David “RH | MJ_Gama” Gamaliel Pinedo Gomez won the Central America West 1 online premier event for the Capcom Pro Tour 2021. The victory gives MJ_Gama a slot in the Capcom Cup invitational event at the end of the 2021 season.
The event drew 110 players from the Central America West region, including Antonio “AAA | Kusanagi” Medrano and Rafael “RH | Zeromex7” Villanueva, rounding out the top three.
MJ_Gama played a perfect tournament, never losing a set and winning from the winners side of Grand Finals. He primarily used Cammy in the tournament as well as a secondary M. Bison pick.
MJ_Gama shares his thoughts on Capcom Pro Tour
He jumped onto the official Capcom Fighters stream after winning Grand Finals to share his thoughts with the commentators.
“To be honest, I was not, like, seeing myself making it to Grand Finals,” MJ_Gama said. “I got very lucky. Kusanagi is super strong. I still feel like Kusanagi is one of the strongest players in Latin America, probably the best one. I’ve been losing to him in like every tournament but I was able to make it today and I’m very happy for that.”
MJ_Gama’s victory in the Capcom Pro Tour event is the biggest of his career. The last time that he placed in a major tournament for a Capcom Pro Tour event was in 2018. He placed 17th at SoCal Regionals 2018 and 129th at Evolution Champion Series 2018.
MJ_Gama’s win is a byproduct of the shift to online events for the Capcom Pro Tour because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of being built around a points-based system — which required either placing high at a major tournament like EVO or placing well at many smaller tournaments — the structure of the Capcom Pro Tour is now 31 qualifying events. The winner of one of these events is qualified immediately for the Capcom Cup instead of earning points, as in previous years.
Reflecting on his training
MJ_Gama also spoke on stream about his training regime with other Latin American players.
“We have this little group chat on WhatsApp with a lot of strong players here in Mexico,” MJ_Gama said. “Probably Kusanagi is one of those that I need to mention because I play very often with him. I play a lot with Chris Varias who is a Marvel player…. Those are the players who I play very often. We usually share a lot of information and technique. And we give advice to each other so we are able to develop ourselves as players.”
The Capcom Cup will take place in early 2022. By winning Central America West 1, MJ_Gama joins Kenryo “Mago” Hayashi, the winner of the Japan 1 online premier tournament, and the reigning Capcom Cup champion Derek “iDom” Ruffin. The next qualifier will be North America/Canada West 1, which begins on May 8.
