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Good morning! to close off these interviews, I thought I’d answer the questions myself as well!

View the other interviews from this series:

• Interview #1: Frikinin
• Interview #2: OliveOily
• Interview #3: Readek
• Interview #4: TheDripCollector
• Interview #5: Transco
• Interview #6: Fireicey
• Interview #7: hok0ri (you are here)

Who are you?

I am hok0ri, a commentator, small-time graphic maker, Shovel Knight main from the UK and someone who is very passionate about this game and its community.

When did you first join the community?

Well, I first played the game in 2020 on Xbox, I was first introduced to Rivals the same way many may have been, through Alpharad, the videos that really stick out in my memory were some of his alpha vids, his video from when Abyss mode was being added and specifically his videos on Shovel Knight being added.
A year later, in June I picked the game up on steam and decided to foolishly enter that seasons RCS Finals, a week after picking the game up, since then I have spent the past two years being as active as I could be in the community, entering our our amateur brackets, crew battles, ft5 exhibitions and even got the chance to meet the friends I made in locals.

What has been your best/favourite moment with Rivals?

It’s a close tie between Rivals Odyssey Winter 2022 and Spring 2023, it was my first time leaving the UK on my own accord, and while both trips had hiccups when it came to travel, they both gave me some of my fondest memories, whether it was competing against people I had only met online, or being able to commentate two amazing tourneys live. Both events ended with a group of us taking photos together and going out for dinner. though if I had to pick just one moment it would have been commentating Grand Finals of Odyssey Spring, OliveOily vs TheDripCollector, both of their runs were fantastic, ending with an unforgettable final set, being able to commentate that with MidoMidori and hear everyone else reacting was such a surreal experience.

How would you describe your playstyle in Rivals?

Goofy. I just play in a way that I find fun, while I have fundamental and technical knowledge of the game, my application of said knowledge isn’t the best, Shovel Knight was always gonna be my main, because their moveset is perfect for my Rivals mentality.

What are you looking forward to most in Rivals 2?

Seeing how this community adapts to all the additions and changes, seeing new champions rise and how they master the game. Also seeing more of the roster in 3D and their costumes.

Any closing statements?

I am truly lucky to be a part of this community. It’s unreal how much a platform fighting game has affected my life. I have met some of the best people I know and made lifelong friendships because of this silly platform fighter
I want to thank Silva, our RAS TO for being a great friend recently, Frikinin for being such a ray of sunshine for the whole community, Readek for running basically everything behind the scenes for streams, my friends in Cobalt for being so kind for years, of course to all of you for the impact you have let this game have in the past 7 years and to everyone in the Rivals of Aether: Europe Discord server for welcoming me in and giving me opportunities to not only commentate, but to make something like these interviews happen.

I hope you all enjoyed reading through these, it was an honest pleasure to hear from these people and to get a better look into the community I love.
This was made possible thanks to everyone who chose to buy things from the RCS Championship Chest and put the proceeds to Europe’s Finals Pot.

Look forward to the community combo video and perhaps another surprise for our community… <3

We’re reaching the end here and what better of a way to finish this off than with the one and only Lion of the North, Fireicey!

View the other interviews from this series:

• Interview #1: Frikinin
• Interview #2: OliveOily
• Interview #3: Readek
• Interview #4: TheDripCollector
• Interview #5: Transco
• Interview #6: Fireicey (you are here)
• Interview #7: hok0ri

Who are you?

My name is Jakob, but most people know me as Fireicey, and both are for some reason frequently misspelt. I’m just a laid-back guy who gets overly invested in anything I enjoy, Rivals happened to be in a sweetspot of fun and convenient, so I’ve ended up sticking to it for a good while. Aside from Rivals I enjoy ball sports, most forms of fiction excluding live action (books, anime, games, manga), dried fruit and I try to live healthily, which my horrendous work shift schedule makes a lot more challenging.

When did you first join the community?

