In fighting games, the ranked ladder does not care how old a player is. It records wins, losses, and a rating, and it places players in order. By March 2026, that order had placed a 13-year-old Elena player named Seichi in a position that a professional organisation could not ignore.
DashFight reported on 23 March 2026 that Sycom, a Japanese PC company that had recently opened a Street Fighter 6 esports division and signed a four-player roster, had signed Seichi to its youth team. Sycom's announcement, quoted by DashFight, said: "We are pleased to announce that Seichi (@Seichi_p_q) has joined the 'STREET FIGHTER Division Youth'!" The organisation said it was thrilled to take a new step forward alongside the young talent, and that the team would unite to support his daily efforts toward future breakthroughs.
The numbers behind the signing were striking. Seichi was reported as a 13-year-old Elena player holding 2213 MR in the latest Phase 10. MR, or Master Rating, is the rating used to rank high-level Street Fighter 6 players. At the time of the signing, Seichi was described as the highest-ranked Elena player in the world, and 67th on the global MR leaderboard. That is a specific, checkable kind of achievement. It does not depend on a single tournament result or a single good day. It reflects sustained ranked play against other strong players.
Elena is the character at the centre of this story. In Street Fighter 6, each fighter has a distinct set of moves, ranges, and strengths, and a player who specialises in one character builds deep knowledge of that character's matchups. Being the highest-ranked player of a particular character means, at that moment, no one else playing that character had climbed higher in the ranked system.
That last point is important, and DashFight states it directly. Seichi had not yet competed in any major tournaments at the time of the signing, which made him something of an unknown in tournament terms. Ranked matches are played online, often alone. Tournaments add a live setting, an audience, pressure, and opponents who have studied a player's habits. A high ranked rating is a strong signal. It is not a tournament record, and this article does not present it as one.
Age also shapes what comes next. Seichi noted, in a response reported by DashFight, that his age limits the number of tournaments he can currently enter, but that he intends to compete in any event available to him. Evo Japan allows players as young as 13, provided they have reached that age by the time of the event. The Street Fighter League is different: although its minimum age had been lowered, it still stood at 15, so Seichi would have to wait. A youth signing is a bet on development, and Sycom framed it that way, asking for warm support for Seichi's upcoming challenges and growth.
Seichi represents a Japanese organization, and the March 2026 report described him as 13. The rankings above are a snapshot of that signing announcement, rather than a claim about today’s leaderboard.
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