Month: June 2016

Late last week, Team Naventic signed Peter “Flash” Susini–the gamer formerly known as Flash Metroid–as their first fighting game representative. The Vega player had a fantastic run at the recent Combo Breaker tournament, making it to winners finals and ultimately placing 2nd in Street Fighter V at the stacked major.

Flash recently returned to the tournament circuit with the release of Street Fighter V, after a prolonged hiatus from the fighting game community. Based on his recent performance, it seems like his skills are still very much intact.

In a brief interview with ESPN, Flash describes his goals as a signed player: “Joining Naventic will allow me to travel to more events and just focus on playing at the best of my ability[.] I’m excited for what the future holds.” Flash also mentions that his first outing as a representative of Team Naventic will be at Community Effort Orlando, June 24th-26th.

Sources: Naventic, ESPN

As an Evolution champion for Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, along with having multiple top 8 finishes in a wide array of other fighting titles, Panda Global’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez has proven to be one of the strongest fighting game players around. In a recent interview with theScore esports, he discussed a number of topics, including his competitive goals and what he wants his legacy as a fighting game player to be.

“My goal is to be the greatest of all time. I know that that’s hard, and I might not get there, but I want to set my goals so high all the time. So even if I don’t get there, I’m at least at the top of the food chain. I always aim for success and greatness, I just don’t want to sell myself short.’

When asked about his personal metric for such a claim, Champ offered the following:

“I’m really far from it, but I know that I’m one of the best players in the world now. I’m probably let’s say, Top 15, Top 10, best fighting gamers of all time. Because I can play multiple fighting games at a high level. In Marvel I’ve basically solidified myself as one of the best players in the world who ever touched that game. I’m far from it, but that’s my goal.  Maybe if I win Street Fighter at Evo, maybe. Maybe I could be in talks of [being] Top 5 or something because I won Marvel and Street Fighter, and I don’t think that’s been done before.”

Champ was then asked his thoughts on the SFV iteration of Dhalsim, and why he continues to play him in the new game:

“He’s not a Dhalsim like Street Fighter IV, he’s definitely a different architecture. I don’t think he played anything like SFIV, but I think I’m versatile enough in fighting games that I can play any type of character I want, it just happens that I really like my image as a Dhalsim player. I carried the character for awhile and I wanted to continue with him into Five.  But I think he is a way better character in V than he was in IV. I don’t think he’s the best character in this game, but I think he’s pretty damn good. I’m sticking with him, but I also play Nash.

Champ also offered his thoughts on Street Fighter V as a competitive game:

“Street Fighter V, from a competitive standpoint, is very good. I think it’s very exciting for spectators to watch. It’s very diverse, mostly every Top 8 you see there’s a lot of variety of characters, which is a good sign that the game is balanced. Also, there’s a lot of support from the fighting game community and the developers as well, so I think we should be fine.”

In the remainder of the interview, Champ discusses the similarities between SFV Dhalsim and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3’s Dormammu, his thoughts on the Bud Light All-Stars sponsorship contest, what characters he believes are top tier in SFV, why Chun-Li hasn’t seen much competitive success, despite many hailing her as the best character in the game right now, as well as his strategy for this year’s Capcom Pro Tour.

You can read the piece in full at theScore esports.

Source: theScore esports, photo via IPLAYWINNER