Interview with SFL: WC 2025 Champions REJECT: "We Had Already Anticipated Umehara vs. MenaRD" and "Please Come to My House in Korea"

Tokido: I feel relieved.
Of course I am happy, but the feeling of relief is stronger.
Since I joined this team, we have all been working seriously together, so I am glad we could wrap things up by becoming world champions.

Tokido: We have really been able to continue playing fighting games for a long time, but as someone who used to play in arcades, the fact that I can make this my job still feels like a dream world.
That is only possible because of the support from all the fans, so thank you very much.

Umehara: It hasn't been decided yet, but I think I might scale back compared to most years.
Up until now, I was at a level where I attended more overseas tournaments than anyone else, but I'm turning 45 this year (laughs).
However, I want to keep working hard without letting my guard down.

Fuudo: I also thought that if I won, I wouldn't want to travel around, but once it starts, everyone looks like they're having fun...
I predict I'll end up going for one reason or another. Right now, I don't feel much like going (laughs).

Leshar: After I return to Korea, I'll rest, and I think I'll enter again when I have the capacity while practicing.

Tokido: I'm going to all of them.

Umehara: All of them!?

Fuudo: There's always that one guy who enjoys it (laughs).

Tokido: I thought everyone would catch on the moment we used two Eds for the Vanguard and Center positions.
I think the other side was prepared for it as well.

Umehara: It was a case of "we'll go for it depending on the standings and points," and since those conditions were met, it felt like we should test how well I could fight while we had the leeway.

Umehara: Yes.
There are things I can't say, but well (laughs).

Umehara: I have confidence.

Tokido: Basically, I intended to stick with JP.
I wouldn't know if they brought out a surprising character, but after seeing their approach to some extent, I decided to go with JP.

Leshar: Last year, Kawano (@kawano_di) from Good 8 Squad secured the victory, right?
I have a lot of respect for Kawano, so I was happy that a somewhat similar situation unfolded.

Tokido: We decide to a certain extent, but there are many teams, and we have to consider home/away rules and the 70-point rule.
It's difficult to completely predict every situation, but I think we were able to prepare for the matchups that had a high probability of occurring. What do you think?

Fuudo: That's right.
I think our prior discussions were a big factor in being able to handle irregularities, like "Phenom (@PhenomSF) is coming instead of AngryBird (@FGC_Angrybird)!"

Leshar: The reason I used Terry against Big Bird (@Bigbird_fgc) in the qualifiers was because Fuudo was going to face Big Bird the next day in Capcom Cup 12, and I didn't want to show REJECT's Ed.

Leshar: To be honest, I had given up on the individual competition this time.
For me, this team league is the final one this year, so I was practicing with the thought that even if I lost in the individual matches, I would be happy if we won as a team.

Tokido: As someone who got to enter as an alternate, I did my best, but I lost quickly.
From there, I was able to concentrate on SFL, but I think it was really tough for the two of them to go back and forth between the team and individual matches.

Fuudo: Practice was tough. It was hard to know where to focus.
We all worked hard on practice for SFL! But these past five days, and of course the journey leading up to this, were incredibly difficult.

Leshar: I'll be lonely not being able to see my teammates after I return to Korea, but... you'll come to my house at least once, right?

Everyone: We'll go, we'll go! We'll come visit (laughs).

Leshar: This really became a good memory for me, and since it really feels like we're family, I'm lonely, but I also think it's not good to stay like this forever, so I'll try to think of it as good timing.

Tokido: I have work (laughs).