The Grand Finals of the Street Fighter V Gfinity Elite Series saw the two top teams, Melbourne ORDER and Sydney Chiefs, go head to head for the first place prize of $10,000 AUD.

Additionally, prior to this set, both clubs were also tied top place on the Club standings. The winner of this set would also earn their club the first place prize of $30,000 AUD.

The Chiefs were hiding their big guns last time they played ORDER in Week 5, utilising two of their subs in an attempt to mask their formation. Chiefs would then opt to bench core member ZG in favour of DaBigChoppa. An interesting but justified decision when you look at Choppa’s flawless win streak to date this season.

For the final, they decided to stick it out with Somniac, BKSama and DaBigChoppa, while ORDER came in with their reliable line up of ROF, Travis Styles and Bug.

ORDER’s Bug sends an early statement to the Chiefs by not only putting the first point on the board but also handing DaBigChoppa his first loss this season.

There was a lot on the line and you can see the early match nerves coming from both players.

The match started of a bit shaky, both players scrambling to find an advantage over the other.

Bug however clinched it out with a clean Ibuki sequence, perfectly hitting Choppa right where his defences were most exposed.

Carrying the momentum forward Travis Styles defeated Somniac to bring ORDER up two points in the series. While Somniac is well known for his defensive playstyle, it became his downfall as Travis used that against him by gaining an early life lead and forcing Somniac to engage.

The first round demonstrated this best as Somniac was left with critical health and Travis just waited for him to hang himself in desperation, over 40 whole seconds passed before Travis closed the round.

ROF capped off the first three games with another victory, bringing ORDER one game away from clean sweeping the Grand Finals.

BKSama rushed out the gates with a hyper aggressive style in the first round but the tables turned drastically when ROF had a chance to use V-trigger. The increased damage, movement speed and armor helped ROF equalize the score.

In contrast BKSama just couldn’t manage to make anything happen with his own resources, ironically losing to an overhead punish when his Aegis Reflector ran out of duration in the third round.

It was looking grim for the Chiefs, facing down the barrel of a possible clean 4-0 sweep. However DaBigChoppa managed to pump the brakes, taking out Travis Styles, finally scoring Chiefs first point.

DaBigChoppa looked a more dominant the second time round and applied pressure in excess, probably lending to the fact that Balrog doesn’t have many options on defence. Travis was struggling to keep Choppa out but was unable to keep the fight at the mid range where he usually excels at.

The final showdown would fittingly be between the two teams captains, ORDER’s ROF and Chiefs’ Somniac. ROF was as formidable as ever, unrelenting in his birdie pressure claiming the last game of the season in a dominant 2-0.Somniac was struggling to find his opportunity with ROF contesting a lot of his larger frame gaps and interrupting Somniac rhythm. ROF closed the set with a bold EX Bullhead, crowning ORDER the two time Gfinity Champions.

With this victory, ORDER claimed the first place prize in both Street Fighter V and overall club category. A fantastic performance by ORDER’s team overall, they have painted a undoubtedly large target on their back coming into the teased third season of the Gfinity Elite series.

A monumental night to take us that much closer to the Gfinity Elite Series Street Fighter V Grand Finals.

Two more teams have been eliminated and the stage is set for the final showdown between returning Champions Melbourne Order and their rivals the Sydney Chiefs.

It wasn’t an easy road to get here, both teams performed extremely well in the round robin stages and had to compete with Perth Ground Zero and Melbourne Avant in a single elimination match.

Editor note: Unfortunately due to issues with WordPress this week the clips aren’t able to be inline embedded into the piece. Should be rectified moving forward.

? This weekend’s finals will pack a punch, get prepared with @ASTROGaming‘s Top 5 #StreetFighterV Moments from the semi-finals!

? @Oi_Rupps | @RoF_uu | @DaBigChoppaNZ | @xaverunsgdlk @bksama | @SydneyChiefs pic.twitter.com/nfVNWPpT3l

— Gfinity Australia (@GfinityAU) December 13, 2018

Melbourne ORDER vs Perth Ground Zero

A very decisive 4-1 victory for Melbourne Order, they showed no mercy in their rematch of Season One Grand Finals with Perth Ground Zero.

