Who will win the Capcom Cup 2019? Predictions and prize pool

The last major Street Fighter V tournament of 2019 kicks off this weekend, seeing the top 32 players compete for money and glory.

Taking place at the Novo Theatre in Los Angeles, the Capcom Cup will see some intense matchups between the best within the scene - but who will come out on top?

Prize Pool

The prize pot consists of $250,000, a.k.a. $250,000 "Bison Bucks" or "Shadaloo stocks" in Street Fighter lingo. That being said, there isn't a lot of wiggle room for dropped combos, missed executions, or players, "playing with their food" during matches.

Below is the amount of "Bison Bucks" earned per placement (does not include CP DLC prize pool bonus).

1st: $120,000

2nd: $50,000

3rd: $21,000

4th: $12,500

5-6th: $9,000

7-8th: $5,000

9-12th: $2,000

13-16th: $1,000

17-24th: $500

25-32nd: $250

Players with the most momentum 

Japan has a commanding lead acquiring the most players competing in Capcom Cup 2019 with 14 players. Next in line is the USA with 6 players followed by the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates with 2 players each. If I was a gambling man, I know where and who I would bet my "Bison Bucks" on.

Masato "Bonchan" Takahashi, who won Evo 2019 earlier this year, is undoubtedly a favourite to win Capcom Cup 2019 following his performance.

There is some other contenders though; Victory "Punk" Woodley is the highest-ranked player on the Global Ranking Point Leaderboard.

Let us not forget our current Capcom Cup Champion though Kanamori "Gachikun" Tsunehiro. Can "Gachikun" be the first two times in a row Capcom Cup Champion? 

Returning players 

For the most part a little more than half of the 32 players competing in Capcom Cup 2019 competed in last year's event. Some big names however didn't make the roster for this year, including Justin Wong, MenaRD, Chris Tatarian and even Itabashi who played in Grand Finals last year against Gachikun.

However, Smug from USA made the rosters. Will the Mayor of Duff City take it this year? 

Top eight predictions

Punk is the top ranked player in the world (Picture: Robert Paul)

It's not a bold prediction to say over half of the top eight players will be from Japan since prior Capcom Cup history shows us that in the brackets, and 14 of the 32 players come from Japan.

With Justin Wong being the only player last year to make top eight from the USA, is there any pressure from the six current Capcom Cup players representing USA to at least make top eight?

I have Japan filling up at least four of the top eight spots with two spots from USA, one representing for the UK in Problem X, and the last spot held by France's Luffy. Then again, there is also the Last Chance Qualifier too.

Final predictions

I honestly do not see anything unexpected or someone we didn't see coming to take home the trophy. With more than half of last year's players competing this year, the top eight should feel like familiar territory for most. The players I see going all the way are either Bonchan, Tokido, or Gachikun.

You can check out all the action from the Capcom Cup starting Friday 13 December on the Capcom Fighters Twitch channel.