I think I started playing the game sometime around mid to late 2017 while I went to folkehøgskole (Folk high school), and got invited to the European Discord server not long after. However, I didn’t really start interacting with the community until the start of 2018, when I discovered a secret alcove in the attic of the library on campus where there was ethernet access. Finally armed with stable internet I started entering tournaments, and after a particularly good run where I got double eliminated by Transco for 2nd, he suggested I turn up to Destination Fight 4. I hadn’t really considered entering offline events before that moment, but with some help I was allowed to register after the deadline, and I ended up meeting many of the old staples of the European community for the first time, like Slimepuffen and OliveOily.

What has been your best/favourite moment with Rivals?

It would probably have to be winning Traction 5, since a lot of things came together for me at that event. It’s my biggest offline tournament win and my biggest tournament win without dropping a game. It was also my first tournament win with Transco in attendance and it clinched my first rank #1 on the PR.

How would you describe your playstyle in Rivals?

I’d say I’m a rather opportunistic player, who tends to be aggressive. By putting a lot of pressure on the opponent I can create openings and make it difficult for them to find space, and with a precise punish game I make it hard for them to fight back effectively. I’m a bit careless at times, so I can be prone to taking some unnecessary risks in neutral and offstage. Luckily, I have some of the best DI and slide offs in Rivals, which often makes up for it.

What are you looking forward to most in Rivals 2?

The main thing I’m looking forward to is the community being bigger. There are definitely advantages to the smaller community around a niche game like Rivals of Aether, but a larger community should lead to more opportunities to improve and compete, and more spectacle around the game with bigger tournaments and more creators.

Any closing statements?

Ahh, yes. I’m looking to buy a modded Xbox One model 1708 controller with a left stick snapback capacitor, mechanical ABXY buttons and a USB C port, or any of these mods. So to anyone who does Xbox One mods or knows someone who might be interested, please reach out to me on Discord.

Such words of wisdom, join me Thursday as we finish up The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe!

Time for a bit of a throwback with our next interview, A long time member of the community and overall deadly force, Transco!

View the other interviews from this series:

• Interview #1: Frikinin
• Interview #2: OliveOily
• Interview #3: Readek
• Interview #4: TheDripCollector
• Interview #5: Transco (you are here)
• Interview #6: Fireicey
• Interview #7: hok0ri

Who are you?

Online, My name is Viktor Eriksson and I am from a small town called Skelleftea in Sweden. Online in Discord/roa and many other games I go by the name Transco.

When did you first join the community?

I found Rivals of Aether randomly on steam. At the time I was practicing/competing in Smash 64, and learning the basics of melee. the pixel style, how smooth it was and the short Q time got me hooked.

I felt that my earlier platform fighter experience translated quite well also. After some weeks of online play I looked it up on reddit and found out that tournaments were being held through an app called “Discord”.

I downloaded Discord and joined the community, entering my first tournament around October 2015.

What has been your best/favourite moment with Rivals?

I think being a part of the community throughout the years, meeting up at locals and making friends along the way (the cheesy answer but also true).

How would you describe your playstyle in Rivals?

I have not been the lab type of player, studying replays or anything like that. Learning by doing has been my general way to go. In Rivals I was rewarded for having a more read based / aggresive type of playstyle which made it all so much fun.

What are you looking forward to most in Rivals 2?

I love platform fighters in general, and taking the good parts of Rivals and adding some Melee mechanics onto looks promising, I will of course play it but I am not sure if I will be competing, depends how hooked I get.

Any closing statements?

Still and always will be grateful for the time with the community and Rivals of Aether. Altho I am retired now and stacked with life (becoming a dad) I can’t wait to play with you all in Rivals of Aether 2.

Join me next Tuesday as we continue The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe!

I couldn’t do these interviews without including the rising star of our community, RCS Season 8 Champion: TheDripCollector!

View the other interviews from this series:

• Interview #1: Frikinin
• Interview #2: OliveOily
• Interview #3: Readek
• Interview #4: TheDripCollector (you are here)
• Interview #5: Transco
• Interview #6: Fireicey
• Interview #7: hok0ri

Who are you?