Bug and Syo kicked off the night with an Ibuki Mirror between Mentor and pupil. Traditionally Bug would be the favourite to win but recently Syo has managed to swing things in his favour. The match was very volatile and it almost felt like whoever scored the first Knockdown take the round.

Syo clinched the match twice with Ibuki’s deadly Air Kunai release, a technique that pries on a player’s defensive throw tech habits and unfortunately for Order, Bug wasn’t prepared for it the first or the second time.

https://clips.twitch.tv/SwissTacitOrangePRChase

In the second match Rupps bought out the Alex in a very questionable approach against ROF. He had a shining moment in the second round where he managed to steal a round after landing three perfect reads in a row.  However the high risk / reward game eventually fell out if his favour and ROF secured the victory.

https://clips.twitch.tv/KawaiiFragileSardineKeepo

The Marquee player for ORDER was definitely Travis Styles and his formidable Balrog. He once again scored two matches and garnering yet another Astro MVP, he is hands down the most consistent player in Season 2 and a very reliable asset for the team. His matches against Syo and Ghostchip’s highlighted his rock solid defence and excellent decision making under pressure. 

His opponents used characters who are well known for having very oppressive pressure. His liberal use of V-reversal helped to push them off and allowed him to create space to play at the range he is comfortable in.With these two dominant wins under his belt, Travis’ looks primed to carry Order to victory next week in the Grand Finals.

With ORDER only one match away from getting into Grand Finals, the pressure was on for Ghostchip’s to carry his team from defeat. He barely squeezed a victory with a trade combo in the first round but it would all go downhill as Birdie’s reliable damage seemed to tip the scramble situations quite heavily in ROF’s favour.

By the end of the set, ROF had Ghost all figured out with a well timed jump back to catch Bison’s Slide into V-Trigger activate.

https://clips.twitch.tv/SmilingSuavePistachioFrankerZ

Once again ORDER claimed their spot in the Grand Finals. Their convincing victory here paints them as definite favourites to take out the championship. Will history repeat itself? We’ll find out on Sunday!

Melbourne Avant vs Sydney Chiefs

Oh boy, this was a crazy set. Sydney Chiefs narrowly closed it out 4-3 thanks to their trump card player DaBigChoppa.

The team composition in this match had both teams align perfectly, Each player would have the same opponent through out the set. DaBigChoppa had mentioned earlier in the Round Robin stages about how he wanted to have a go at “Mr. Gfinity” RumourOfGhosts and he got his wish three-fold.

AwildLLAMA scored the lion-share of points for Avant while making Somniac look like a fish out of water in the G vs M.Bison match up. In the first match Somniac looked like he was in full control until AwildLLAMA found his opportunity with a very pivotal cross up jump in to claim the corner. From there he scored outrageous damage on every successful read on Somniac’s defence to claim the first match.

Somniac took a very different approach in the second match with a heavily offensive style, which in theory works well against G’s low defensive options. However, AwildLLAMA matched it pound for pound and just made so much more damage from every chance he could get compared to Somniac.

https://clips.twitch.tv/AgileKnottyAdminTTours

Spaceghost barely stole the first match in a close call against BKsama. It was down to the wire in all three rounds and these two players were looking very evenly matched. BKSama did everything he could to keep in Spaceghost’s face, wanting to avoid playing the fireball game against Guile.

Their second match looked nothing like the first. BKSama just proceeded to run a train over Spaceghost in a clean 2-0 victory. Look at this nasty Shimmy conversion.

https://clips.twitch.tv/RelievedBraveToadUnSane

The MVP of the night goes the DaBigChoppa claiming 3 straight wins against Avant captain RumoursOfGhosts. DaBigChoppa has brought nothing but carnage in his wake since he has entered Gfinity this season and this week was no different.

