Tekken Player Raphael “eL” Cueva joins Imperium Pro Team
A few days ago, Imperium Pro Team announced on their Facebook page that they are welcoming 26-year-old Raphael “eL” Cueva from Bacolod city into their Fighting Game Division. eL is the first player out of Luzon to be included in IPT’s roster, as well as the first Tekken player to be included in their fighting game division which is comprised of players from different fighting games including Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat X, Guilty Gear Xrd, and more.
Raphael Cueva has been playing since the early days of Tekken Tag Tournament 1 and he won his first tournament, C.E.B.U TTT2 Parkmall back in 2013 . He then continued to play in local tournaments not only in Cebu but also in Davao (Option Select Gaming Station), and eventually in Manila, in all of which eL placed highly if not at the top. eL also competed in the South East Asia Majors 2014 in Singapore, where he placed 8th overall.
eL after winning his first tournament in Parkmall, Cebu back in 2013.
During the 2nd day of the e-Sports Gaming Summit 2015, eL represented IPT in Playbook Video Game Lounge and Bookshop’s Tekken tournament. In the duration of the tournament, he managed to defeat several known players in the local arcade scene including Pinoy Gaming Festival 2015 TTT2 Champion Andreij “Doujin” Albar who was eliminated by eL in the loser’s bracket. eL was eliminated from the tournament after losing twice to Alexandre “AK” Laverez who was the second runner-up in the Global Championship for TTT2 in Seoul, Korea back in 2013. eL’s incredible execution and handling of his main team composed of Kazuya Mishima and Devil Jin landed eL in fourth place out of thirty-nine (39) competitors, proof that he most certainly is one of the top players in our local Tekken scene.
BrawlFest 2015 TTT2: eL vs AK
When asked about how he felt about Imperium’s decision to support him as a member of their fighting game division, eL stated that right from the very start of his Tekken career, he has always dreamed of being able to play the game professionally so he felt extremely happy when he heard the news. Out of curiosity, I also asked eL if he had anything to say to all other aspiring gamers out there:
“Keep working on it, maintain a good attitude, stay hungry and somebody is bound to notice all your effort. If a guy from an unknown city made it, then anybody can.”
– Raphael “eL” Cueva
According to Raphael Gancayco CEO of IPT and owner-operator of Imperium e-Sports bar and Video Game Lounge, eL’s involvement with IPT is still just a non-contractual agreement so far, but they do plan on discussing terms with him in the near future. As for their future plans for Tekken, Sir Gancayco boldly mentioned their intent to work with eL in dominating Tekken 7.
You can find the official announcement of Imperium Pro Team right here.
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