When Street Fighter V star Du “NuckleDu” Dang crashed out of the ELEAGUE Invitational in Group C earlier this month, the 21 year old reigning Capcom Cup winner was in an uncharacteristic slump. A disastrous 17th place finish at DreamHack Austin preceded the event, and off-days at NCR and Final Round XX resulted in 2nd and 3rd place finishes there. Still looking for his first big win of 2017, Team Liquid’s Nuckledu came to Combo Breaker in an effort to finally find a championship and get his season back on track.
First he had to get through a slew of veteran players at the tournament, eventually having a rematch with veteran Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis in the Grand Finals. In the end, NuckleDu prevailed, winning the title in two sets, 3 – 0 and 3 – 2. The first four places at the event were taken by American players, a first in Capcom Pro Tour history.
The win comes as a relief for Du, who said later that he had been seriously doubting himself in recent weeks:
I did it! I won Combo Breaker 2017! So happy, after losing eleague, I wanted to quit. So reassuring after this win. I’m done ._.
— Du Dang (@LiquidNuckleDu) May 29, 2017
Combo Breaker 2017 Final Placements
| 1st | Liquid|NuckleDu |
| 2nd | CYG BST|Snake Eyez |
| 3rd | PIE|Smug |
| 4th | Brian_F |
| 5th | ECHO FOX|Justin Wong |
| 5th | Scarz|Sako |
| 7th | SPLYCE|FChamp |
| 7th | EG|NYCHrisG |