As the series went on it looked like Rumours was getting closer and closer to victory but DaBigChoppa kept managing to clutch it out. There were so many highlights between these two, just check them out yourself below!

https://clips.twitch.tv/ManlyKitschyAyeayeRlyTho

https://clips.twitch.tv/OriginalArborealCobraSmoocherZ

https://clips.twitch.tv/CrunchyImportantLampPogChamp

With only one week to go which team will take out the lion’s share of the $27,500 prize pool? Can the Chiefs overthrow ORDER? Will ORDER walk into 2019 as the two time champions? Join me in the Twitch chat later today to find out!

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League Finals today. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The Street Fighter V Round Robin stages are all over at the Gfinity Elite Series and the semi finals matchups are now finalised.

The competition only gets fiercer with only two weeks left and four teams duking it out for their share of the 27.5k Prize pool.

Brisbane Deceptors vs Sydney Roar

The first set of the night was sadly the last we will see of these teams this season, Brisbane Deceptors finally scores their first win over Sydney Roar.

Robbiesla described it very well in the post match interview as a “close 4-0”. This set had quite a few shining moments that were unfortunately punctuated with mishaps and comebacks that would ultimately cost Roar crucial match points.

Crowd favourite Robbiesla pulling his first win was definitely a highlight for the fervent Robbie fans in the audience. After a handful of very close losses in prior weeks, watching Robbie take this one out was admittedly very satisfying.

Fangrear held his ground particularly well zoning in the first round against m0nt in old Zeku form.

His success quickly declined when he started to brawl close range in Young Zeku form and m0nt quickly piled on the command grabs to dominate the match.

M0nt demonstrated this in his match against Damosk as well, slowly adapting his approach to pry on Damosk’s weakness, culminating into three risky overheads in the last set that paid off well.

Pahnda vs Waz was a very tense match and my favourite of the set. I enjoy watching the methodical playstyles from both of these players. The final sequence had me torn with Waz dropping a match winning super confirm and Pahnda capitalizing with a beautiful punish to close the set.

I feel with the tension of scoring relieved, these teams were playing a bit looser and relaxed, perhaps that’s the secret ingredient for success for the Deceptors in future?

Perth Ground Zero vs Melbourne Avant

Exhibitions aside, this is where the points start to matter.

Melbourne Avant lose their perfect league play win streak against Perth Ground Zero. The final score ended up 4-2 to Ground Zero. With Ghostchips looking to be a regular part of the line up now, Ground Zero is looking very menacing and this victory gives them a head of steam moving into Playoffs.

Rupps kicked off the first match with “counterpick” Abigail vs Spaceghost’s Guile. Spaceghost looked far more prepared this time round, not allowing a repeat of when he lost to DaBigChoppa’s Abigail earlier this season.

The usually dominant Bison player Ghostchips looked a bit rocky in his gameplay this week. He still managed to take the win in two close games against AwildLLAMA and Spaceghost but didnt look very pleased in the manner that it happened.

Ground Zero looked like they were intentionally trying to line Syo up with RumoursOfGhosts.

Syo looking very prepared coming into the first match with some slick counter play for Birdie. The second match however showed a very different story.

Rumours played much more aggressively and took advantage of Ibuki’s low life to close the match out quickly before she could get anything started.

I would have really liked to see how the seventh match would have gone between these two.

Melbourne ORDER vs Sydney Chiefs

Melbourne ORDER claimed the coveted first place seeding in the round robin stages with their 4-1 victory against Sydney Chiefs.

Sydney Chiefs subbed out their two core players ZG and Somniac for Acrylicsaint and Schenkhan. Surely a strategy to ensure their key players are at 100% when the Playoffs start.

Chiefs reduced firepower was very evident when ROF and Travis Styles tore their team asunder in record time.

Now with the Round robin stages out of the way the final scoreboard has ORDER once again on top followed by Avant Gaming, Chiefs and lastly Ground Zero.

The stage is set for the Playoffs between these four teams! With only two weeks left, who will succeed in taking home the lion’s share of the 27.5k prize pool? Who’s next on the chopping block?

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League this weekend. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

Week four of the Street Fighter V Gfinity Elite Series decisively guaranteed the top four teams who will be returning for playoffs.

Ground Zero cement their place as fourth this week and teams will be in an arms race for points to get into the best position possible for the second phase.

