A Measure of Revenge: Tokido Beats Daigo in Street Fighter V at NCR
By Jeff Kotuby ·
After CYG|Daigo Umehara's emphatic victory over Hajime "FOX|Tokido" Taniguchi in their highly-regarded "Kemonomichi" exhibition, See how Tokido looked for, and got, revenge against his fiercest rival at NorCal Regionals.
Hajime “FOX|Tokido” Taniguchi is arguably the hottest Street Fighter V player in the world right now. Tokido hasn’t finished below fifth in a tournament since October 2017, and has three victories under his belt, including the most recent tournament, NorCal Regionals (NCR). However, the one glaring loss on his resume occurred earlier this year at CYG|Daigo Umehara’s “Kemonomichi” exhibition event, where he lost to his longtime rival 10-5 in what was a first-to-10 series. Tokido was very obviously distraught, and said he wanted to get better in order to finally prove he was the very best fighting game player on the planet.
But without a victory over Daigo, how could Tokido stake that claim? Well, as fate would have it, Daigo and Tokido would meat at NorCal Regionals, one of the first stops on the Capcom Pro Tour and an event that has historically produced some amazing moments. Here, Tokido was determined to finally vanquish his demons and score a victory over Umehara.
The Fight is On!
RIght off the bat, it seems that this set’s going to go just like Kemonomichi. Daigo’s expert use of projectiles and Guile’s limbs prove to be too much for Tokido early on, as Daigo takes the first round via chip damage. Almost as if a switch is flipped, Tokido becomes much more aggressive and manages to take the next two rounds, and go up 1-0 in the set.
The second game starts similarly, with Daigo securing an early victory, and it sort of seemed like Daigo could start to make a comeback. However, Tokido’s emphatic second round victory cemented things in the Muderface’s favor. As the nine golden letters, “Perfect K.O.” would indicate, this was a completely different match than the pair’s last meeting.
Proving ever to be the thorn in Tokido’s side, Daigo just won’t quit. Even when the third and final game seems to be going Tokido’s way, Daigo caps off an impressive (and time-consuming) comeback, capped by this impressive fireball war in the waning seconds of the match.
Daigo’s face says it all, doesn’t it?
Not Like This!
At this point, Tokido is doing his best to stay calm, knowing of the advantage he has on his opponent. After all, Daigo is in losers, and would have to win two more games to “reset the bracket,” meaning Daigo would then have to win two sets of best-to-three in order to eliminate Tokido and win the tournament. Meanwhile, Tokido only needed one more game to finish the job and get some amount of vindication from his earlier loss. But if anyone’s going to mount a comeback like this, it would be Daigo.
Tokido takes the first game, but finds himself on his very last pixel of health in round two. Just when it seems like Daigo could steal a round and prolong his demise, Tokido manages to slay The Beast once and for all:
After his victory, Tokido seemed equal parts happy and relieved. He avoided another los to his rival, and managed to win another tournament, his second big tournament win in a row after winning Thaiger Uppercut at the end of March. For Daigo, he mentioned that even while finishing second, the event was a success, due to his improvements over Menat players:
Like Magic and Bird, watching these two do battle is a pleasure each and every time it occurs. The Capcom Pro Tour is just getting started, and with that come a number of opportunities for these two to do battle again. Of course, the FGC will be waiting for that next opportunity.
Wondering what Kemonomichi was? Wonder no more. Check out our recap and breakdown of the event and get more Daigo versus Tokido!