MenaRD talks Street Fighter 6 at Evo Las Vegas 2024: “It feels unreal sometimes because I’ve always dreamt about it from my little PC back home.”

Saul "MenaRD" Mena has joined the Red Bull Gaming family while at Evo Las Vegas 2024! He sat down with esports.gg for an exclusive interview about his signing with Red Bull Gaming, his esports journey, plus Evo Las Vegas 2024. He also shared his thoughts about the Street Fighter 6 meta and his competitors.

In the interview with esports.gg, MenaRD revealed that he's honored to be part of the Red Bull Gaming team, acknowledging the brand's storied history and reputation in esports. He added how he appreciates the resources and support that Red Bull Gaming provides to prolong player and community success even beyond just winning.

"I want to highlight a lot of the communities that don't necessarily have that opportunity from the Dominican Republic," MenaRD said. "And I would love to do more with the community over there — be it a tournament, be it a showcasing of any of the talent in any way or another. I'm more about doing things for the community. Red Bull is involved with a lot of other sports, and having like a cool crossover and showcasing gaming to fans of other sports would be amazing, too."

Now under the Red Bull Gaming flag, MenaRD is with fellow Street Fighter 6 players such as Adel "Big Bird" Anouche, Shin "Leshar" Moon-sup, Tsunehiro "gachikun" Kanamori, Daigo Umehara, and Lin "Oil King" Li-wei. He told esports.gg that he's excited to play alongside his good friend Big Bird. He's also interested in getting to know Oil King better.

To MenaRD, it's a dream come true to be part of the fight game community (FGC) and compete in places like the U.S. and Japan. Just this year, he took home the gold at Get On My Level X in Toronto, Evo Japan, and Red Bull Kumite New York. He also participated in DreamHack Dallas, where he qualified for the Esports World Cup 2024 event.

"It feels like a dream come true," MenaRD told esports.gg, referring to his esports journey. "It feels unreal sometimes because I've always dreamt about it from my little PC back home. I never thought I would have this opportunity — or any of the guys. We didn't really have much money, didn't really have even the means to visit the United States."

He continued, noting how it's incredible to see his childhood dreams of traveling and competing against the best players come true.

"And seeing everything happen and going to Japan and going to all these places and being able to fight the best and being one of the best — it's just something that I used to daydream all day when I was like 8 or 9 years old," he said. "So seeing it happen now — I'm just waiting for the moment that I wake up and have to go back to school. That this is all just me dreaming. It's incredible."

MenaRD said he was basically born into gaming as well. He was inspired and taught by his older brother Luis "LuiMan20" Manuel, played video games his whole life, and eventually gained recognition and success both locally and online simply thanks to his love for the Street Fighter franchise.

"I don't really remember where it started because I was basically born into it," he told esports.gg. "My brother LuiMan — he was one of the best players in the country since I was a little kid. I was just always hanging around, seeing him playing, and I learned to play just to be with him and talk about the game. As far as I remember, I've always played my whole life."

Fast forward to Evo Las Vegas 2024, MenaRD is competing in its Street Fighter 6 tournament, which is also a Capcom Pro Tour Premier Qualifier event. During the interview, he talked about how the recent Street Fighter 6 patch nerfed his Luke and Blanka. Therefore, he's reinforcing his lineup with Akuma and Zangief.

"Since the last patch, Luke and Blanka suffered nerfs," he said. "They downgraded a lot of their strengths. I really believe in those two characters, but I'm also reinforcing some difficult matchups because of the weaknesses that they have. I'm bringing out Akuma and I'm bringing out Zangief for this Evo. Hopefully, that works out. It's the biggest Evo ever, and it will be good to have an impact and have a good performance so everybody can see it. I really want to show everybody what I have this new season."

In terms of who he wants to duke it out against at Evo Las Vegas 2024, it's Kakeru, Amjad "AngryBird" Al-Shalabi, and Victor "Punk" Woodley.

"I'm excited to fight a lot of the repeats from last year," he said. "Especially Kakeru and AngryBird. They were the ones that beat me last year at Evo Las Vegas. And I've had my revenge — I've already beat Kakeru in Japan and I beat AngryBird at Capcom Cup. But I want to do it under the magic of Evo Las Vegas and just complete that chapter. Punk is also doing really good this season, so I would love to face him."

As for parting words, MenaRD said he looks forward to showing the results of this partnership with Red Bull Gaming. "I hope to make you proud with all the work that I have prepared for this season and for the coming years," he added.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news, interviews, and updates!