Melbourne ORDER vs Melbourne Avant

The first match of the night was a clash of titans. Avant’s captain RumoursOfGhosts secured the victory in the seventh match against ORDER’s captain ROF in the classic Birdie mirror match.

Avant’s victory puts them at a major advantage in the standings, but the consolation point ORDER secured for pushing the series to 7 games still has them in contention for the coveted first place spot.

Strangely enough the teams managed to sync their matchups perfectly with each other.

Travis Styles returns to form this week with two dominant back-to-back wins over AwildLLAMA.

Bug and Spaceghost’s matches were a clear demonstration in the difference of their playstyles. Spaceghost had Bug pinned down with Guile’s signature fireball and anti-air game, not giving Bug any opportunity to get started. However in the second game Bug’s Ibuki was unrelenting and managed to slice right through Spaceghosts meticulous zoning.

The big MVP of the set went to RumoursOfGhosts, defeating ROF three games in a row. This is no easy feat as the two titans are among Australia’s best players and iconic in their Birdie rivalry. Rumours mentions they are almost like ‘Yin and Yang” in the way they play.

Rumours riskier style paid of tonight as each of his reads scored him unsettling close wins against ROF. I am confident this won’t be the last we see from these two!

Perth Ground Zero vs Brisbane Deceptors

Ground Zero pulled out all the stops this week, sweeping the Deceptors 4-0.

This was a pivotal victory for Perth Ground Zero in terms of rankings. The three points they scored with this victory guarantees the fourth spot in the playoffs.

Unfortunately this means next week will be the final week for Brisbane Deceptors and Sydney Roar.

Syo dominated Pahnda in a quick two round sweep,while Rupps defeated m0nt with his secondary character Abigail. Castle intrigued by this decision asked him why he decided against Mika in this match up to which Rupps replied “If you are playing an opponent that isn’t thinking, Abigail is better”. Harsh.

The closest games of the set was the Alex mirror matches between FREESER and Robbiesla.

Robbisla once again was so close but so far from clinching out the victory. We can only hope Capcom can give this poor soul some buffs in the upcoming balance patch.

Sydney Roar vs Sydney Chiefs

Chief’s Somniac took a break this week and confided in his teammates to pull a clean 4-0 without him. It almost comes true too as Chief’s take the first three matches and start to look very comfortable with their lead, almost too comfortable.

Damosk brought Roar back on their feet with a stunning corner sequence against Schenkhan.

ZG may have underestimated Fangrear, causing a big upset when Fangrear managed to take it over the veteran.

Just as Roar had started to pick up the momentum, bksama managed to put an end to their streak and close out the set.

A good showing from Roar this week, outperforming their expectations and almost clinching the upset. Feel the tension in this match as Waz almost closes out a comeback in the sixth match.

Melbourne’s ORDER and Avant, Sydney’s Chiefs and Perth’s Ground Zero will be the four teams to move forward and week five of the round robin series will be a battle of points to claim the best seeding.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League this weekend. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

Week 3 of the Gfinity Elite series brings sweeping victories and a massive divide in the standings as the top teams pull away with a large point lead.

This also marks the biggest showing from the NZ players, all three players combined to win 100% of the games they participated in (Chur boys!).

Brisbane Deceptors vs Sydney Chiefs

The Sydney Chiefs hold a three week win streak with their 4-0 victory over Brisbane Deceptors.

Dabigchoppa made an interesting matchup decision choosing Zangief instead of Abigail against Pahnda’s ken. Choppa had a losing record against Pahnda in the Gfinity Challenger series and the surprise character choice was just enough to defeat his nemesis.

bksama took the first match very comfortably against Robbiesla. However Robbie fought back second match and had the crowd on the edge of their seats but a perfect sequence by bksama robbed him and his team of any potential comeback. Maybe next time Robbie

Melbourne ORDER vs Perth Ground Zero

The runback from the Season One Grand Finals, Melbourne ORDER kept Perth Ground Zero in check with a 4-2 Victory.

The young Ghostchips made his first appearance this season and proved he is NZ’s best player by defeating ORDER’s heavy hitter Travis Styles not once but twice in the same night.

