Category: Interviews

At the last Killer Instinct World Cup, the top 16 was generally business as usual. However, there was one name that we weren’t used to seeing: Valoraxe. Finishing at 9th, this Cinder from the UK made sure that though his was a new name, it was one you won’t be forgetting any time soon.

Since returning from the World Cup, Valoraxe has continued to hammer home that he is one of the best players around, consistently doing well at events throughout Europe. SRK caught up to him at Hypespotting 6 in Scotland, where he had already taken victory in both the single and team Killer Instinct tournaments.

Keegan “Interrobang!?” Spindler: You were the main EU force at the KI World Cup. When you went out there, how did you feel Europe stacked up against everyone else?

Valoraxe: Well basically at the World Cup, the Europeans were the bottom of the pack. There was a feeling of “We’ll be polite to them, we’ll give them a chance.” There was much more excitement about the Japanese, with players like Domi and Rat, who were the guys expected to surprise people.

But we had Le Chat Noir, a French player, and Itamaster, an Italian online player. Itamaster unfortunately didn’t adapt to the offline environment, but Le Chat Noir did quite well. He took out a Canadian player, but that was about it. As for me, I just went in and did whatever I wanted. It worked out.

Interrobang!?: Apart from you, the European representatives didn’t do amazingly. How does Europe get up to the same level as the American players?

Valoraxe: What we need to do to get better? Honestly, it’s mostly because the Killer Instinct scene is quite shallow here. For the UK in particular, we are mostly online. There’s a couple of tournaments in the year where people are coming together and playing offline, but there aren’t enough. The main reason we’re not up there is that we don’t do big offline tournaments, our guys don’t travel. I am the only guy in the UK who really travels right now. Smash King used to travel around the country–not even to Europe and America. Nobody travels.

KI is underrepresented as well, so prize money is not up there. Lots of people think “if there’s no big prize money, why bother?”

Interrobang!?: Is that how you would get more people involved? Bigger prize pools?

Valoraxe: Prize pools would definitely be a start. You know, get more eyes turned in that direction and the bigger the prize money, the bigger the attention. But I think the game is in a different spot right now. It’s constantly changing, which is a good and a bad thing.

It’s good because it’s up to date and people are on top of it. It’s also bad though, because it can discourage people from getting involved. I know some people in the UK, Smash King included, who didn’t really like the change to Season 3, and it put people off playing.

Part of the problem is that it’s a coin toss, you know? Either your character gets lucky and gets buffed, or it gets nerfed, or there’s a mechanic that you don’t like or makes your character redundant–which makes you feel redundant. It’s just luck of the draw I guess.

Interrobang!?: Like you said, the game is changing all the time. How do you feel about your character, Cinder, after the changes to Potential Damage?

Valoraxe: Cinder is a lot stronger. People seem to think that Cinder is broken, at the moment, because the potential damage change means that Cinder can get a lot of white life on you and when you break, only half goes away. It’s still a sizable chunk if he burns you out properly. It means that you can go straight into a level 4 or massive damage combo. Or, if he wants, he can just reset the fire and keep you in white life for the whole round and afraid to push a button. So people are terrified about that, but they really shouldn’t be.

Cinder has very limited ways to open you up. His grab game is weak, he only has one grounded overhead–and it’s very slow and easy to counter. The only thing he can do to open you up on the ground is either frame trap you, throw or tick throw you, or try and go for a cheeky air combo. Cinder really struggles to open people up on the ground. He has to do crazy things, crazy setups, and have constant resets. He has to be constantly thinking ahead to get something started, and a lot of people don’t seem to realise that. A lot of people only see the full screen low infernos, the massive white life cashouts, the safe DPs–which is not safe, it’s actually minus six, people just don’t know how to counter it. That’s their problem, not mine.

I think the character is fine. He’s actually very well balanced. I do think the white life change is very strong on him though. At the end of the day, Killer Instinct is a funky game with a lot of funky characters. If you can’t adapt to it, that’s your problem.

Interrobang!?: Speaking of adaptation, what would you like to see going into Season 4 of Killer Instinct?

Valoraxe: Honestly, I don’t really want to see another Season of Killer Instinct. I’d really like to see a new KI, since I think that this one is getting a bit bloated. There’s too much going on, too many changes and glitches now. I really think that they need to hit the reset button with a new KI, get a big marketing push, throw some money behind the game and really show people that they should be playing Killer Instinct.

Having said that, I’d like to see a powerhouse grappler.

