The catchphrases, the flashy Dudley, the passive-aggressive Vega; New York City’s Team PIE – Professional Instigators Entertainment – has added a new level of excitement and hype to their city while recapturing the old school East Coast sizzle of trash talk, friendly rivalry, and more. With Gregory “Zeus” Lewis’ consistent performance since last year to The King of New York and Bryant “Smug” Huggins’ win at Summer Jam 8, 2014 has shaped up to be a staple year for these provocateurs.

But every success story rests on a foundation of a dream, and Team PIE’s story tells the tale of how two men’s hope of recapturing the essences of their scene created a grassroots brotherhood that not only shifted the focus back to the Empire State, but also unknowingly shattered its old persona and united its community.

2009 – Despite the consistent success of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the golden era of competitive fighting gaming was fading. Then came Capcom video game producer Yoshinori Ono, who sought to revive Capcom’s legendary Street Fighter series. The fourth installment, featuring new graphics and game mechanics, injected new life into the fighting game community and attracted fans both old and new. With the online component of next-generation consoles, David “Chin” Russell in Brooklyn was able to play against Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay in Queens. What they didn’t know was this match was the origin of Team PIE.

David “Chin” Russell, a Cody player and one of PIE’s co-founders: I met Lee Chung before everybody. We met through mutual friends playing Street Fighter Alpha 3. We clicked and started playing more together. When Street Fighter IV came out, I came across Andy, who was beating me up online. I coughed, and since we were both on the mic, he thought I was talking smack. But we cleared the air and talked about a Brooklyn tournament that I got second place at. He happened to know the first place winner, Jago, and he set up a rematch. Since then, we hung out, he met Lee Chung, and that was the beginning.

Francis Lee Chung, one of PIE’s original five who now serves as commentator and Public Relations director: We drove to Andy’s place in Queens every other day. We formed a strong bond and a strong friendship. Then Andy told us about the fighting game community and we asked ourselves, “What can we do to help the community out?”

Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay, co-founder and team leader: I was committed to the New York fighting game community since 2001. Back in 2002, when guys like Justin Wong and Sanford played Marvel vs. Capcom 2, they got hype, talked trash, and won money in each other’s faces. Over the years, we lost that drive and hunger. Chung and I wanted to instigate the scene into being competitive again, anything we could do to create a friendly controversy. So we created Team PIE in 2009. I brought in Sci, who has been with me since the early 2000s, and Chung had Chin and Daffy.

David “Chin” Russell: I didn’t like the name at the time because I thought it was soft.

Omar “Sci” Brown, another of PIE’s original five who has yet t0 give up on Dee Jay: The name was iffy but grew on us. Because when you lose, you eat a piece of humble pie.

Francis Lee Chung: We don’t indulge in the drama. We pop off, but it is strictly about video games and not personal life.

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2009-2011 – The foundation was set. Dumornay began to organize sessions and small tournaments, such as an unofficial Road to Evo event that awarded the winner with a roundtrip flight to Evo 2010.

Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay: In 2009, Gootecks and Mike Ross were some of the best players on the west coast, and they dominated New York’s top players — Sanford, Arturo, and Justin Wong when he was still here. So I told myself that even though I don’t have much, I have to do what I can to make the scene hungry and create an incentive to drive the players to improve. Running tournaments were difficult. I had a few people helping me. All the expenses – the venue cost, prizes, etc — were out of my own pocket. But I wanted to see players get recognized. Any tournaments I do, I try to represent the drive and the brand of PIE.

Sanford “The King” Kelly, former EMP and current The Steam Co. player: Andy is the man. He has been holding down for New York for a long time. A lot of reasons New York is as strong as it is today is because of him. He puts time and money — something you can’t replace — into the scene.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez, member of Team Spooky: [Dumornay] had been doing these events for years even before the Street Fighter IV era. Stream was nonexistent back then so he didn’t get much recognition outside of New York City.

Francis Lee Chung: Financially, we are in position that others aren’t. We weren’t getting credit or recognition, but it was never about that. It wasn’t even about PIE. It was to give to the people who are less fortunate. But there were times when we said, “Man, the community doesn’t appreciate anything,” and we ended up deciding to keep giving them the goods.