ROF and Camzace picked up the slack and pulled ORDER to victory with two wins each against Syo and Rupps.

Camzace looked at home among the ORDER boys, pulling two wins against Syo that will surely set him up for future appearances. As his dedicated Ibuki training partner, it was a real treat to see him navigate through the matchup against Syo’s Ibuki.

ROF was up to no good as usual. Taking two games of Rupps, teabagging him and finishing it off with a well deserved donut munch. Stay classy ROF!

Sydney Roar vs Melbourne Avant

Melbourne Avant destroyed Sydney Roar with a crushing 4-0 sweep.

There’s really not much to say here, the returning triad of Spaceghost, RumoursOfGhost and AwildLLAMA just overwhelmed the Roar.

I had high hopes for Roar’s new cast but things aren’t shaping up for them and they don’t have many more chances to close the gap in the standings.

ORDER and Avant lead the scoreboard with 9 points a piece and the Chiefs are not too far behind with seven points. The bottom three teams will be duking it out to remain among the top four and with only two weeks left, the fourth week will be pivotal in deciding which teams will go to Playoffs!

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League this weekend. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The Gfinity Elite series Week 2 brought us a few new faces and crazy, jaw dropping matches to remember.

The teams continue through the Round Robin stages trying to secure a point lead where only the four top scoring teams will make it into playoffs.

Sydney Chiefs vs Melbourne Avant

The first set of the day marked the first time we have come to the seventh game tie breaker this season, Melbourne Avant barely closes it out against Sydney Chiefs 4-3.

This week Chiefs debuted their wildcard from NZ, DaBigChoppa with his fearsome Abigail. He butchered RumourOfGhost and Spaceghost in two very convincing 2-0 victories.

His impressive performance on the night would then prompt Somniac to tease that there may be more Choppa in weeks to come.

On the other side AwildLLAMA put in work scoring two big victories over Schenkhan and Somniac. His match with Somniac was a nail-biter. All three games had both players on critical health. AwildLLAMA managed to steal the win away with G’s insane damage potential and Vtrigger combos.

The highlight for me in this set was Spaceghost’s clutch win against Schenkhan. In the final round, Spaceghost managed to mount a classic Guile theme comeback that spanned 50 seconds and capitalized on the desperate Zeku players mistakes.

A beautiful counter hit conversion into super with a follow up throw would close in on a very pivotal victory for Melbourne Avant.

Sydney Roar vs Perth Ground Zero

Perth Ground Zero started off strong with a three win streak. Sydney Roar stopped the bleeding and picked up their second wind with a two win streak of their own. However Roar was unable to keep the momentum alive and would see Fangrear drop their last game to Staticz.

Perth Ground Zero took the set 4-3 over Sydney Roar.

Staticz scored the lion’s share of Ground Zero’s points via his two bouts with Fangrear. Fangrear looked very uncomfortable on the stage, perhaps tournament nerves getting the better of him.

Staticz on the other hand had no problems whatsoever, using both Menat and Bison to seal the deal against Fangrear’s Zeku.

FREESER’s match with Waz was a very interesting battle between two very different player types. On one hand you have Waz’s very defensive orientated Kolin who likes to hang pack and pick his spots when he’s ready.

On the other hand you have FREESER who will aim to get the knockdown and not relent in his pressure. FREESER made some outrageous plays in this match and here’s my favourite clip with the overhead punish to take the second round.

Melbourne ORDER vs Brisbane Deceptors

Melbourne ORDER once again proving they are indeed the top dogs in the Gfinity Elite series.

Brisbane Deceptors brought in their big guns with m0nt to supplement Pahnda and Robbiesla, however they were no match for ORDER’s unchanging lineup of Travis Styles, ROF and Bug.

Travis Styles dominated yet another week and proves he is the definitive player when it comes to Balrog. He scored two victories over both Robbiesla and Pahnda, the latter being one of my favourite matches of the night.

Travis and Pahnda share such a clean style and its always a pleasure to see these two go toe-to-toe.