Interrobang!?: Because you play Zangief in Street Fighter V.

Valoraxe: Yeah, I play ‘Gief in SFV. I only do it because I can’t be bothered to learn combos, so I just SPD people. Because that’s easy. To be honest, I just say powerhouse grappler because I think its cool. I just think it would be cool to see a guy with a battleaxe who plays a bit like Astoroth, where he hits you with the axe and it turns into a command throw. I just think it would be badass. That’s just what is cool to me.

As for Cinder, what would I want to see? Personally, I’m happy with Cinder as he is. I think the only two changes I would recommend would be his shadow Trailblazer, which is the EX Flame Tornado forward, I would like to see it have the principle of Fulgore’s cyber dash, a fullscreen that hits five times. And the reason why is because you can’t do unbreakable Ultras then, since you will always do the five hits after the low inferno into it. Also, it will give Cinder options on the ground, especially against strong zoning characters. It may take him over the edge though, but then you could take a couple of things away from him. Make the DP more minus, maybe. Why not? Minus enough that you can always punish with crouching medium. I think that’s fair. Cinder is fine though. He’s fine as he is. He has clear weaknesses, but he’s fun to play.

Interrobang!?: Interestingly, over the last few months you’ve used a bunch of different characters in tournament. Have you settled down on Cinder now?

Valoraxe: Yeah, Cinder’s always been the one. I’ve been using other characters because I wasn’t confident in the mirror. ShadowKageNinja was the guy who made me change characters, because I was sort of like, oh okay, maybe I shouldn’t play the mirror. I should’ve though. I should’ve just played the mirror and got it over and done with. But now I’ve learned that lesson.

Having said that, I’m in the process of picking up a couple more characters properly. I’m thinking about Eyedol, because a fast, in-your-face character like Eyedol is seriously fun. I’m learning Tusk as well, because a Viking with a big sword. That’s awesome right? And then Raam too. Because, well, ‘Gief.

Interrobang!?: I love Raam, but there’s not many strong players for him.

Valoraxe: LetalisVenator. He went to the World Cup, picked Raam and did work. But it’s the same with Cinder, really. There’s only a couple of players who really know how to play Cinder. Properly. They see all the Trailblazers and all the air juggles and yeah, that’s one part of his play. But you’re not thinking about the mindgames involved, the frame traps. Cinder has so much kit, it’s just about finding different ways of opening it up. There aren’t many players who can do that at the moment.

But I think that’s true of nearly every character in the game. They have a lot of potential, but don’t have anyone making use of it and doing work.

Interrobang!?: Do you have any EU players we should keep an eye on this year?

Valoraxe: Coopstar. Coopstar is one of the best in the UK right now. He’s definitely got some chops on him. He won VSFighting last year. That tournament was a real learning experience for me, but Coopstar definitely earned the win.

Interrobang!?: So are you heading back to the USA for any events?

Valoraxe: Yes! The Killer Instinct World Cup is on again next year in San Antonio, I should be there for that. I’m also heading out to Combo Breaker in May to compete in KI, and CEO in June. Those are the two big majors that KI is announced for, with a nice prize pot, so I’ll be down there representing the UK. If anything else is announced for Europe or America, I’ll probably be attending. I’m just hoping to do us justice, to show off that the UK has really strong players.

I also want to prove that I’m the best Cinder in the world. There’s some argument about it, but I figure that as long as I keep beating people, no one will be able to argue for long.

Interrobang!?: Lastly, what about pineapples on pizzas?

Valoraxe: They can f**k off.

Sources: Ultra Arcade; Turbo Tuesdays. Feature image courtesy of Stephanie Lindgren

In this interview series, I’m catching a glimpse of what it is like to be in one of the lesser-known international scenes: Australia. Outside of their annual majors–Battle Arena Melbourne and OzHadou Nationals–you hardly hear much from the land down under. While majors happen frequently on the Western hemisphere, they are one of the most infrequent participants in larger events. That, however, doesn’t mean that Australia isn’t a threat at all.

One of the players emerging from the Australian scene would already be known to some, who may have seen the ArcadeStream tournaments in 2016: Christian “ROF’ Dedalija came to Korea as an absolute unknown in the scene. He quickly made his mark, joining event after event at ArcadeStream and consistently making top 3. Since returning to his native Melbourne, he has quickly shown himself to be a threat in the country, making top 3 in the very first tournament he entered upon his return.

I caught up with ROF to talk about the scene in Melbourne as he compares it to what he left behind in Seoul.

Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: It’s been a while since we’ve last talked personally. How has your transition from Korea to Australia been so far?

Christian “ROF” Dedalija: Societally, there’s a huge difference between the two, and it takes a while to get back into the swing of things. But when we’re talking about Street Fighter, there’s also a huge difference as well. They play completely differently here, so you have to adjust to that as well.

Missing Person: What are the key differences between Korean play and Australian play?

ROF: In Korea, they mix it up a lot. They won’t just keep using the same moves and tactics on you. In Australia, if they see something that works against you, they will keep doing it until you finally adapt and make them pay for it. So here, they have a mentality where if you’re exposed, they’re just going to keep exposing you. Once you plug that hole, they’ll find the next thing that exposes you. They also tend to do a lot of wake-up supers. They also still do a lot of wake-up DPs–despite them getting nerfed–and I have to get used to that.

In Korea, I feel like they’re more experimental in their play. If they find something that exposes you, or even when they themselves get exposed, they just immediately change their strategy. Otherwise, they tend to play more fundamentally solid, and experiment more in their play.

Missing Person: Which do you feel works more in the long run: the solid but experimental play of Korea, or the abuse of people’s weaknesses in Australia? Or do you feel like it is a matter of meta play?

ROF: If you want to win, you have to stick with what’s working. That means exposing and exploiting people’s weaknesses. The thing is that in Australia, most people play online. So while they’re exposing and exploiting people, they aren’t experimenting. Online is precisely where you want to experiment. There’s not much to risk in doing so online—you don’t lose much in terms of prizes or bonuses. I feel like Australia needs to adopt the Korean approach more and experiment a lot more online.

Missing Person: So what about you? What game did you start with and what year did you start playing in?

ROF: I think the first game I started playing was Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha.

Missing Person: Oh my god, that game was my drug of choice when I was a kid!

ROF: I loved that game! I would play on the PlayStation 1 controller, and I’d always get blisters on my thumbs because I would mash so hard. I was too young to know what was going on at the time. I was just in love with the characters and the music. God damn, the music in that game was amazing. That’s what really got me into Street Fighter. But naturally, it didn’t get me into playing it competitively. Even growing up, there wasn’t much of an emphasis on Street Fighter. The emphasis was mostly on other multiplayer games, because Australia has such a small population.

Then there was this one time when I was walking through a shopping center, and was looking through the selection of games at the store, and I saw Super Street Fighter IV. My first reaction was, “What? There’s been four?! Where have I been?” So I picked up the game and started with Juri. I played her all the way up until Ultra. Then I switched to Seth. So I started that game in 2010, and since then, I began to play Street Fighter more actively. But the moment I decided to take it to the next level was near the time when Street Fighter V was about to release.

Missing Person: So in Street Fighter IV, you ended off the series with a more gamble-heavy character like Seth, but made a switch in the opposite direction with Birdie in Street Fighter V. Explain this switch.

ROF: Truth be told, when I first started in SFV, I did go the gamble route and chose R. Mika. Don’t judge me. [laughs]

Missing Person: Too late. [laughs]

ROF: I saw her in Street Fighter Alpha 3, and when I heard she was going to be in Street Fighter V, I decided I wanted to play her. I tried hard with her, but couldn’t find any rhythm with her. Still, I stuck it out with her for a while. I liked the character and wanted to play her.

Then I saw footage of the Japanese player Crusher playing Birdie, and at that time my perception of Birdie was that he’s horrible. His Dolphin Dive was slow and easy to react to. He had slow buttons and limited combo potential. But here’s this Japanese guy dominating with the most underused character in the game at the time. So I decided to give Birdie a try. And I found that I was getting into the rhythm I was missing with R. Mika. I couldn’t understand why it was working but I knew it was. I finally realized that he was as much a gambling character as R. Mika is.

It sounds funny when you think of it that way. But if you look at other Birdie players like MenaRD, 465_ht, they take risks in every single situation that they find themselves in. In between block strings, they do Bull Horn. The EX version of it is ridiculously unsafe, but they’ll do it and make it work. I feel like you have to gamble a lot with Birdie to actually win. He has great footsies and neutral, but that will not win you the game. While footsies may be a part of Street Fighter V, you also have to rely on pressure as well. With Birdie, pressure comes with risk. When I do the EX armored moves, they are completely unsafe. But if I want to get into the opponent’s head and do some real damage, I have to take those risks. So I’ll throw out risky moves and command grabs to take the match. I feel like he may be even more of a gambling character than R. Mika. So I decided he has good ranges and a lot of gamble, and stuck with him.