Online, I’m known as TheDripCollector, but my real name is Julian.
I’m a Dutch kid who joined this community fairly late but managed to grind to the position of current 2nd in the region in the span of two seasons.

When did you first join the community?

I bought the game around early 2020 because I wanted to try out workshop characters, though that was just with friends and I didn’t join the community during this time.
I revisited the game during august 2021 because Ultimate wasn’t fun for me anymore and I wanted to try a platform fighter with better competitive gameplay, but I got discouraged and didn’t play for more than one week. I really wanted to play Ranno after seeing Chengi’s Rocket Frog, but I couldn’t get a good feel for hitfalling and didn’t feel like anyone in the cast actually clicked with me. I joined some RoA Discord servers when this was happening, but I quickly left those.
Then, when the workshop 4 came out in February 2022, I decided to try playing the game again to see if I enjoyed playing any of the new characters.
I ended up really liking Olympia when I was new (because she was overtuned) and that kept me around long enough to develop a better feel for the engine and branch out to other characters.

What has been your best/favourite moment with Rivals?

A little after I got banned from EURAS, I entered a bracket featuring three PR’d players, Bleb. Hukon and Lucy.
During this time, I was trying very hard to get better. I had some doubts about ever making it past mid-level, and my ban helped a lot with my confidence.
Regardless, my mentality was not good at this point, I had little confidence in myself as a player and tied my results heavily to my skill level due to inexperience.
Back then, taking even a game off any of those players felt impossible to me. I was also still very nervous about entering brackets.
Still, I wanted to get better so I entered. I expected to go 0-2, but I then beat Hukon in winners game 5. After I won that set, I also beat Bleb game 4. Finally, I 3-0’d him in the runback. My friends were popping off for me while this was all going on, and it was the most happy I’ve felt with winning a bracket to this day. Double eliminating Fireicey during one of the weeklies was a close second, but overall, I’m still happier with the former bracket win, and I’ve always considered it an important bracket in my progress as a player.

How would you describe your playstyle in Rivals?

I try to take away my opponent’s stage control through good usage of my movement, pressuring them into the corner and delaying my timings to bait out attacks I can then punish. Wrastor can’t trade very well with his opponent, so I like to throw out a shorthop slipstream into jab to minimize the chance of a limb getting hit. If slipstream is already out in neutral, I mostly look for openings off down tilt. My punish game is a mix of reacting and DI reads, the latter being done through conditioning or abusing the unreactable hitpause on Wrastor’s moves to cover the DI my opponent is most likely to do. During combos, I’m always looking to at least push my opponent offstage, so I can alternate between going offstage to take away resources or staying onstage to delay timings to hit my opponent offstage again. I use a lot of tricks to help myself recover better, namely that some of his aerials make him rise, double jump protection and hitfalling tornado.

What are you looking forward to most in Rivals 2?

There are two things that I’m really looking forward to in Rivals 2, those being the new characters that are being added and the potential of maintaining a bigger playerbase than the first game could achieve. The returning characters from RoA have obviously been changed, either directly or indirectly through the differences in the engine, and felt off because I couldn’t adjust to their new feel during the little time I was able to test Rivals 2. There’s a good chance I’ll be playing one of the newcomers so I have a clean slate with no version of the character’s feel in RoA in my mind. If I end up having the same passion for Rivals 2 as for RoA, I’d love sharing it with more people entering the scene.

Any closing statements?

RoA has become my favorite game of all time during my time spent playing it and improving at it, and it’s what introduced me to competition as well.
It’s too soon for me to say if I’ll like the sequel enough to try my hand at grinding it when it releases, but I’m sure I’ll stay in the community and play it a lot.
Also, for the people who are in my Discord server, Furizz, Gyatty Skibithree (yes, that’s its real name), you’re all awesome.

Join me Friday as we continue The People of Rivals of Aether: Europe!