In addition to the Mortal Kombat X Season 3 Pro League qualifiers that take place on Sundays, eligible players also have the chance to compete in the weekly Challenger Cup. Using an identical ranking system, the top players of each week earn seeding points that are needed to qualify for the monthly Challenger Cup Finals. The top 4 seeds of both the Latin America and North America region earn a spot in the monthly finals.
However, due to most of the North American contestants attending Combo Breaker the same weekend, the May North American Challenger Cup Finals were cancelled. Each player that qualified earned their respective cash prizes depending on their seeding points.
LATIN AMERICA
Crazy_Faster_88 and BM Dante are no strangers to the Challenger Cup Finals. Although both competitors qualified to compete in the April Challenger Cup Finals, their first matches in May marked the first time they faced off against each other. Dante fell short last month using his Jax and Liu Kang and decided to showcase his Tarkatan Alien. After taking a quick two game lead, Crazy_Faster displayed signs of life and took the set to Game 4.
OH What was that? #MKXChallengerCup pic.twitter.com/y6UN6VPbx3
— ESL Mortal Kombat (@ESLMortalKombat) May 28, 2016
The character switch proved successful for Dante as he sent Crazy_Faster to the losers bracket 3-1.
Chicuelo_Young and BlackStorm have been taking the Latin American Challenger Cup by storm. Chicuelo managed to win Week 5 of the Challenger Cup by taking out uB-KillerXinok in the grand finals. Blackstorm won Week 7 of the Challenger Cup by eliminating April’s finalists Shamanz and Crazy_Faster_88.
Game 1 of the set went down to the wire, with Chicuelo clutching out the 1-0 lead. Blackstorm seemed unfazed by losing the first game and in a familiar fashion answered back even stronger by taking the next two games. On the brink of being sent to the losers bracket, Chicuelo switched to Heavy Weapons Jax as a last ditch effort to make a comeback. In the end, Blackstorm’s Mileena proved victorious as he sent Chicuelo to the losers bracket 3-1.
BlackStormBr takes down Chicuelo_young 3-1!https://t.co/Dz22QeCGJf#MKXChallengerCup pic.twitter.com/tSPDwh9NUi
— ESL Mortal Kombat (@ESLMortalKombat) May 28, 2016
The winners finals of the May Challenger Cup consisted of BM Dante and Blackstorm. After an impressive showing by Blackstorm against Chicuelo, there was no telling which of these two fighters would advance to the grand finals. In order to compete against Blackstorm’s Mileena, Dante put his best foot forward with Wrestler Jax. Regardless of Blackstorm’s best efforts, Dante swept him 3-0 to advance to the grand finals.
BM Dante moves on to the finals after taking down BlackStormBr_ 3-0!#MKXChallenger pic.twitter.com/nrAz0sRYAf
— ESL Mortal Kombat (@ESLMortalKombat) May 28, 2016
The losers finals for May included a runback between Blackstorm and Chicuelo. Both players opted to use their main characters in Game 1 with Blackstorm using Mileena and Chicuelo using Shinnok. Blackstorm took two straight games and it was clear that he wanted his revenge against Dante in the grand finals. Chicuelo took a round in Game 3, but Blackstorm eliminated him with a clean 3-0 sweep.
Storm eliminates Chicuelo_young for the second time today and moves on to the finals! #MKXChallenger pic.twitter.com/9RVCxAME3y
— ESL Mortal Kombat (@ESLMortalKombat) May 28, 2016
After a night full of blood baths, only BM Dante and Blackstorm remained standing. Blackstorm had his work cut out for him, not only because he was originally sent to the losers bracket by Dante, but also because he had to win two consecutive sets against him in order to be crowned champion. After Dante took a lightning fast 2-0 lead, it seemed as if history was going to repeat itself. Blackstorm needed to make adjustments if he wanted to reset the bracket against Dante.
After Blackstorm’s experiment with his D’vorah in Game 2 tremendously failed, he decided to go back to his roots with Mileena. In round 3 of Game 3, Blackstorm clutched out a victory with a perfectly timed anti air combo. With such an explosive Game 3, the momentum seemed to slowly shift in Blackstorm’s favor. Game 4 seemed to follow a similar suit as well, with Blackstorm edging out another win in a close round 3. If Dante failed to make the right adjustments, the bracket reset would put him in an extremely difficult situation.
With Game 5 reaching the final round, it was either player’s set to win. As both players sat on about 20% health, Dante slowly pushed Blackstorm to the corner. A risky read by Dante paid off as he caught Blackstorm with an overhead dash punch in the corner to convert into the tournament-winning combo.
Dante is the May #MKXChallenger Cup Champions! pic.twitter.com/3avwtT5sve
— ESL Mortal Kombat (@ESLMortalKombat) May 28, 2016
Dante being crowned king of the May Challenger Cup Finals after a tough showing last month proved that revenge is a sweet dish best served cold. Only one more monthly Challenger Cup Finals remains. Who will be the next victor?
Remember to grab your spot at the Season 3 Finals in Burbank, California while seats are still available! For all the latest information about the #MKXProLeague, be sure to follow ESL Mortal Kombat on Facebook and Twitter, as well as the official Pro League and Challenger Cup websites.