Missing Person: You actually made some big waves in Korea when you started playing there. How much did the time spent playing there help you reach the level you are at currently?

ROF: It helped me out tremendously. At ArcadeStream, there was this mentality where the foreigners play together, and the Koreans play together. So there was this mindset where the foreigners needed to beat the Korean players. So the more I played, the more I wanted to show the Koreans that while they were gods at Tekken and they had some of the best Street Fighter players in Infiltration, Poongko, and Laugh, that people from lesser known countries like me from Australia, or Gaston “zZInsaneZz” Reid from Brazil were just as competitive as they are.

I started out having a two-hour session with Hyounoo “Drakefang” Sung, the owner of ArcadeStream, where I beat him 31-0. I came back about a week later, and he told me he wanted me to join Team ArcadeStream. Shortly after that, I participated in SpiritZero’s Road to Evo tournament, and got Top 16. But that was my first tournament ever. When I look back on it, I actually realize I could have done way better. My top 16 match was against ZzangMoo, who is one of Korea’s best Zangief players. That is the perfect match for Birdie, but I lost it because the nerves got to me. I didn’t even use any bananas during the whole match. Every time I see that match, I want to scream at the screen, “Use a banana!” but instead I just throw out cans.

After that tournament, I realized that things were going well. And playing good players like Poongko, LikeWhiteBread, XYZZY, NL, Sandbag, M. Lizard, and Infiltration really improved my game. Playing them made me play a less risky Birdie. Now that I’m back in Australia, and they play more towards exploiting weakness, I’ve become more risky. Now I feel like I’m more balanced in playing the game fundamentally well, while also incorporating that risk that’s required of Birdie. I’m hoping I can fuse both of them together and do a lot of damage.

Missing Person: You mentioned you hadn’t ever played in a tournament in Australia, but had you ever played any offline locally?

ROF: There was a bit of a local arcade scene in Melbourne, but I wasn’t too aware of the scene in Australia at that time. At the arcade, I only played about four guys there: there was an Akuma, a T. Hawk, a Seth, and a Ryu. You’d occasionally get another player to come in, but there were only these four regulars to play. That only lasted for about four months because the arcade shut down. There was nothing much I could do then but go back to playing online. Plus the price per play on the arcade cabinet was $2.00. If you play five matches and lose them all, you’ve just spent $10. So where I was, there was no real scene.

I just now only realized there was a scene, but it’s between a 45-minute to an hour away from me. It’s a little hard to get there, but I try to go as often as I can.

Missing Person: Which is definitely hard, especially after you lived in Seoul and could hop a train and be at ArcadeStream in 20 minutes tops.

ROF: Now that I know there is a scene, I know that they have a fortnightly tournament with only a $4 entry. This is great, but I’m also fairly certain this is the only place in Melbourne that offers Street Fighter. Naturally, other cities have scenes, but this is the only place I know of in Melbourne, and it’s a great length away from me. Obviously in Korea, everything was closer and more centered around Seoul, so it was easier to play.

Missing Person: With the offline scene developing, how do you feel about the general level of play in Melbourne? I know you’ve told me personally before that there are about 3-4 players, yourself included, that are amazing, but how are the lower levels developing?

ROF: I remember playing a certain player last year. Then when I ran into him again at a tournament in Melbourne, he had improved drastically. I know for a fact that it’s because of the offline play that he was able to improve. On top of that, you can talk to players during and after your matches so that you can coach each other on how to play matchups. It does help, and it’ll continue to go like that I believe.

We want to get out there and show people we are a force. You have Keoma that has shown how good Brazil and South America can be. Plus you have a plethora of people from Europe, North America, and Asia. But you really have no one, outside of HumanBomb who is now in Hong Kong, who has really put Oceania on the map. Now we need a new face who can represent us, so I really want players to show up and do their best to represent us.

Missing Person: What are the biggest difficulties in getting the proper representation of Australia and New Zealand in the fighting game world?

ROF: One of the biggest we have such difficulty in getting represented outside of our own scene is that we’re so far from everyone else. With Americans, they can travel to South America and other regions with relative ease. For us, the closest thing we have is Singapore and Southeast Asia Majors, and that is an eleven hour flight at best for us.

Missing Person: What about events like Japan Cup?