The heartbreaker of the night has to go to Robbiesla’s fatal error in his match against ROF. After blocking ROFs desperation Bull Horn, Robbiesla was given the game winning chance but fumbled it due to birdies extra block stun while he is in VT. Here’s how ROF feels about that…

All in all a good night for Melbourne ORDER and Avant, continuing their streak from week one and leading the board with 6 points each. Sydney Chiefs slides into third place with 4 points due to their tie breaker victory.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League this weekend. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

Sydney Roar’s Damosk dashed straight out of the gates with an early victory on Melbourne ORDER’s ROF. A very close match and a strong showcase of what Damosk plans to bring to the Gfinity series.

Travis Styles tied the score up by knocking down Roar’s captain Waz but not before he got the chance to show off some disgustingly potent Kolin mix ups.

However, this is where ORDER started their dominating streak as Bug defeated Cadzow with his trademark suffocating Ibuki pressure. Bug would later comment on Cadzow’s tendency to to press buttons in dire situations. This would allow bug much greater damage through counter hits.

ROF shook up his approach in the rematch with Damosk, winning ORDER their third consecutive match. ROF looked much more comfortable this time round, even going out of his way to “teabag” mid match, taunting Damosk to take action.

Waz would then try to mount the comeback with a very convincing round one against Travis Styles. Travis Styles however swung momentum back in his favour and closed out the series with the final score ending in 4-1 in favour of Melbourne Order.

Even though Sydney Roar didn’t manage to get the W this time, the matches with last seasons’ champs were unexpectedly close. I look forward to seeing the damage they can do in future weeks.

Sydney Chiefs vs Perth Ground Zero

ZG opened for Sydney Chiefs against Perth Ground Zero’s newcomer FREESER. FREESER demonstrated Alex’s explosive potential with fantastic damage conversions from nearly every stray hit he scored in neutral. ZG, however, managed to throw FREESER off balance with his fast rushdown style and scored a convincing win in the final round.

Bksama claimed the first round convincingly with juicy hit confirms in the midscreen but Syo fought back with his own dominating series to take round two. The last round however came down to the wire as Syo threw bksama into the corner and proceeded to force a myriad of mix ups causing bksama to eventually fall.

Rupps was on point in this match, capitalising in a lot of scramble situations against the supercomputer Somniac. Rupps unconventional use of Mika’s V-Trigger disrupted Somniacs tenacious M.Bison control, allowing him to escape difficult situations and take the set 2-0.

Somniac defeated Syo in a convincing 2-0, successfully defending against Ibuki’s mix up heavy style. Somniac set the pace of the match and Syo was unable to get any momentum started.

ZG threw a wrench in the works by opting for his secondary Rashid against Rupp’s Mika. A true battle for the corner, each round was literally decided on which player could get and maintain corner pressure. ZG clutched the victory well timed overhead shimmy to take the set.

Ground Zero’s last hope FREEZER went toe-to-toe with bksama in the last set. The rounds were neck-and-neck until bksama managed to build V-trigger, in which case FREESER end up faltering in the left corner against bksamas unrelenting Aegis pressure. Bksama’s success gave the Sydney Chiefs a 4-2 victory against Perth Ground Zero.

Chief’s must be very satisfied with that win as it was Ground Zero that had eliminated them just shy of Grand Finals last season. Now that revenge is out of the way early, Chief’s will surely be aiming straight for to the top.

I am interested to see the roster changes they will make with ZG and bksama being absent for week two. Both will be participating in the Red Bull Kumite over in Paris, France.

Melbourne Avant vs Brisbane Deceptors

Robbiesla lead the Brisbane Deceptors with two new challengers caesura and pahnda against Melbourne Avant’s returning trio RumoursOfGhosts, Spaceghost and AwildLLAMA.

Pahnda fired up with no holds barred against AwildLLAMA in a very quick 2-0 set. Pahnda played a very fluid style against AwildLLAMA’s G, scoring countless openings with his varied ground and air approach.

The victory would be short lived however as RumoursOfGhost picked apart Robbiesla in his own 2-0 victory. RumoursOfGhosts recovered from a close stun in round one and managed to steal back the victory with a stun sequence of his own, showing Robbiesla how its done. RumoursOfGhosts then went on to dominate Robbiesla in neutral by maintaining the sweet spot for stand Heavy Punch, sealing the deal by forcing some fatal errors out of Robbiesla.