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2012-mid 2013 – Not knowing which direction they wanted to take, PIE took a hiatus from the scene and focused on strengthening the team. They first added Bradley “PoeM” Hall in 2012 then Gregory “Zeus” Lewis and Bryant “Smug” Huggins in 2013. The PIE was cut evenly into eight slices.

Bradley “PoeM” Hall, the Balrog player who beat RZR|Xian at The Fall Classic 2013: I’ve known citi for quite some time. He lived seven blocks away from me so we spent a lot of time practicing and studying matchups. When he ran tournaments, I helped with setups and brackets.

Francis Lee Chung: PoeM had always been around, but we added him because although he isn’t a trash talker, he is a good friend and has good skills.

David “Chin” Russell: One day online, I played one of the most annoying Vegas. I found out he was Zeus and lived five minutes from me. And he was from the hood, so of course we became cool.

Gregory “Zeus” Lewis, the Vega player who won Street Fighter IV at Defend the North 2014: I met Team PIE in early 2013, but I didn’t join them. I became good friends with Chin through online battles. Through our conversations, I started to hang out with him and other PIE members. Because I was always around them, I joined. They remind me of myself. It is more than Street Fighter. They are my friends.

Bryant “Smug” Huggins, Summer Jam 8 Street Fighter IV champion and proven Dudley competitor: I beat Lee Chung at Next Level and we exchanged gamertags. I started chilling with them at their PIE casuals. I was cool with all of them. I decided to join the team around the same time as Zeus. We’re brothers ever since then.

Francis Lee Chung: I got a good vibe from both Zeus and Smug, but what lured me in further were our relationships.

Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay: Originally, a lot of people thought we got Smug and Zeus because of their tier status. In actuality, we added them because we felt they related to us and PIE’s representation.

David “Chin” Russell: I will ride with anybody in the team. All of us are close. We all get along and stand by each other. We are a family first.

Francis Lee Chung: I would describe this group as assholes, but we are really a bunch of fun-loving guys.

Winter 2013 – Arturo Sanchez streamed one of Team PIE’s casual sessions, showcasing the team’s personalities and skills. They became a huge hit with the fighting game community. The hidden gem of New York City was no longer a secret.

Gregory “Zeus” Lewis: We always did sessions but never streamed them, and we rarely invited people.

Charles “Daffy” Atkinson, one of Team PIE’s founding five: Our session is a grind. We keep playing to get better so when we go to tournaments, we won’t be the underdogs.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez: I knew once people got a hold of them, they would blow up. You have strong players in Zeus and Smug whom everyone wanted to play against, a great emcee in Lee Chung, and citi who brings everything together.

Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay: Arturo got our names out there. What’s funny was we were supposed to partner with Bum from House of Chaos, but he couldn’t make it. So I asked Arturo instead. Ever since that stream, the number of fans grew. That’s when they started to love us.

Bryant “Smug” Huggins: I didn’t expect all these attentions with all the people watching our stream. I thought people just wanted to watch Street Fighter. I didn’t know they actually supported us. The love felt good.

James Chen, half of UltraChen and long-time community contributor and commentator: Initially, it’s hard to have a first impression. There are so many teams that are formed that, unless they are local to you, they might not mean as much to others. But now that Team PIE has gained a lot of exposure, they definitely stand out. They are currently one of my favorite teams for multiple reasons: they are talented, young, driven, and fun to watch.

January 12, 2014 – Carrying the momentum from the stream, Dumornay hosted Defend the North, the first Major since his last Road to Evo event in 2010.



Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay: I felt all the professional and casual players — and a lot of them are from New York — always flew out of state to tournaments such as Big E’s, Sweet Johnny Cage’s, or Final Round. So it was time we had one at home. It cost a lot, but at least it was worth it. Defend the North cost me more than $2,500 per day. I was scared because of the huge risk of losing a lot of money, but I did pretty well.