ROF: The thing is, when I went to Korea, the flight was 14 hours. Japan’s even further away than that. If we want to put in that effort to go to a tournament outside of Oceania, we have to put in a lot of effort. I know Americans talk some about jet lag if they go to play in Europe, and vice versa. But it’s a lot easier for them compared to us to make those trips. I mean, have you ever seen an Aussie at NCR? No, you never really see that happening!

The second biggest issue is that we’ve relegated ourselves to mostly playing online. I feel like the more we focus on playing offline and banding together to help each other improve, the better it’s going to get. But it’s almost an impossible hurdle for us to overcome the biggest issue, which is the travel. I guess one way to do so would be if Capcom helps out the Australian scene by sponsoring more events. The bright side is that Battle Arena Melbourne is coming up in May and is on the Capcom Pro Tour. But hopefully, more things like that will crop up.

Missing Person: And how is the netplay in Australia?

ROF: [laughs] The internet here is absolute ass. Please make sure you include that quote verbatim, if you can, please find a way. I am downloading a game on Steam right now, and the download speed peaked at 1 mb/s, but that’s the exception and far from the rule. There’s no cable or fiber optic internet where I live. We are on ADSL2+.

Missing Person: I didn’t even know that was still in usage.

ROF: That is how bad the situation is. We are ranked 65th in the world for internet speeds.

Missing Person: And this is a “developed country.”

ROF: [laughs] Yeah, sad to say.

Missing Person: Is this Britain’s way to continue punishing you guys for starting off as a prison colony?

ROF: [laughs] I guess we do still have to pay for our crimes, and my family isn’t even English. The funny thing is, there’s this player named MiM in Perth on the other side of the country that I magically have a good connection with. Any other player from Perth is unplayable but her. Think about this, I can’t play people from my own country online! My best bets are playing against Sydney, Melbourne, and possibly Brisbane and Tasmania—that little island south of the mainland that nobody cares about. [laughs] And sometimes New Zealand works out as well. But if you get five bars from where I live, it’s likely to be someone from Sydney or Melbourne. So the offline scene is a life saver because Street Fighter V netcode and Australian internet doesn’t mix.

Missing Person: Do you feel like teams such as Dark Sided coming up in Australia is going to help get players out to more events outside of Oceania?

ROF: I’d say it has helped. If you look at their Twitter feed, they’re promoting their players a lot, as well as promoting their products and doing giveaways. So they are promoting themselves and getting the name out there. Especially when you have legitimate esports teams like Dark Sided involved who are serious about wanting to win.

I feel like not a lot of Japanese or American players want to come here because there’s not much incentive to come here at this point. While I do feel like the teams do help, we need to push to give more incentive for players from other regions to come here. That way, we will get a chance to play some of the top players in the world. I’ve been lucky enough to play players like Tokido and Mago at ArcadeStream, but a lot of players here haven’t. Getting those top players over here so that we can study them and become accustomed to how they play first hand should be our main focus.

Missing Person: How difficult is it to get cross-city events, such as against Perth or even for closer proximity, against Sydney?

ROF: Well, I’ve only been back for a short while, but I know Kevin “Burnout” Kim went to New Zealand recently with a couple of Melbourne players, and he won the tournament there. I believe when people from other states come out to these events, it’s not a big contingent that comes. Judging from recent events, I don’t think it’s that often.

It all boils down to incentive, and there isn’t much of one to travel out of state here. People judge it on how much it costs to go versus the return on that investment, and it just isn’t enough to bring them out.

Missing Person: So your best chances at even playing other Australians you don’t know would be at BAM or even OzHadou Nationals later on in the year?

ROF: Exactly. Those are the events that bring out all of Australia and New Zealand because when these events happen, the world comes out. The Australian scene is hungry to play all the players from Korea, Japan, and the rest of the world. So there’s incentive in doing that just because they can improve their games by playing the best. On top of that, there’s the prize money that brings people out or even the chance at getting CPT points.

There could be more chances to play each other through online tournaments, especially if Capcom sanctioned them. I don’t know how they could do that with the terrible internet here though.

Missing Person: Petition the government to roll out better internet?

ROF: There’s actually new internet service rolling out that’s better than what we’ve had. The problem is that my area is having to wait another year and a half to get it. Once the internet improves and there starts to be more online events, that could also help the scene in Australia tremendously.

I also think that getting more teams like Dark Sided involved in the FGC in Australia would help out tremendously. Dark Sided is already doing great work within the FGC, and a few more teams would definitely change the landscape. Then there could be team battles that promote friendly rivalries, and that could help the scene out as well.

Missing Person: What would you be your top 3 in the power rankings in Melbourne?

