MAG Interviews: El_Capitrucho sets the record straight (Part 1)

 Based on the immature nature of most of MAG's so-called elite players, we have to say we were taken aback when El Capitrucho revealed himself to be one of the more thoughtful, educated and ego-less interviews to date. We can't think of a better player to represent North America. In our interview, El-Capitrucho shares some pretty interesting views on leaving 3C, the little-known Team-Killing Wars and being ranked #1 in North America.

So. tell us a little bit about yourself, like the origin of your name:

"El Capitrucho" is one way of saying "The Captain" in Spanish. The name came from one of my uncles really. He started calling me by that name when I was young because I was always keeping a lookout for him and his friends when they were up to no good haha. Now as for me I am 19 years old and I’m from Los Angeles, California.

you were rated the #1 MAG player in North America for as long as I can remember, how'd you pull it off?

Well during the game battles tournament first phase, that was my most active time in MAG, I did end up placing only 5th place but after that was over all the other people who placed above me became less active. I still kept playing going for the second phase of the tournament but not as active as the first phase. There I only placed 10th but along with those headshots, in the process I gained the xp needed to be #1 in North America.

What about those that say that ratings don't mean much and can be altered by stat-padders, what's your response to that?

My response is: It is true in some ways, people can alter their stats by stat-padding and in game people don’t really care for stats they don’t mean much what matters is how you are doing in that game.

Your Sig is pretty unique, explain it:

Haha. My sig? well the idea for it first came on one of my runs at raven playing with my friend SoToLegitToQuit I was telling him about how good he was at the game out killing me multiple times and then he goes and mentions my rank being #1 in North America and he starts calling me Mr.NorthAmerica. That is where that part comes from. The actual image comes from a random squad mate noticing I was ranked #1 and starts calling me a MAG God haha, so I just put them both together.

Do you feel like players who want to make a name for themselves come "gunning" for you because you're high profile?

Well in game, I wouldn't say they literally come "gunning" for me but some people do enjoy killing me. I hear it over proxy chat. haha But its fine. It’s funny when people get excited when they kill me just because I'm at the top of the leader boards.

I give players respect, so I have no real enemies. But there are some people out there that come "gunning" for me and making me a target for other reasons too. There are some people that only want me to join their clan, not because I am a good player, but because they want use my name to wear their clan tag and gain recognition. In regards to clan activities I've been a target before because of my high profile, players want to boost their egos by trying to make me feel inferior. It doesn’t bother me though, the stats speak for themselves.

You're a one-time 3C member? why aren't you a member now?

Well joining 3C was a one-time thing. I joined that clan back in the beta during the IGN tournament. I was a member from then all the way until maybe about 1 month ago. However, towards the end I was not very active with the clan. I did wear some other clan tags for a time, such as [ACP], which was me and my sisters.
The reason I left was because I didn’t see a point in being in a clan if there were no clan wars. And with the problems 3C were having, along with a shift of some of its power over to their newer members, I wanted to stay out. I didn’t like the way things were going so I left.

Why is 3C so hated in your opinion?
That clan seems to be hated by many because members of 3C were accused of cheating in the BETA tournament. It seems like people feel that 3C does not care about playing as part of a bigger unit in game, SVER faction, to make the unit stronger, but instead cares only about their individual squad and stats.  I have heard people express that 3C was just a bunch of cheaters and lag switchers. 3C was involved in team killing wars that turned most of SVER’s clans against them. There is also the trash talking that started in the forums with clans chosen randomly.

In the BETA 3C took a lot of criticism for "backing out" when they weren't defending, explain why this was done:
I joined MAG & 3C during the middle of the BETA Tournament, and a few days after that the BETA closed, and the game was released for retail. So I don’t know what they did during the entire BETA.
When I joined, the leader at that time had the squad "backing out" when they weren't defending because you get more points defending than attacking. So during the BETA to get good xp points, and not waste any time on attacking matches, that’s what their strategy was.

3C has taken a lot of criticism for Rage-Quitting games that were going badly so that there weren't pictures or bad stats (and this was confirmed by two ex-members) who okayed this?
From what I know, I don't think it was really ever okayed by anyone, but it still happened because members did what they wanted to do. By this time there was already a shift in the clan's leadership to the current clan leader.The issue was brought up, and the top members and the leader discussed a solution. The solution that was developed was that if a member "rage-quit", then they would be kicked from the clan. By this time, the clan's structure had also changed so that the leader was the only one who could kick a member from the clan.
But this solution was never enforced. The rage-quitters were reported, but the leader would not kick them, but rather give them "multiple chances". It was speculated that they were never kicked because the people that were "rage-quitting" were too much of an asset to the clan, and they knew it. After a while though it didn’t really matter and members could do whatever they wanted. There was a point where the top members tried to establish order, but I don’t think it lasted to long since the clan leader wasn’t as active as the rest of the clan, and he didn’t know what was going on.

Whats your favorite weapon?

My favorite weapon? Hmm...I would say any 2nd tier assault rifle but I am more comfortable with the AG-94 since I am mainly on SVER, I have more time with it.

Would you ever rejoin 3C? why or why not?
This is a question that I have been asked for a while now but I never really gave it a direct response. I guess now is a good time. There are many reasons that original members are gone. Thinking about it now, I don’t see any reason for me to ever go back to 3C.
I just want to play as a team with a good squad of solid players. And as an individual player, i just want to be seen as a good solid player. I think wearing the 3C tag takes some of that away since they are well known, whether it be a good thing or a bad thing. I just don’t like the idea of having a 3C tag in front of my name anymore. For the time being I think I like the idea of not being in a clan. Not much of a point in being in one without clan wars, but there are a few I would like to try out.

Tell us about the differences between Valor, Raven and SVER:
Well in my opinion, Valor has the best weapons in the game overall, but the randoms there I can’t stand. But, their maps are the most fun. SVER has good weapons and some good randoms that can handle their own, which is why I chose it to be my faction. Most of the time since I play alone it is nice to have some randoms who know what they are doing.Now Raven, that one is kind of hard to explain. The last time I was there was more than a month ago, before the last patch. But in Raven all I could do was play Aqui to have better chances of winning, and some Sabo when Raven clans sent me group invites. Raven randoms are just as bad as Valors, but again this is all my opinion, and I’m sure some people would think otherwise.

What’s your opinion on the new system that gives us three player slots?

Well there are some good and there are some bad. It takes out the idea of faction loyalty, but it does allows people to play anywhere they want without having to vet. So it is really up to the person using their slots. To me, it doesn’t matter because i will be using my 1 slot; that’s all I need.

What’s your take on the new in-game economy and separating skills and weapons?

I think this is a good addition to the game. It sort of makes it so that instead of being able to get everything you need for any game mode; people have to specialize in a certain area to help out the team; unlike the original skill tree.

Don't forget to check out Part 2 of our El-Capitrucho interview tomorrow.