against Greyhamne he was paired with Muirtron again for the grand final. Muirtron started strong, taking the first two sets and moving towards championship point. However, Briannn was adapting more and more to Muirtron's tactics and Bison's properties as the match wore on. He began to bait Muirtron's use of EX attacks to rob him of any escape tactics against Vipers' pressure game. He took the match 3-2 eventually, resetting the bracket after having been at the point of elimination.

Both players' then seemed to change their approach, with Muirtron becoming much more reserved with his use of meter, and Briannn anticipating Bison's jump-ins more and punishing them. Both players' changes seemed to have an effect on one another, with neither able to strike a decisive blow the tournament came down to the very last round of the last set. With both players clearly doing their best to hold back the nerves and pressure, mistakes were being made and yet interspersed with some fantastic reads and excellent mixups and pressure. With both players reduced to near KO state, Muirtron eventually crumbled, opting for a punishable special move which Briannn capitalised on. Having been at championship point down the youngster took the final in an impressive way, and both players giving us a final that was a fantastic tribute and send off for Arcade Edition. And not a twin in sight!

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Group 1 features 3 of East Scotland's' fighting game regulars; Belvedere, Hamsworth and MikeK1RA. Hamsworth stuck to a familiar team from the previous incarnation; featuring a still potent She Hulk backed by Dr. Doom and Taskmaster. Despite She Hulks' supposed nerfs his relentless pressure with her backed up by the infamous Hidden Missiles assist saw him win group 1 without dropping a game.

Belvedere mixed things up with a bit of old and new, keeping on Wesker from his previous teams but adding the improved Dormammu and newcomer Frank West into the mould. Wesker's ever reliable teleport mixups and safe normals combined with the threat of Frank West's shopping trolley of doom saw him through in second.

MikeK1RA made his return to competitve fighting games in this tournament. Being mostly a Street Fighter player he went with a powerful team of bruisers; Hulk, Nemesis and Haggar. Despite his inexperience with Marvel his solid team and fundamentals allowed him to qualify in the last spot of group 1 after a tight decider with Kirayamato.

Newcomer Katana Seth's made the trip through from Stirling, and his Zero and Taskmaster team helped him to the third place.


Group 2 featured Faker, who must have felt confident after coming second at a Marvel Vs Capcom 3 tournament in Glasgow the previous week, newcomer Xanfel and regulars SamuraiDrew, ML3|VS|MCZ|The Janitor and Superwinston.

Faker proved a strong contender, experimenting initially with Phoneix Wright but then reverting to his vanilla team of Zero, Taskmaster and Deadpool. With a variety of Zero teleport mixups and resets and the most jabs you'll ever see from a Deadpool, he advanced in a relatively safe manner.

New face Xanfel proved to be a tricky cutomer running a few teams throughout the tournament, revolving around his solid Wesker and featuring a Resident Evil team of Wesker, Nemesis and Chris. He qualified in second after losing a close set to Faker.

ML3|EMP|MRN The Janitor qualified in third thanks to his solid team of heavy hitters, Haggar providing some Guile-theme worthy comebacks.

Super Saturdays regular Superwinston qualified using a variety of characters, overcoming SF4 veteran SamuraiDrew's unorthodox M.O.D.O.K. and Spiderman led team to take the final spot in group 2.

With a strong group of 8 having qualified there were bound to be some great matches, with the Grangemouth derby of Belvedere vs ML3|LLL|ColCC|The Janitor perhaps providing the pick of the bunch, Belvedere's bloodthirsty Wesker never giving his opponent a second to make use of Hulk's own pressure game. The first round did go to form however, with top 2 placing players defeating their opponents.

Janitor then survived his first lower bracket game in a battle of the bruisers with MikeK1RA, though with Mike opting to select Storm and Ryu to compliment his Hulk in the latter set. The improved ranged potential of this team wasn't enough to overcome a more experienced player and team despite a valiant effort.

In the first of two epic encounters Xanfel managed to defeat group 1 winner Hamsworth in a very close match. Despite losing She-Hulk regularly Hamsworth showed that his Dr. Doom and Taskmaster aren't just there for their assists, Dr. Doom dealing somen incredible damage off of his newly improved air S as a combo starter, and an incredible amount of Taskmaster air throws leading to his air arrow hyper combo for big damage. However, Xanfel's Wesker proved that he is still a formidable character, opening up his opponent's defense on numerous occasions.

Faker's Zero shenanigans and his experience of playing against high level Wesker players in the Glasgow area meant he proved just too much for Belvedere to overcome.

Belvedere and Hamsworth would meet again in the lower bracket in a rerun of their nail-biting group stage encounter. Belvedere's ever reliable Wesker again did considerable damage, allowing him to take a set, but Hamsworth's familiarity with his team was evident, with Dr. Doom and Taskmaster combos fired off without fail to see him through to the lower bracket final.

Another group stage rerun saw Faker and Xanfel come to blows again, with Faker opting to stick to his vanilla team, and again making the most of the many openings his Zero play were giving him.

Despite being beaten Xanfel recovered and overcame Hamsworth in another close played set to rematch Faker in the Grand Final. Faker's Zero again doing all the damage in the first two sets, and with Xanfel seemingly down and out, dropping combos making team changes after each defeat as if at a loss, he managed to bring it back and win the next two games after reverting to his Resident Evil themed team. However, just as all in attendance were awaiting something special, Faker managed to regain his composure, relying on the safe zoning capabilities of Deadpool noticably more than previous, and won the final avoiding a bracket reset.

Final Results:
1st - Faker
2nd - Xanfel
3rd - Hamsworth
4th - Belvedere
5th - KatanaSeth, ML3|DMG|TTC The Janitor
7th - Superwinston, MikeK1RA

A massive congratulations to the winners and many thanks to all who came along and made it a fantastic day. We hope to see you soon for more Marvel Vs Capcom and fighting game action.