ROF: [chuckles] Well, I don’t like boasting.

Missing Person: Well, I know you’re putting yourself at #1.

ROF: I’ll merely say that I’ll beat RedStar easily. [laughs] (Note: For context, ROF participated in a 5 on 5 exhibition against top Korean Tekken players in Street Fighter V. After beating one player named RedStar, he jumped up from the arcade cabinet, grabbed the extra headset from the commentary booth and exclained, “RedStar is free!” into the microphone. Sadly, the footage of the moment was never uploaded to YouTube from the ArcadeStream Twitch channel and is lost forever.)

Missing Person: I was about to ask who you thought was more free, Australia or RedStar.

ROF: I’d never say anything of the sort about Australia, unless it was on stream. [laughs] But all jokes aside, I’d judge it on a couple of merits. I believe Somniac is the best player in Australia. He’s currently ranked #1 online in the region. I know Somniac recently tweeted about me that he thought I was going to be a killer in Australia.

Missing Person: I actually do remember when he came to Korea for that one ArcadeStream tournament.

ROF: And I’m sure you remember that one time in that one ArcadeStream tournament where I beat him, right? That’s a secret between you and me.

Missing Person: I don’t think it’s a secret any more.

ROF: [laughs] I forgot to tell you to take that off the record! But I’d actually say based on tournament results that ZG is probably #2 in Melbourne right now. But with Somniac’s approval, saying I’ll take down names at BAM, on top of the fact that I’m currently #3 right now on CFN for the region, I say I do deserve a spot on that list.

Missing Person: What’s it going to take to get you to Evo?

ROF: [laughs] Evo would be a dream. I would love to get to Vegas and experience the hype. Just the chance to see all these amazing matches with players playing at their best would be crazy. If I go though, I want to do some damage and let people know who I am. What’s it going to take to get me there? I don’t know, maybe some financial help or a sponsorship would have to be in order. I really want to go, but tickets from Australia are ridiculous. If I were to spot the ticket myself, it would likely be next year.

Missing Person: So what are your personal goals with Street Fighter V?

ROF: First of all, I want to help promote the Australian scene and shine the spotlight on players that most people don’t know, but deserve to be known. Secondly, I want to beat those players that are already established as great and do some damage. Oh, and I also want to get Birdie buffed. I feel like Birdie can be a good character, but you just don’t see him enough at a high level. The reason for this is how many risks you have to take with him. I don’t think he needs drastic buffs, but he needs some improvements for his quality of life.

Missing Person: Now are you being completely objective with your argument, or is this more like the Mike Ross, “E. Honda is ass,” in Super Street Fighter IV argument?

ROF: [laughs] I wouldn’t say that he’s ass. Let’s just say for instance that Laura is a better character than Birdie. No arguments there, but Laura is a bit similar to him. The key differences between the two are that Laura is safe on nearly everything, and Birdie is unsafe on nearly everything. While that can be a positive for him that you can do things that will shock people who won’t expect you to do something so unsafe, he does still need a few buffs.

For instance, his slide used to be at -5 frames on block. That meant you could punish with mediums against it. Now it’s -7, which means that heavy moves can now punish it. That used to be an option after knockdowns in lieu of dashes. Now it’s too large a risk to do.

Now, you have to play Birdie a lot more defensively, using cans and bananas more so that you get V-Trigger faster.

Missing Person: Are there any special shout-outs that you’d like to give?

ROF: I definitely want to thank Somniac for putting out on the market here in Australia. Special shout-outs go to Drakefang. Without him and ArcadeStream, I would’ve never been exposed to the Korean scene in the way that I was, and I wouldn’t be the player I am today. One more shout-out goes to zZInsaneZz for teaching me the Mika matchup. His Mika is so dangerous and just constantly pressures you. Because of him, I am incredibly comfortable in the matchup.

---

Additional source: ArcadeStream

[Feature image photo courtesy of  Gaston “zZInsaneZz” Reid]

Red Bull has been very active in the FGC scene for the past few years, holding tournaments and supporting community events. Street Fighter V is, of course, the latest big thing for the FGC–and this year’s Red Bull Proving Grounds seeks to bring a whole new flavor to the competition with this regional rivalry theme. To get some better insight into these different regions and what’s going to happen when they all meet June 24-25th, we’ve been reaching out to each region’s tournament organizer for insight.

Today’s interview focuses on some of the more classic aspects of the fighting game culture, as well as some history involving the old days, and how it relates to the recent Red Bull event. We hear from the SoCal TO today, running the Vanguard series.