Francis Lee Chung: Having a major in New York was huge. We are big at repping New York City. Everybody goes out of their way to avoid running events in New York because of the price, but I feel like you have to pay to live in New York. For our city, our state, it is what it is. There’s nothing like New York. We prove the doubter wrong. But more than that, it is a statement that there are other amazing players in the Tri-State area aside from Empire Arcadia.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez: Whenever the scene went through a low, Andy was always the one putting in money to get people to care again. He ran the first major in New York when, for so many years, people were saying it’s impossible to run one because of the cost. But he was able to do it not once but twice with Defend the North and Road to Evo. He also ran two or three King of New Yorks that weren’t streamed. A scene will go nowhere if it doesn’t have people like Andy.

The fighting game community is appreciative of other eSports organizations such as Evil Geniuses. They bring all the top players to events around the world. But I think the main difference between PIE and other traditional organizations is they put their own money to benefit the scene. They do it because they love their community.

Late January-June 14, 2014 – Team PIE began dominating New York City’s main local tournament, Next Level Battle Circuit. But Zeus and Smug’s consistent placings in top three lined up a crash course with former Empire Arcadia member Sanford “Santhrax” Kelly, whose matches against Smug were particularly popular with the fans and consistently attracted upwards of 10,000 viewers. The rivalry was born, setting the stage for The King of New York in June.

Henry Cen, owner of Next Level: Back then, the competitions were predominantly Empire because PIE wasn’t that popular yet. 2013 was basically all Sanford and Kevin [“Dieminion”] Landon. They always got first and second.

Francis Lee Chung: We were playing against Empire even before PIE. We’d been giving them the business for a long time. There was always a rivalry. Those guys were the crème de la crème. People prided themselves on beating them.

Sanford had the star power and charisma to carry the coast, but he shot himself in the foot because he disrespected his own scene. He changed now. But at that point, he lost them. We had to come in and help the coast because it didn’t look like he helped it.

Bryant “Smug” Huggins: I ran into Sanford back in 2012 when I played in an offline tournament. He was the King of New York and I was scared of him, but I almost won. He said, “I never play a Dudley like yours.” He was all cool. Then the next time I beat him, he said I wasn’t better than him and that it was just the character, so I feel some type of way. His opinions always flip-flop. Then I thought, “What if I am the one popping off back and consistently beating him? How will he take that?” So it came to that point that I wanted to let him know that I wasn’t a guy who he could push around. He was angry, but at the same time, we were getting crazy amounts of hype. But I have to give him a shout out because he elevates my mind games.

Sanford “Santhrax” Kelly: First of all, I am the King of New York — no matter what people say. The people beating me now improved because I was beating them so bad before that I gave them a reason to get better. Team PIE was good, but I felt like I contributed to their game. I beat all of them before they started beating me, and they cared more about beating me.

People think Smug and I hate toward each other, but the animosity is just in the match. Personally, I don’t think he’s on my level. It’s all matchups. Dudley’s advantages make it seem like I’m struggling to beat him, that he’s better than me skill-wise. If I beat his Dudley, he won’t have another character because he isn’t as diverse as me. I enjoy the rivalry, but I don’t think he’s as good as me. I feel like I’m better than all of them.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez: [The rivalry] elevated the New York scene. Having a rival is always good, but you have to keep it in context. One of the downsides of that rivalry was players were keeping it to themselves, not working as a team.



Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay: The King of New York derived from the beef between Sanford and the whole scene because he has the tendency of coming up with tons of reasons of why he loses in tournaments. So I said, “Let’s put this to rest and host a tournament that’ll, once and for all, prove who’s the best player overall. It ended up being Dieminion, which was what we expected

Late January-June 14, 2014 – During the same period, players from the opposite coast also took notice of PIE’s notoriety. The team brought the attention back to New York.



Alex Valle, fighting game legend and Level|Up Series president and CEO: I took notice of them when they started placing higher in a lot of the east coast tournaments. I saw the tag PIE placing top five at tournaments and locals. I was like, “These are the guys that can compete with someone who enters majors often like Sanford and [Jonathan “Rico Suave” Deleon].”

