From afterthought to champion: iDom’s run to the Capcom Cup
LOS ANGELES — With full force, Derek “iDom” Ruffin leapt off his feet and yelled with exhilaration. Just seconds earlier, the 23-year-old New Yorker had become the seventh Capcom Cup champion, in a weekend that was capstoned by taking down the arguable best player in the world. Overcome with emotion, iDom wept, let out another roar and raised the lit-up, blue trophy above his head.
Sunday marked the conclusion of the 2019 Capcom Pro Tour that featured events in the United States, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and South America — all culminating in the best 32 players from the year competing in a star-studded invitational at The Novo in L.A. Live. Coming into it, iDom remained an afterthought for many.
IDom had competed in just eight of the 54 events that awarded Capcom Pro Tour points in the 2019 season, but remained a staple of top eights throughout those tournaments. With a total of an 87 percent top eight percentage, he finished seventh-eighth at Combo Breaker in St. Charles, Illinois, in May; fifth-sixth at the Evolution Championship Series in Las Vegas in August; and fourth in the Latin American Regional Open in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October.
But he was the least of many’s concerns, as players focused on the likes of Victor “Punk” Woodley — who set a record for the highest amount of Capcom Pro Tour points earned in any single year at over 4,800 total — as well as reigning Evo champion Masato “Bonchan” Takahashi and long-time great Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi, who earned third in the global rankings.
By the end of Sunday, iDom stood flanked by professional wrestler Kenny Omega and Street Fighter V executive producer Yoshinori Ono as he won $250,000 and cemented himself among the greats in Street Fighter lore. “It’s crazy. I still can’t even believe what happened up there,” iDom told ESPN. “It’s impossible to believe.”
iDom became both the second American to win a Street Fighter title at Capcom Cup and the second pro to win a Capcom Cup title in a year where he had not won a premier tournament. In fact, iDom has never won a premier tournament after just over two years of leaving his home in Queens, New York, and beginning to travel the world.
Not only did iDom set history for himself as he became the lowest seed to ever win a Capcom Cup, but he stunted an achievement that looked all but destined for Punk. Consistently regarding the best American player of the year, Punk dominated the 2019 Capcom Pro Tour but since his breakout year in 2017, he has failed to earn himself an Evo or Capcom Cup title.
In a winners finals series on Sunday afternoon, Punk edged out iDom the first time — earning his spot in the grand finals — but broke under the pressure as iDom mounted a losers bracket run, carried that momentum into a rematch and then reset the bracket with a reverse sweep. In the second series of the grand finals, Punk looked defeated. But iDom, he was riding high.
“[Punk] always pushes me,” iDom said. “Every time I play him, even though I lose the majority of the time, I always enjoy playing him and when it was close, I was like, ‘okay, this is a good set. I can take this.’ But it happened to go his way in winners finals.
“I really think that going back to character select really helped me. It helped me compose myself. I was getting hit a lot and just not thinking and not playing my own game plan. I feel like going back and rethinking it really helped me out.”
No one practiced for iDom and his ability to fly under the radar and be counted out played into his hand. iDom’s first round matchup was against Atsushi “Fujimura” Fujimura, who received good marks from analysts across the board. Many thought Fujimura would send iDom to the losers bracket quite easily — admittedly including the author of this piece during a pre-show on Saturday — but iDom proved everyone wrong.
“No one was really practicing for me,” iDom said. “I felt like nobody really, not acknowledged, but I was just another competitor. I wasn’t a favorite to take it. I’m pretty sure no one in fantasy brackets or anything had me taking the tournament. I feel like no one prepared for me, which gave me an advantage.”
Across the board American players showed out at the 2019 Capcom Cup. In the first round 31st-seeded pro Bryant “Smug” Huggins upset Bonchan, while Gustavo “801 Strider” Romero took tournament favorite Adel “Big Bird” Anouche to five games. Meanwhile iDom defeated Fujimura 3-2 in a reverse sweep, akin to the one that reset the bracket in the grand final, and top-seeded Punk stormed his way through Raphael “Zenith” Puglielli.
Come Sunday, the grand finale would feature two Americans in a tournament of 32 where nearly half of the competitors were Japanese. That has only happened once, in 2016, the first year Street Fighter V debuted on the circuit and Du “NuckleDu” Dang defeated Ricki Ortiz. For the first time ever, the top three did not feature a Japanese player.
“It was a good look because it shows the U.S. is a good region and we are no region to be slept on,” iDom said. “It gives people more respect on the U.S.’s name — that the two best players right now are from the U.S.”
IDom returns to New York on Monday $250,000 richer. Five players of the 32, including iDom, did not have a professional team coming into the event, severely inhibiting their ability to travel across the globe and relying on, at times, crowdfunding to get them there. For iDom, that’s almost certain to change and as he looks ahead to the next year, he’ll enter with a target on his back.
“People are going to definitely practicing against Laura and Poison more because everyone here was unfamiliar or like didn’t have too much practice against the characters,” he said. “I think more people will be practicing, more people like will maybe try her out and maybe use her in the tournament.”