Jimmy “ShinJN” Nguyen: My name is Jimmy Nguyen and my gamer handle is ShinJN. I am a native of Southern California, and I am a co-founder and the President & COO of Level Up, LLC. I wear many hats, but the key ones are business development, adviser/consultant/mentor/teacher, CFO, TO & event manager, activation/project manager, and live-production engineer/director/producer.

Like most OGs, my Street Fighter career began with SFII and this franchise has been a part of my life ever since. It gave me opportunities to be part of the Southern Hills Golfland community and become friends with the old-school guys like the Cannons, Javi Moreno, Joey Cuellar, Alex Valle, and John Choi; just to name a few. Other than playing games, I have been producing content and running & organizing events since the arcade and pre-Evo years. I took a break between 2002 and 2008 to focus on my professional career, but always kept my feet in the FGC in varying degrees.

With the experience I  gained from both my trade and gaming careers, I came up with the idea to start an event and production company, now Level Up, shortly after the announcement of SFIV (Q4 2008). It wasn’t until 2009 when I started finding the right people to turn this idea into a real company. In 2010, Level Up was co-founded by myself, Alex Valle, AJ Papa, Frank Reyes, Bryan Gateb, Mike Ortiz, and Walter Ly. Once I had the right people in place, I started building the foundation of the company by learning more about startups, combining all our strengths, and learning from our weaknesses.

I like to lay low but you can catch a glimpse of me in the B5 DVDs and some older videos on YouTube, as well as some recent content. You just need to dig for it.

Zidiane: You said you started with SFII. Was that the original when it first came out way back when, or did you come into the scene sometime after then?

Jimmy: Yup, that would be the original World Warrior, glitches and all. I met a lot of random players in pizza joints, convenience stores, and mom & pop arcades. Being a kid at the time, the communities I were a part of were my school friends, where we played SFII whenever we could. It was tough fitting in back then because everyone was territorial, so your friends were the first people to fit in with.

Zidiane: The scene must look quite different with that as your original introduction. What’s it like seeing and being a leader of the scene in its current state?

Jimmy: There is a huge contrast between now and then. In the past, you had to really prove yourself to play on the arcade machines. Even when you did get a chance, there was a lot of intimidation. There is still some of this today, but it’s not as cutthroat. I definitely don’t want to see that repeated today. Engagement, inclusion, relating to everyone, and showing empathy are some of the key things I focus on to build the FGC. It’s great seeing how the “community” in FGC is really evolving when you approach it with that mindset. It also is very nice to see how we came from grassroots and still maintain the roots while creating opportunities for each other.

Zidiane: In the context of this latest Red Bull Proving Grounds event, I’ve heard it said that it’s a return to some of the rivalry and regional pride that was everywhere back in those days. Do you see it that way, and if so, do you think it’s good for the community?

Jimmy: RBPG is trying to resurrect the rivalry and regional pride. When I was brought on to do PG last year, I was immediately on board when I heard the pitch. Rivalries and regional pride are great for the community because they give the players something to strive for and it also validates all the effort they put into the game to become better. Look at sports, there are many rivalries there. SoCal vs. NorCal. WC vs. EC vs. MW. Let’s go! Some of the old rivalries need a spark or fuel to create a new fire. Rivalries are a means of motivation for players to play more fighting games and get better.

Zidiane: That’s of course what we all want, to play more fighting games. Speaking of regions, yours is of course LA and the specific regional event will be Vangaurd, correct? What’s the venue like?

Jimmy: That is correct. Vanguard is the LA region event, even though we are in Orange County. The venue we are using is PlayLIVE Nation in Fullerton, CA. It is a beautiful new venue that opened in October of last year. It is focused at providing guests a LAN center experience but instead of PCs, they use consoles, which is perfect for us. They also sell and host trading card games, if you are also into that genre.

Zidiane: As far as that area, what does the player pool look like? SoCal and NorCal are two of the most talent-rich scenes in the FGC, but from what you see and what you expect, who are some notable players that are going to be competing this time around?

Jimmy: SoCal has been known to be one of the top breeders of talent in the FGC. Vanguard: Chapter 0 earlier this month had a very stacked SFV tournament. It can be quite intimidating to compete in a SoCal weekly or monthly event. I always like following the players that seem to come from nowhere, or the ones that don’t always go to events, but come and destroy people. Commander Jesse is one of those stories with his continuous and exponential growth with Dhalsim. I would love to see him represent SoCal in the finals.

