Sahara wins Capcom Cup 12, and Ed gets the last laugh

The Ryogoku Kokugikan handed the crown to another Japanese player. Sahara ran the table at Capcom Cup 12 (March 11-15, 2026) and walked off with the million-dollar top prize, slice of a pool sitting close to 1.28 million. The part that'll keep people arguing for weeks is the character he did it with: Ed.

The final was Sahara against France's Kilzyou, who'd been bouncing between Mai, Cammy and Juri all weekend and basically embodied the flexible-player archetype. Fun matchup, but the story was in the bigger picture. Three of the eight finalists were on Ed. Mai turned up in nearly every pool you looked at. The boxer who lives off charge and the characters who win the neutral by owning space — that was the whole tournament in two sentences.

Give Chile's Blaz his due, too: third place on Sagat, a reminder that a fat fireball and a big body still pay rent at the highest level. And there was Fuudo, the veteran, also leaning on Ed.

That Ed flooded the biggest stage of the year right before the May patch isn't a coincidence. The best players in the world had quietly agreed he was the safe, low-effort pick, and they voted with their character select. Whether Capcom was watching is the only question that matters now.