Yeh “Hotdog29” Man Ho has won the final CPT event of the year, taking the North American Open Super Premier.
The tournament was stacked with many of the world’s best Street Fighter V players looking for last-minute points to qualify for the year-end Capcom Cup.
On his way to the grand finals, Hotdog defeated Natao “Sako” Sako, Victor “Punk” Woodley, and Benjamin “ProblemX” Simon.
In the grand final, Hotdog29 faced former Capcom Cup 2016 champion, Du “NuckleDu” Dang, who had to beat Keita” Fuudo” Ai, Hikori “Kichipa-Mu” Asano, and Evo champ, Masato “Bonchan” Takahashi, to get there.
Hotdog29 won the first game convincingly, overwhelming NuckleDu’s defensive Guile with constant pressure strings.
After dropping the first game, NuckleDu decided to switch to Cammy. NuckleDu’s switch meant he could be more aggressive and was always on the attack.
NuckleDu kept pressuring Hotdog29 with pokes and throws, and took the next three games in a row, taking the first set 3-1, and resetting the series.
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In the second set, despite losing three games in a row, Hotdog regrouped and managed to stop NuckleDu’s momentum by taking the first game 2-0.
NuckleDu was able to take game two, but HotDog easily took game three with some absolutely insane corner damage.
Facing tournament point, and with his Cammy figured out, NuckleDu decided to make one last character switch to G.
The change gave him better ground options and more corner carry, but G’s slower pokes also opened NuckleDu up to more throws, which Hotdog took good advantage of.
With game four tied 1-1, the final round came down to the wire with both fighters low on life. However, a super aggressive Hotdog went for a risky double Psycho Axe string that caught NuckleDu pushing buttons and Hotdog finished it with a Psycho Inferno to take the 3-1 victory.
For his first-place finish at NA Regional Open, Hotdog29 earned a massive US$50,000 and 1,000 Capcom Pro Tour points, catapulting him up to fifth-place on the Global Leaderboard.
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