Bushinstyle is another player to keep an eye on. If you followed his grudge match vs. Marq Teddy a few years ago and compare it to how he plays today, there is a huge improvement in his game. His erratic style can really confuse some players. SD Pnoy from San Diego won Chapter 0. I always like seeing SD come and represent that city. He is one of the key players in keeping the SD FGC strong.

Zidiane: If you had to make a prediction, would you say those three would be the ones to represent LA in the main event?

Jimmy: I would say SD Pnoy, Commander Jesse, and Stupendous would represent the LA region. They just need to go to every Vanguard event! If not Stupendous, Chris T would be my third.

Zidiane: Alright. I did sit down with Carolyn, the NorCal TO recently. She talked a lot about rivalries, and mentioned the long-standing rivalry that NorCal and SoCal had with each other. It’s of course a well-established rivalry, but what does that rivalry look like from your perspective?

Jimmy: It is not as strong as the reputation makes it out to be. I don’t blame the players or the advent of online matchmaking, though. As mentioned before, the community is evolving and information sharing is easier and less confined. Players want and love to play each other from other regions. Individual rivalries are a lot stronger than regional ones. There still is SoCal vs. NorCal, but it’s usually us old guys that like to add fuel to that fire when those matchups happen. We just have to keep telling the stories so the newer generation can understand the rivalry. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when it comes down to NorCal vs. SoCal in the Proving Grounds West Coast bracket. It’ll be super hype.

Zidiane: So, as far as these regional rivalries not carrying as much weight as they used to, do you feel the same about the whole East Coast vs. West Coast theme of the event? Carolyn mentioned that the West Coast branding for the event was important to their players. Does it carry the same significance for you and your region?

Jimmy: When you have a collective of regions vs. another collective and enable them by providing an event such as the Proving Grounds Finals, it changes substance of the rivalry, making it stronger and more important. By branding it WC vs. EC, not only is RB preserving that longstanding rivalry, they are discretely forcing the players to band together and fight for their coast. It’s brilliant. EC dominated the finals last year, and we don’t want that to happen again (even though NYChrisG now lives on the WC and won the finals, the EC still claim him).

Zidiane: So far, most of the TOs I’ve talked to haven’t really felt any strong alliance to one coast or the other. Most of them felt like it’s them against the world, other than you and NorCal. Do you think it’s going to be different when it starts up, or do you think maybe the players have a different attitude about this than the TOs?

Jimmy: I think that is inherent to the mindset that Proving Grounds provides; prove why your region is the better of all the represented regions. I also believe that TOs are currently focused at developing their region, rather than the entire coast. But believe me, once we start getting closer to the finals and the matchups start happening, there will a lot more banding together and the smack talk will begin. Plus, us TOs like to jab each other occasionally behind closed doors. Not for public consumption. It’s kind of like a bunch of old high school friends sitting on a couch, watching a game, and giving each other slack. It’s all in fun now since we reminisce about our golden years of being players.

Zidiane: That’s a nice image you paint. So, as far as the event goes, if you guys make it to the Grand Final match, do you have any speculation on who you’d be going up against in the Grand Finals match from the East Coast?

Jimmy: Oooh. That’s a tough one to answer. I would have to go with Philly.

Zidiane: I keep hearing different regions say Philly, they look like they’re the EC team to look out for.

Jimmy: They are a strong region, but I can’t tell you how many times I have heard Big E say, “Come on man. You know Philly is going to take this. We got this. We. Got. This.” [laughs]

Zidiane: Well, those were all the questions I had for today. Did you have any last things you wanted to say to the readers?

Jimmy: For those looking to be part of the FGC or the competitive gaming scene in general, your options are not limited to only being a player. Look beyond playing and see what else you can do contribute to the community. You can admin at a tournament, be part of the production crew, band people together, and other countless opportunities. Like with anything in life, if you open yourself and broaden your perspective of the world, you will find its many gems.

And for the ninjas behind the scenes already helping the scene, you are just as important as those in the front, often times, more. Keeping doing what you do because we are all one team. If no one has recognized you, then allow me to do so right now! All volunteers, event staff, bracket runners, camera operators, production techs, lighting, staging, and all the unsung heroes, REPRESENT!

…. And stay tuned for an SCR announcement.

---

If you enjoyed hearing about this TO, be sure to check out the other interviews we have with other regional organizers: Chicago, Texas, NorCal, Vancouver, Montréal, and Florida.

[Feature image courtesy of John Henry Photography]