You may have noticed a number of new names under the titles of the articles on Shoryuken.com lately! There’s been a few changes over the last little while, and a number of new writers have since joined the team to offer their contributions. Here at Shoryuken.com, it’s our goal to keep bringing you the hottest news and offering insight into fighting games and their community; now–in their own words–meet the writers that are committed to doing just that!
Luis Baez
Luis “Standard208” Baez is an attorney and writer in Houston, Texas at a boutique litigation firm. He earned a Political Science degree from Texas State University in 2011. While at Texas State, he was captain of the debate team and wrote opinion pieces for the school’s newspaper, the University Star. He also was an economics tutor for freshmen. Following undergrad, he obtained a law degree from Michigan State University where he was a teaching assistant, law review editor, and mock trial competitor. Since law school, Luis has been published in legal journals and continues to research and write on current legal issues in his spare time.
Although he played fighting games with his brother non-stop growing up on their Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, Luis first discovered Shoryuken.com and the larger competitive fighting game scene when he stumbled across a YouTube recording of the infamous West Coast Warzone 3 money match between Neo and Clockwork in 2011. Since then, he’s been hooked on the FGC and its competitive scene. When he can, he enjoys watching FGC-related content and playing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Capcom vs. SNK 2 with his brother.
The moniker “Standard208” refers to Federal Motor Vehicle Standard 208, which is one of the first laws he had to study inside and out as part of his first-year administrative law course.
LinkedIn: Luis Baez
Marcos Blanco
Hi, everyone. My name is Marcos Antonio Blanco, Jr. a.k.a. “El Cubano Loco” or “The Crazy Cuban” in the Northern California fighting game community. I am a freelance writer/blogger for SRK as well as a longtime notable competitor in the Street Fighter gaming series since 2005, which includes Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, all the iterations of Street Fighter IV and currently, Street Fighter V.
I was born in Redwood City, CA on July 17, 1983 and grew up there until my family and I moved to Sunnyvale in November 1994 where we have resided in ever since. My first exposure to fighting games was the original Street Fighter II at a now long gone United Artists theatre and Malibu Grand Prix (also no longer standing) back in Redwood City. On my ninth birthday, I got a Super Nintendo Entertainment System and rented SFII from my local Blockbuster Video store. Growing up in the arcade scene and getting that amazing console along with SFII forever changed my life.
As far as my education is concerned, I graduated from both Mission College (2001-2004) and San Jose State University (2004-2010) with an Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Journalism. For my actual writing experience, I was an intern at EDM website, The Untz in 2010 and wrote a few recap pieces when I was sponsored by Macro Micro.
Twitter: @El_Cubano_Loco
Blogspot: norcalcubano
Zach Chouikh
L.A.-based gamer, writer and cook. Originally from Flint, MI. Lover of Moroccan food and pork-bone broth ramen. Hyper-competitive fighting game fiend, world wanderer, and match video devour-our-er. University of Michigan graduate. And quickly tires of talking about himself.
Franz Co
A longtime arcade veteran in his home country of the Philippines, Franz “D3v” Co is an aficionado of arcades, fighting games, and the culture around them. Formerly part of the IT industry, he has a deep interest and understanding of the arcade hardware that most players use to play fighting games. This love for arcade hardware has led to him forming many connections within the small cottage industry that’s sprung up around these, and he’s made a few contributions of his own to the community.
Around the Asian region and especially in his beloved home country of the Philippines, however, D3v is known more as a tournament organizer. Starting by hosting tournaments in Manila with a group of friends, he’s now moved on to helping run tournaments, both large monthly events and smaller weekly ones, for multiple organizations in the country. His pride and joy however is the Philippines first true fighting game major and its only Capcom Pro Tour ranking event, the Manila Cup, that he runs alongside the Imperium events team.
Jacob Collins
Jacob “YourGoodPalJake” Collins is a fighting game enthusiast from Kentucky. He became interested in the genre and the community with 2009’s release of Street Fighter IV, but it wasn’t until 2014 that he began going out to tournaments. On top of Street Fighter, he’s spent a good amount of time dabbling in Marvel vs. Capcom or Super Smash Bros. Now, it’s not uncommon to find him making a fool of himself at tournaments within driving distance like Final Round or Combo Breaker. While he’s always trying to improve his game, more than that he wants to be a positive voice for both his local scene and the community at large.