The third set would follow the trend of fast 2-0’s with Spaceghost dismantling Caesura. Spaceghost’s rock solid Guile didn’t allow Caesura any opportunity to start the dreaded Ibuki mixups.

RumoursOfGhost vs Pahnda was the closest match of this set and has my personal favourite moment of the night. RumoursOfGhosts peppered Pahnda with a series of Stand Heavy punches in neutral, almost at a readable rhythm. Just when Pahnda thought he had the read on that pattern, he threw a desperate V-Trigger Uppercut. Only to have it wildly whiff and cost him the match.

The final match of the night would go out on a “GG” as AWildLLAMA’s G took on Caesura’s G in the mirror. This match was a straight up brawl with countless command grabs, lunge punches and Wheel kicks from both sides. AWildLLAMA defeated Caesura with a throw shimmy securing Melbourne Avant the victory 4-1 over Brisbane Deceptors.

More action will be coming tomorrow when the Gfinity Elite Series Australia returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns once again to close out the year with their second season. The six Australian brand esports teams will go head to head across three different games for their share of the combined $225k prize pool.

Can Melbourne ORDER repeat their sweeping success from last season?

This Sunday combatants, both old and new, will prime themselves to climb to the top of the Street Fighter V League play, forging their path toward their share of the prize pool of $27.5k.

Only four teams will make it out. With the return of the volatile ‘Best of Seven’ format, anything can happen and players must adapt fast or die trying. Recent roster shake ups look to disrupt the order brought on by the previous winners.

Melbourne ORDER

Returning Champions from the previous season, ORDER retains ROF, Travis and Bug – the three piece core used almost exclusively to dominate Season 1.

ROF, Travis and MiM have recently traveled abroad prior to this season, racking up experience in Japan and Singapore at SFV tournaments.

Notably ROF defeated Sako in pools at TGS and nearly beat Echo Fox’s Tokido in a very close set at SEAM.

New roster additions DalenvrFails and Camzace are great pickups that could be used as counterplay against unprepared teams.

Perth Ground Zero

Running it back from Season 2, Ground Zero’s core also remains unchanged.

Rupps, Syo, and DookyT lead a mix up heavy team anchored by DookyT’s solid Guile/Akuma.

Their sub line up gets stronger, poaching the NZ National Champ Ghostchips, fresh off his win at Auckland’s Southern Cross Up.

He is joined by returning Staticz and new to the team FREESER.

Melbourne Avant Gaming

Avant had a strong start last season in the initial round robin stages however just fell short of Grand Finals – losing to Ground Zero.

Returning with the same tried and true core, they actually didn’t utilise any subs in their 3-man line up in the previous season.

Perhaps this time with the World Warrior BurnoutFighter, Sensor and Sarcana we will see them shake up their line up this time round.

Sydney Chiefs

Definitely a favourite to take it out last season, the Sydney Chiefs maintain their all star core of Somniac, ZG and bksama.

We are expecting to see a lot of line up change here with ZG and bksama taking trips abroad during the round robin stage.

Their subs have been putting in the work, all placing top 10 in the Gfinity Challenger series, and look to pull their weight when the big boys aren’t home.

Brisbane Deceptors

Robbiesla gradually transformed into an incarnation of his main character Alex last season and his entertaining and charismatic approach is something to look forward to in Season 2.

His core see’s the return of M0nt and Gfinity Challenger series Champion Pahnda to round out the Deceptors.

Sythe and Caesura didn’t play at all in the last season but that just might change under Robbiesla’s leadership.

Sydney Roar

Roar’s roster has completely changed with the exception of Cadzow.

A fresh start might be all Roar needs to create some upsets coming into Season 2.

Waz will be picking up the reigns as captain this time round and is hungry to lead his team to victory, picking up the slack from last season.

The action kicks of tomorrow at the Gfinity Arena in Sydney. If you’re in the area check out gfinityesports.com.au for tickets otherwise join me in Twitch chat for top tier banter and some solid SFV action. Calamari?