There could only be one sheriff standing at the end of Texas Showdown 2016 and his name was Julio "Julio" Fuentes. He continued a trend of recent Ken tournament victories that may not stop anytime soon with the plethora of talented players that main the blonde-haired fireballer.

It was a mostly North American field, but the tournament provided a great microscope to the Western views on character selection and which style of play is strongest--aggression is key and Ken and Necalli are strong. Editor's Picks Cinderella story: Wings Gaming

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The Good: New blood in the finals and consistency from new top players in Street Fighter 5.

The trend of newer players and unfamiliar names in major tournament top eights continued again at Texas Showdown. It's a testament to the unpredictable environment of the new fighting game community. With a faster game, an influx of aggressive players, and the encouragement of accessible training tools, this will not stop. The next step, of course, is consistency with each new name that shows up in the standings.

Julio Fuentes is a perfect representative of the young new guard of contending players that came toward the end of Street Fighter 4. Fuentes' aggressive style is reminiscent of many of these emerging top players like Du "NuckleDu" Dang, Chris Tatarian, and Brentt "Brenttiscool" Franks (13th at Texas Showdown) and they should continue to reap success in the speedy Street Fighter 5. His personal consistency in Capcom Pro Tour events and win at Texas Showdown is encouraging to see because it disproves any idea of a fluke.

The Bad: Julio Fuentes is a bad man (in the best way).

First, a consolation shout-out to Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez for an amazing run and second-place at Texas Showdown. Perez was the runner-up again at a major tournament (West Coast Warzone 2016) and looked primed to take it all when he reset the grand finals 3-0. But unfortunately, he ran into a wall--Fuentes--and will need to try again at the next event.

Fuentes did it. He broke through for his first major tournament victory in Street Fighter 5 with his signature reactionary pressure play and made easy work of every opponent until the grand finals. When he was finally hit with adversity against Perez, he adjusted perfectly with less aggression, more fireballs, and better spacing to take down the tournament.

The Ugly: The lack of character variety in top eight.

It's been a fortunate run of eclectic character selections in past Capcom Pro Tour events, but Texas Showdown broke the trend. With four Necallis, two Kens, and only two other characters making appearances (M. Bison and Dhalsim), it came down to pure player skill and individual flair to provide disparity.

The players in the top eight, despite the multiple mirror matches, did display personal and different styles to keep the finals refreshing and entertaining. While Ken and Necalli were common characters in many top placements, there was a noticeable lack of R. Mika, Ryu, or Karin players that existed in past tournaments.

Is this a sign of a character divide this early in the game's life? This could be considered a small gripe, and completely independent of the actual tournament experience, but a fighting game in its infancy with redundancy issues is a worrisome sight.

In the end, Texas Showdown could be an outlier and future tournaments may continue the trend of a strong character blend. Maybe it's just a representation of North American character choices (with the exception of China's Xijie "Dark Jiewa" Zeng)--a trend that should not catch.

Another major tournament in the books will build toward the next Premier event and the excitement is starting to really boil. The tournament season is hitting its stride, the new fighting game community feels like the wild west, and the continued renaissance of Street Fighter marches on.