When he’s not playing Street Fighter, Jacob has a ton of other games he loves sinking time into! Some of his favorite series include Metal Gear, Ace Attorney, classic Final Fantasy, and anything that the boys at Nintendo or Naughty Dog put out. He loves collecting figures, posters, graphic tees, and whatever other girl-repelling memorabilia he can get his hands on. Writing for Shoryuken is a big opportunity to make friends and connections and get his name out there, and he couldn’t be more excited to be on-board!
Twitter: @yourgoodpaljake
Crow Winters
Hi, I’m Crow! I got into fighting games because they light up a part of my brain that no other thing in this world does.
I’m a bit of a frame data junkie, I love talking about games and figuring out the human side of why we play them.
I am probably best known for being a Soul Calibur player. I’m a bit of a Namco head in general, but I like to play a wide variety of fighters, new and old. If it’s 3D I probably know something about it, and I’ll definitely talk your ear off over it.
Outside of that, I’m an artist and I sing. I like animals. On a good day, I can touch my toes.
Elias Darling
Elias Darling is a Seattle native who is watching his city’s population explode as he continues his lifelong hobby of gaming. From playing Atari instead of normal toddler activities, to leveling up by getting an NES, video games have been a part of his life since his earliest memory. He started playing Street Fighter II on the SNES at age 5 and never stopped. Eventually he graduated to Virtua Fighter on Sega Saturn, KOF95 on PSX, and the glory days of Sega Dreamcast brought an array of great fighting games to his disposal. This eventually lead Elias to his local competitive scene, which he’s been a part of for a decade now.
In terms of genres that aren’t fighting games, strategy/RPG games tend to grab his attention. Much of his youth was spent grinding away on the Diablo series, Phantasy Star Online, Final Fantasy Tactics, and World of Warcraft. To satisfy the strategy side of things, Darkest Dungeon, Dungeon of the Endless, and Invisible Inc. take up a lot of his casual gaming time.
When he’s not playing games, he’s writing, reading, drawing, making electronic music, or dancing to it. While he pays the bills with a retail day job supplemented by professional massage therapy, he’s more than happy to be exploring new avenues for writing.
Twitter: @SRKmechanica
Daniel Frontera
Daniel Frontera is a complete esports enthusiast. He is 25 years of age and resides in Brooklyn, New York. He goes by the alias “Mobstaz” within the competitive gaming scene. He has currently organized, managed, and moderated video game tournaments for over 20 different games of all genres. Writing is an extremely deep passion of his, especially about competitive gaming. He is a huge fan of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Super Smash Bros. Shoryuken has become his home where he can share his views and opinions on fighting games, as well as the fighting game community as a whole. Daniel understands that competitive gaming will continue to get bigger every year, and personally growing with the scene is an absolute honor for him. A quote you will often hear Daniel reciting is: “If you love what you do you will never work a day in your life.” He has come to understand that this is entirely true. Follow your dreams and don’t let anything get in your way. Nothing’s impossible.
Twitter: @Mobstazzz
LinkedIn: Daniel Frontera
Corey Lanier
“Missing Person” is a Street Fighter player and commentator, a Mafia aficionado, and a world traveler. He is well-respected within the Asian fighting game community, and has lived in China and South Korea for over 5 years as an English teacher. He has been involved with the competitive scene since 2008, but has played since 1992. He was the voice of SpoTV’s Street Fighter Crash and ArcadeStream weekly. When he’s not busy with work, he also streams various games on Twitch, and plays Mafia on Jesus Toast Mafia, a site comprised of Shoryuken.com members alongside various other communities.
