Could you please introduce us who you are, for the ones who never heard of you?
My name is Ismael Rivera, I'm 23 years old, I work in a telecommunication company as a system technician, and for 5 years I have been competing in FPS 1on1 games in both national and international tourneys.

When and why did you start playing Quake?
I started at the age of 17, pretty late i reckon, but after 1 year I was already playing for x6tence.AMD which was the biggest professional e-Sports team in Spain alongside with other great spanish players, such as Allter or SombrA.

How do you find Spain's current Quakelive scene compared to the rest of Europe?
I think p0ni is showing everyone that when we (spanish quakelive players) are active and are training regularly we can be a tough challenge for anyone, but unfortunately there aren't enough spanish players inside the international scene about who you could say the same. I'm hoping this will change eventually.

You've been somewhat inactive for some time. What happened so that all of a sudden you decide to go to this next DH?
I stopped playing because of my job, around which my life revolves nowadays. I'm back playing thanks to the team Dreams & Magic whom I practice daily with. Only thanks to them I'm back, and what's a better way to get back playing than to play in Dreamhack Summer 2012?

Do you have any rivalries with any of your local countrymates? Who are the best spanish players at the moment?
I always bet on me to be the best or among them, but the truth is that p0ni is at an amazing level at the moment. He's been active and if you add that to the hours he puts into it, and to the talent he has... he's a monster right now. But eventually I'll be ready to compete against him. About everyone else, the team Dreams and Magic are also very strong but since there are no important tourneys in Spain right now there's not that much of a rivalry.



Do you feel that you currently are in a position or a strong enough level to compete with the top duel players in the Dreamhack line-up?
I have the skill to compete against them, but I don't have the time to put the hours into my training because of my job. Anyway, I will try to make the best out of the following weeks there are left so I can be in a good enough level to throw anyone off their game.

Do you like Quakelive's current gameplay or would you change anything about it?
Quakelive is how it is and there's not much to change. Anyway, if I had to pick a different gameplay I'd pick q4's.

What's your opinion on the current competitive mappool (dm13, ztn, t7, aero, tox)?
I find it pretty boring, I believe Campgrounds and Hektik should be in.

Any final words?
Just want to thank to my sponsor, 2ksystems for making it possible for me to participate in Dreamhack Summer 2012 and to D&M for getting me back into Quakelive.

Interview and translation courtesy of Insan3