James Chen: Team PIE’s impact has been huge. I feel like they’ve breathed new life into the New York scene, putting a lot of the “old guards” such as Dieminion, Sanford, and Arturo on notice. It’s not that they beat those veterans all the time; it’s that it has sparked and revived dedication from the established players. And they are getting a lot of attention. Team PIE can easily be attributed to why Spooky is getting such phenomenal viewership at Next Level Battle Circuit.

Greg “Zeus” Lewis: We play a huge part [in rejuvenating the scene], but if we host events and no players show up, then there will be no scene. So it’s everybody.

Bradley “PoeM” Hall: People like Spooky, Arturo, House of Chaos, or anyone who engages with the New York fighting game community is a big contributor in helping the scene grow.

July 11, 2014 – Evolution was near, and the organizers decided to host a five-on-five exhibition between players from Southern California’s Wednesday Night Fights and New York City’s Next Level Battle Circuit. Compared to the NBA, Wednesday Night Fights represented the teamwork of the San Antonio Spurs, while Next Level Battle Circuit depicted the individual talents of the Miami Heat. Wednesday Night Fights won 5-1.

James Chen: Beforehand, the number of pro-Wednesday Night Fights fans and pro-Next Level Battle Circuit fans were pretty disparate, heavily in favor of Next Level Battle Circuit. This is easily explained: the level of play from the top players at Next Level Battle Circuit is significantly higher than the average players there. At Wednesday Night Fights, the average player is much stronger than the average players of other regions. The top players at Wednesday Night Fights consistently struggle on stream and never dominate anyone, so the top spots each week are erratic. The results make them look weaker.

Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera of Frequency Gaming, Rose player on Team Wednesday Night Fights: From the stream, I thought they were the new and upcoming players that lived in New York. I knew Smug and Zeus, but I also remembered Chin, the Cody player. On the west coast, he was the one that was most talked about because we had our own Cody in [Brian “BJ Unchained” Jeon]. We thought they were as good as us, but we never played them until the exhibition at Evo 2014.

John “Veloc1raptor” Guerrero, Wednesday Night Fights’ resident Gouken: The east coast enjoys their heroes. They will take a player that’s doing well and hype him or her up hardcore. It’s well deserved, but if you put them in a whole new environment, the results can be different.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez: None of us felt good going in. We didn’t have a cohesive game plan like Wednesday Night Fights and got outplayed.

Sanford “The King” Kelly: We lost because of matchups, but you have to be good players to exploit bad matchups.

Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera: Rather than treating each match as an individual tournament match, Wednesday Night Fights worked together to beat the opposing team because, when we were playing, we trusted and carried each other. For them, it seemed like they were just playing for themselves instead of a team. I feel like the results may have been different if it was all Team PIE.

Henry Cen: I think [dissonance in the teamwork] played a big role in the loss. There was a lot of animosity toward each other. Sanford isn’t with Empire anymore, but at that point, they saw him as a rival and not a part of the team.

Alex Valle: From the golden era of arcades to today, the east coast scene drew out a lot of hungry newcomers. But they didn’t get a chance to catch up and nobody wanted to train them. On the west coast, we learned how to incorporate beginners and groom them into better players. The east coast kept the same ideology: hardcore rivalries.

The issue is when you withhold information from your own faction, you miss the opportunity to learn important knowledge. At Wednesday Night Fights, whoever loses, they take it back to the pool stations and discuss the matchup. The east coast players lose and go back to the drawing board with the old data. I’m sure there are a lot of players that do that on the east coast, but I don’t think there’s enough of that happening. Remember, we are playing video games, we are having fun. Yes, it’s competitive, but if you want to be a better person or player, then you’ll have to be a bigger person and ask what they have to do to improve.

Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera: After that tournament in the hotel room, I was talking to Smug, and he said they don’t compete and practice, and only play at Next Level Battle Circuit. He realized they had to get better as a coast and not individually. Arturo Sanchez, especially, took it harder than everyone else and felt, as a coast, they needed to unify, share tech, play at local gatherings more often, and help each other instead of trying to create this image of drama for viewers.

