Ray “Babycakes” Bulaclac’s roots in eSports dated back to that first time he laid his hands on an Xbox Controller and tried out Halo: Combat Evolved. At this moment, he knew that he found a game that he was interested in and wanted to pursue. What he didn’t know was how big of a passion he would end up developing for not just Halo, but all forms of competitive gaming. From there, the rest is history.

Over his expansive gaming career, Ray has competed in numerous gaming tournaments across the nation for Halo 3, Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. 64, and Ultra Street Fighter 4. Needless to say, his passion for both the competition and comradery that eSports can generate is here to stay. While his passion started off in the Halo scene, Ray is currently devoting the majority of his limited gaming time leveling up his Peach in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U or casually flaunting his fraudulent Falco in Super Smash Bros. Melee to prepare for Evo 2016. This doesn’t mean that he’s completely done with Halo - in fact, you can still find him online on the majority of weeknights running through the Halo 5 ranked playlists or training to become a “Warzone Wizard” (Read: Filthy Casual) as he likes to call it.

Ray founded D.C. eSports in 2013 in order to help build a stagnant FPS community here in the Washington D.C. Metro Area. Since then, he’s used his passion for all things esports combined with his education and experience in Digital Marketing in order to help build a community based around high-quality competitive gaming events.

Ryan "BulacaFlocka" Bulaclac started competitive gaming back in the PS2 era with SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals. After playing SOCOM on Gamebattles (then SOCOMbattles), he was hooked to the competitive scene. A jack of all trades, master of none, Ryan has played a bunch of games to a competitive level, though not particularly excelling in any specific game. He has competed at MLG events in Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in addition to attending numerous FGC events (including 3 EVOs) for Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the various iterations of Street Fighter 4, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

These days Ryan spends his (somewhat limited) gaming time practicing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (where he currently is in the middle of a character crisis), grinding online Ranked matches with Vega in Street Fighter V, desperately calling for backup after rushing into situations alone in Halo 5, or carrying the entire team on his back (or overextending, which is more likely) in the Marksman role in League of Legends. In addition to local events, he will be competing at CEO, EVO, and Super Smash Con this year!

Ryan brings to D.C. eSports years of experience as a tournament organizer, having worked for Major League Gaming as a referee over 4 seasons on their pro tour. He was the head streamer for the popular Smash @ Clarendon events in 2014, as well as the head T.O. for the CFAS Wednesday Night Strikes Smash 4 weeklies.

Joe "Average Joe" Dickerson joins us as our first sponsored player! Joe has been very supportive of D.C. eSports events for a long time now, and we've grown to become friends. He has a background in the area as a Brawl & Project M player, and these days he's made a name for himself as a top Smash 4 player in MD/VA where he's currently number 20 on the power rankings. Joe really broke out onto the scene during the days when customs were legal, proving how broken Wind Kong can be. As Xanadu's stream began to blow up, many people thought of Joe as a flukey customs DK player, but he's proven them all wrong by consistently placing well in the non-customs meta.

You can find Average Joe competing at most of the events in MD/VA. He's a regular at Xanadu on Tuesday nights, as well as at our CFAS Wednesday Night Strikes weeklies in Manassas, VA. Though he is not able to travel out of state as often as other players in the region, Joe had a very impressive Top 32 finish at The Big House 5. He will be competing this year at Pound 2016, EVO, Super Smash Con, and more under the D.C. eSports brand.

Samuel "Darkflame" Ruano is the (not-so) local Captain Falcon main. DarkFlame has been a Falcon main for pretty much his Smash career, playing a proficient Falcon in Melee, Project M, and Smash 4. He's always a threat in the local scenes, though he's been away from the area for the last few months while he's been following his dream as a conservationist. While up north, DarkFlame has been able to attend a few locals and events, consistently placing near the top of their tournaments. He will hopefully be back for a while in the near future, but wherever he is, he has been representing us well!