Mortal Kombat’s newest character, Shang Tsung, is still in early access, but he already looks super strong. Maybe too strong.

Singaporean amateur player, Syed “CaptainFluffles” Farhan, captured Thaiger Uppercut’s Mortal Kombat 11 trophy with the shapeshifting sorcerer, defeating countryman, Akmessiii, in an all Singapore grand finals.

Fighting from the losers bracket, Akmessiii started off on Jacqui Briggs, while CaptainFluffles started on Raiden. Fluffles defensive Raiden play took the first game fairly easily, as he repeatedly baited Akmessiii into neutral Storm Cells.

For game two, Akmessiii switched to Cassie Cage (who SonicFox recently called the best character in the game). Cassie’s fast speed and excellent long range attacks let Akmessiii easily punish Fluffles’ Storm Cell and slow normals, letting him tie up the set 1-1.

For game 3, CaptainFluffles made the surprise swap to Shang Tsung.

Both players started game 3 playing defensively, poking at each other from afar with their projectiles. With the score tied 1-1, Fluffles took a huge lead in the final round, but Akmessiii was able to come back with a beautiful Fatal Blow on a whiffed normal, followed up by some patient footsies to secure the game.

In game 4, Fluffles went back to his zoning projectile play, making good use of Shang Tsung’s Ground Eruption combo, but Akmessiii responded with excellent corner pressure, and capitalized on a missed wake up attack from Fluffles to take the game and the first set, 3-1, resetting the bracket.


In the second set, Fluffles stuck to Shang Tsung, but it looked like a completely different matchup. He smartly zoned out Akmessiii and continued to abuse Shang’s Ground Eruption combo for massive damage, and a clearly frustrated Akmessiii had no answer for it.

Game 2 was the same, with more Ground Eruption spam from Fluffles.

Fluffles continued his onslaught in game 3, sealing the game and tournament victory with more Ground Eruption combos. Akmessiii could only shake his head after the loss.

After the victory, CaptainFluffles told ONE Esports, “This is my first major win, so I’m really proud of this. But seeing my friend disappointed afterward was kind of heart-wrenching, because he was the hypest one for the tournament out of all my friends.”

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