James Chen: Many people spoke about SoCal’s team being so strong because they communicate often, train with each other, etc. So New York is trying hard to approach the game anew. I feel like the determination of the New York scene is stronger. So while it may seem bleak at first, I think it’s heading in a good direction. And I feel like the balance of power could easily sway in their favor.

One of the main reasons Wednesday Night Fights exists is because of Bar Fights II, where east coast came and destroyed west coast in a 5-on-5 exhibition. After that blow-up, Valle attended his first Wednesday Night Fights session at [Daniel “SHGLBMX” Tam]’s garage and started teaching the younger players. So east coast’s beat down strengthened the west. The favor has just been returned, so I expect the east coast to get a lot stronger now.

Bryant “Smug” Huggins: Since that exhibition, the community has been giving more advice. If we keep doing that, then the community will improve faster.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez: We realized that working as a team and helping each other are definitely better. The exhibition impacted and united our players.

Henry Cen: The east coast is on the rise. We were terminally ill for a long time but had treatments. We’ve awakened. Now there’s less differences and more solidarity.

September 2014 – With the exhibition behind them, Team PIE headed back to New York with new objectives: to become better individually and unite the scene. They opened their casuals to local gamers on Sundays. Smug won Summer Jam 8 at the end of August. However, the accomplishments aren’t slowing down Team PIE’s ambition.

Omar “Sci” Brown: We can elevate the scene because we bring fun, honesty, and love for the community. We don’t get anything in return, but we feel the love. That sets us apart from other organizations who look at the fighting game community as a business. It was about community then, and it’s about the community now. We won’t change.

Andy “citiofbrass” Dumornay: My goal is to let everybody know who and what PIE is. Until then, we’ll try to keep the scene strong, because the west feels like they are more advanced than us. We have to prove them wrong. We are working on an extended and regional version of The King of New York called Last Man Standing. The winner for each month ends in the final. The difference between this and The King of New York is we’ll give everyone an equal opportunity to qualify instead of selecting the players.

Francis Lee Chung: I didn’t expect us to elevate to where we are right now. I still don’t know how big PIE is.

Sanford “Santhrax” Kelly: I have a lot of respect for them. They’re great players and great people in real life. I improve playing with them.

Anton “Filipinoman” Herrera: Regardless of what anyone sees on stream, they’re really cool and chill people. They want to get better at the game too. Media websites like Reddit’s r/Kappa are always about the drama surrounding Next Level Battle Circuit, but their plays are just as exciting. The viewers seem to glorify the drama on the east coast. If they focus on the play, they will improve.

James Chen: They are great for the scene. I’d like to see them cultivate more talent, travel more, and organize more events in New York City. I think maintaining rivalries within the New York scene is a key, but they should also work at leveling up others because it’ll make Team PIE stronger as well. There is a lot of potential with this team to go places. I hope they keep the ship on the current path they are on right now, and I look forward to seeing more from them in the future.

Alex Valle: They have a bright future. They are young. The way they are going is great if they just keep at it. I really like what they are doing there.

John “Veloc1raptor” Guerrero: If Team PIE can keep everyone’s eyes on the prize, and continue to be classy and entertaining, then we can see them, in the wake of other groups diminishing, rise to the top.

Arturo “Sabin” Sanchez: It’s kind of hard to comment on their future because everything is in a flux right now. If Team PIE plays their cards right, I think they will become a brand that’s more integrated into the fighting game community.

Bryant “Smug” Huggins: We are all talented in our way, so we just need to expose our talents. I want to take this to where we are the best team because everybody here is strong and talented.

Bradley “PoeM” Hall: Everybody always has their ups and downs in the team. But at the end of the day, everybody always looks out for each other. Team PIE is more of a family than a team. I would do anything for these guys and they would do the same for me.

Charles “Daffy” Atkinson: Look out for Team PIE in the future. We are going to make it happen.

Videos courtesy ofTeam Spooky and FightingGame TV 2. For more information about Team PIE, please visit their Twitter and Facebook.