Julio Fuentes has been making quite a name for himself in the Street Fighter V community as of late. With a 2nd place finish at Winter Brawl X, getting 13th at Final Round 19, a 5th place finish at NorCal Regionals, and finally winning Texas Showdown, he was granted a sponsorship with Echo Fox in late April. After a 2nd place finish at Northwest Majors VIII and getting 13th at Dreamhack Austin, he also sits comfortably in 4th place in the Capcom Pro Tour Standings, with 211 points.
When asked about his sponsorship, he noted that he’s not sure how to feel about it. “It feels very surreal. Like, I drive, I’m like, ‘damn, I’m feeling Hollywood, but I know I’m not Hollywood.’” “It feels good, the star power. I love it. My friends are very happy for me. I’m just gonna milk the crap out of this opportunity, and I’m gonna go everywhere, get all the experience, soak it all up like a sponge. It’s gonna be nothing but good.”
On the subject of getting name dropped by many people to Echo Fox CEO Jace Hall, Fuentes feels that it is mostly due to the flair of his Ken play.
When I was on the East Coast, whenever I would do any custom-looking combo, these guys would just go insane, ‘The Fuego. The fire is so cool’!” “I think the combo flair from the game itself got me some attention, my performance as well, my results, but yeah, Ken is fire man, he’s really attractive.
The topic then shifted to his fellow members of The Trinity, which also consists of fellow Ken players Chris Tatarian and Brenttiscool.
In regards to the sponsorship stuff, good stuff is going to be coming to them too. Can’t say anything, but it’s really good stuff. I’m sure they’re gonna get sponsored very soon, and Trinity is probably gonna do more stuff together. People love Trinity man.
When asked about Ken’s seemingly “YOLO stuff” and how long it could pay off, he had this to say.
You know what, Ken, he has unsafe stuff, but he’s a very instinctual feeling character. But you can’t be too instinctual, because then you’re an animal. You gotta be a little bit of both, that’s Ken. Sometimes he looks like an animal, but sometimes I play very controlled. It depends on the player too. If I know I can shake a guy up playing a little crazy, I’ll keep doing it, ’cause it works, it gets in their head. You’ve gotta be a little fearless playing Ken.
Julio advised any potential Ken players out there not to be afraid.
If they don’t punish it, you keep doing it. Just be comfortable that all the things you do are unsafe, have your hit confirms up to date, you gotta react to everything, and you have to play very instinctually and in control and you will do great with Ken.
Finally, Fuentes was asked how his parents were reacting to his sponsorship. However, he revealed that, at the time of this interview, he still hadn’t told them.
I have been showing them like the eSports stuff, I send my Mom the links via text. Like Red Bull, Yahoo eSports, ESPN, so she knows and she messages me back like, ‘What is all this?’ ” “I’m like, ‘Mom it’s just video games, I guess.’” “I don’t think she’ll understand, but I’ll tell her. Maybe if I get a bigger accomplishment, I’ll be like, ‘Now do you understand the scope of how big this stuff really is?’” “Some people don’t see the size of how big eSports is. We do, of course, but to the average person, especially like immigrant parents, right? They don’t know. But I’ll tell them soon.
Source: Daily Dot Esports