Twitter: @JTMMissingPersn
Instagram: jtmmissingperson
Patrick Lee
I’m a 23-year-old competitive Street Fighter player born and raised in NYC. I’m a part of the NYC FGC and a regular participant in local/major tournaments for SFV. I started playing competitively with the release of SFIV 7 years ago, but can play pretty much any Street Fighter game in the series (ST, A2/A3, 3s, SFIV, SFV). If I’m not playing Street Fighter, I’m probably studying Street Fighter–either by watching streams/videos or studying strategies/frame data. Outside of Street Fighter, I’m a fan of all sorts of competitive games. My favorite game that is not Street Fighter would have to be Dota 2, but I’ve also played games like Hearthstone, CSGO, LoL, Overwatch, GGXrd, KoF, etc.
I’m not just a fighting game player though! I graduated from NYU in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Politics/Web Programming. I’m on the path to becoming a lawyer (hopefully…) and planning to apply to law school soon. In my free time, if I’m not playing/watching video games, I’m probably watching a TV show/anime series, reading manga, or studying for the LSATs.
Twitter: @DaFeetLee
YouTube: NYCDaFeetLee
Lord Knight
Lord Knight is a long-time competitive fighting game player. Although his current focus is primarily Arc System Works games, he’s dabbled in all sorts of different 2D fighting games.
As an experienced tournament player, he primarily writes about planning, strategy, practice, and competition.
Twitter: @LordKnightBB
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/lordknight
James Maule
James “Bafael” Maule is an avid video game enthusiast and self-declared “internet personality.” Bafael has been playing fighting games, particularly SFIII: Third Strike, since 2005 when he was in junior high, though he had been limited to playing online almost exclusively due to his age, remoteness from regional events, and reclusive nature. Bafael has made it his goal to do everything in his power to expand the FGC, and firmly believes the most effective way to do that is to streamline the learning process as much as possible for beginners. As such, he creates videos discussing fighting game theory, analyzed and laid out so that beginners can easily understand it.
Bafael holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, Riverside. Outside of video games, Bafael enjoys sleeping, hanging from trees by his curled claws, watching action movies, drawing, eating foliage, and going on long walks at night.
Casey Rinaldi
Casey Allen Rinaldi has been a fighting game fanatic since 1997, starting with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior and Mortal Kombat 3. Whether it’s a traditional 2D game, a 3D, Vs., or “anime” title, he’s always up for trying out new titles and expanding his overall knowledge and appreciation of this wonderful genre. During his time at Arkansas State University, he discovered he had a passion for writing because it allowed him to satisfy his insatiable curiosity about the world around him. After obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism in 2012, he acquired his Master’s Degree in Mass Communication in 2014. After doing some freelance work for local magazines in his hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas, he received an opportunity to serve as a fighting game correspondent for startup esports website, ReadyUpGaming, which aimed to be “Your eSports central.”
You can find him currently playing SFV, Guilty Gear Xrd, MKXL and other titles on PSN at RWAAnnouncer.
When he’s not writing articles or putting people in various types of vortexes and other setplay situations, he enjoys spending time with family and watching lots of anime, professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.
Facebook: Casey Rinaldi
Twitter: @rinaldi_casey
Austyn Roney
Austyn James Roney is a gamer at heart. He began his gaming journey with Super Smash Bros. on the N64. He always enjoyed fighting games, but it took Marvel vs. Capcom 3 to really teach him the ways of the genre. Through a combination of awesome characters and trial and error, Austyn learned the powers of the quarter circle.
His favorite fighting games are Street Fighter III, SoulCalibur IV, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and Skullgirls, just to name a few. He prefers to keep it fresh by playing a wide variety of games, so he can better understand the mechanics and to see what makes the games great. Austyn is also a huge movie buff and enjoys to test his knowledge in popular culture. That being said, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is definitely one of his all-time favorite films.
Austyn reads manga and watches anime weekly whenever his favorite series update. Writing for Shoryuken is a fantastic opportunity that Austyn is ecstatic to be a part of. He hopes to continue to grow and learn ways to share information through writing and acquiring his degree in Journalism.
Game with him online by searching for Lazybones2020.
