Summer is heating up in a big way for Street Fighter V. This weekend, Community Effort Orlando 2016 will feature a climactic clash between two pools of fighting-game talent: the East and the West. Since this is one of the first major Capcom Pro Tour events to include representatives from North America, Europe and Asia, all eyes will be on CEO as everyone waits to see which region will emerge victorious. With over 837 entrants divided into over 38 pools, the winner will need every bit of their endurance to earn this Premier event's first prize and a coveted seed in Capcom Cup 2016.
North America's hope
While European SFV competitors held their own against their Asian counterparts last week at DreamHack Summer, these are untested waters for North America. The premier esports team Evil Genius will be out in full force in Florida, contributing its NA roster's considerable talent to the cause. Justin "JWong" Wong, Ricki Ortiz, Kenneth "K-Brad" Bradley and Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez arguably represent North America's top tier of players, and they will need to perform at their best for the chance to win it all. JWong, especially, may have subject to the highest expectations, as he's dominated the recent Capcom ranking events in North America. His use of Karin is absolutely stellar, but it will need to stack up against some of the world's best warriors.
There are plenty of strong contenders for the title aside from the Evil Genius squad: Team Naventic's Peter "Flash Metroid" Susini, Team Liquid's Du "NuckleDu" Dang, Echo Fox's Julio Fuentes, Chris Tatarian, Brentt "Brenttiscool" Franks, Team YP's Anton "Filipinoman" Herrera, and Panda Global's Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez.
In addition, there are many other skilled NA players that could run the table and end up on the winner's podium. The notable names include Ultra Arcade's Jun "Saionide" Han, Red Bull's Darryl "SnakeEyez" Lewis, Brian "bjUNCHAINED" Jeon, Bryant "Smug" Huggins, and Hsien Chang. While there are many other great competitors in the tournament, anyone who's not on Evil Geniuses is considered to be on relatively even footing.
My personal dark horse candidate for top eight is Antonio "Kusanagi" Medrano. He's quickly climbing the points standings and could really turn some heads this weekend.
The power of Asia
It's no surprise that the players from Asia enter CEO as the proverbial favorites to win another tournament. Last week's Dreamhack Summer was the first time a European player took home a Premier Event -- otherwise, it's been a largely Asian-dominated season. The spotlight belongs to Razer's Seonwoo "Infiltration" Lee from South Korea. Currently in second place in the Capcom global standings, Infiltration dominated the competition in his two previous Premier Event appearances (Final Round and NorCal Regionals) and should be the odds-on favorite to take down another tournament. While recent showings revealed a few cracks in his armor, Infiltration is still the world's best player when the rubber hits the road.
From there, the list of killers remains impressive. Japan will have representation from Red Bull and Twitch's Daigo "The Beast" Umehara, Evil Genius' Yusuke "Momochi" Momochi, Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, Kenryo "Mago" Hayashi, Hiroyuki "Eita" Nagata, YouDeal Majestic Athletic's Tatsuya "Haitani" Haitani, Ryota "Kazunoko" Inoue, Ryo "Dogura" Nozaki, Kishida "Go1" Goichi, and Shinya "Nuki" Onuki. Of that list, the most dangerous players are Tokido, Momochi, Daigo Umehara, and Haitani, but you wouldn't find too many arguments against any other name. China will also have a few representatives in Qanba's Zhuojun "Xiao Hai" Zeng and PandaTV's Xijie "Dark Jiewa" Zeng.
Europe, the dark horse
There will be few European names scattered throughout the weekend during CEO, but they're no slouches. Melty's Jean-Baptiste "Will2Pac" Wilfried and Perilous' Marcus "Packz" Parker lead the charge for Europe's representation and could very well make some noise.