Twitter: @austynjroney
John Silvia
I’m “Zidiane”; please don’t confuse me for the Guilty Gear player Zidane, I don’t play Leo or Anji. I’m known for playing Skullgirls unlike anyone else, for being one of the best Cerebellas in the world, and for being an active member of the community from day one.
I’ve spent the last 3 years supporting my favorite game and its community every way I could, and now I’m looking to branch out. I’m aiming to learn new communities and make new friends, while still keeping a firm grip on his niche roots. I’m a player, writer, and team member of Kick-Punch-Block. On KPB I sometimes review old fighting games, or rant about things I wouldn’t be allowed to rant about here. They are good people, and I occasionally streams for them as well.
Here on Shoryuken, I wants to make sure that more niche titles get representation. I wants SRK readers to have an equal chance to enjoy a wider variety of games. We all know and love the big games, so every once in awhile it’s nice to give smaller titles some love and a chance to shine.
Twitter: @Zeddy_Beat.
Kick Punch Block! http://www.k-p-b.com/
Kevin Webb
Kevin Webb is a player, writer and tournament organizer based in New York. Since 2006 he has traveled up and down the East Coast for fighting game events, competing primarily in Street Fighter and anime fighters. Traveling across the country for events and producing media for the FGC inspired his career as a journalist.
In addition to fighting games, Kevin is a pop culture junkie, with a particular passion for comic books. When’s he’s not working on his set play or out at a play session, you can catch him streaming on Twitch, tweeting about comics or throwing games of Dota 2.
Twitter: @Forte2K
Twitch: SSB914
Sam Foxall [Assistant Editor]
Only playing fighting games casually before 2012, I properly converted to fighting games after staying up ’til 5 in the morning watching the KOFXIII finals from EVO 2012. From then on, I’ve been fascinated with the ins and outs of the FGC, from the minutia of frame data to the correct method of popping off. While I’m still pretty awful at traditional fighters, I’m somewhat decent at Smash 4 (hold the laughter) and a major Melee enthusiast, even though I can only just about wavedash. An okay Cloud, a mediocre Spinal and my Ryu doesn’t bare thinking about. Based in the UK, I hope to show more of the European scene to the world and one day get to attend Evo in some capacity. I will get hype over almost anything. Also, when exactly is Mahvel?
Twitter: @SFTrilby
Keegan Spindler [Features Editor]
Somewhere wandering the wild wastes of England you’ll find Keegan “Interrobang!?” Spindler. Only a few years old in the Fighting Game Community, he has gone 0/2 in tournaments for games like Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Smash 4 and Street Fighter. Having missed the short tournament lifespan of SoulCalibur V–one of the few games he’s any good at–he spends his spare time writing long, pleading letters to Bandai Namco about a new instalment in the series. Until that happens, he’ll be trying to convince people that Pokkén Tournament isn’t dead, and being a pot monster at tournaments all over the UK.
He’s been writing about videogames for several years, but since joining the FGC has become ever more fascinated with the growth of–and hype for–fighting games around the world. Having played a big handful of games competitively–if badly–he’s built up a wide range of knowledge and a hunger to know more.
Twitter: @DumbGrammarJoke
Zavian Sildra [Editor-in-Chief]
Zavian “mushin_Z” Sildra has been playing Street Fighter since there was only a “II” in the title. Chun-Li is his beloved fighter-of-choice, but he has a growing fascination with Dhalsim and strong respect for back-to-basics Ryu. A long-time enthusiast of video games in general, he has spent many hours with the Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, and Metal Gear Solid franchises–but he claims Capcom’s Okami as his favorite (non-fighting) videogame of all time. He is an unabashed Japanophile, constantly seeking to learn more about Japanese media and culture. When not being bodied online (or practicing to reduce the frequency of that), he reads comic books and zen philosophy, and writes essays, stories, scripts, poems and music. He performs regularly at festivals and special events as part of the traditional Japanese drumming ensemble Kita no Taiko–one of North America’s longest-running taiko groups. He dwells in the alternatively frozen/mosquito-infested/blazing hot wastes of Western Canada.
Twitter: @mushin_Z
Watch for news, editorials, and more from these writers regularly on Shoryuken.com!