What a way to catapult your career. No one would have put Renato “DidimoKOF” Martins on any list for Capcom Cup. But after winning the Latin American Regional Finals, the Brazilian is one of three Latin Americans making his way to the event this weekend.

Much like DR Ray last year, very little is known of DidimoKOF outside of the fact that he won in Brazil last month. What are his chances now that he’s on his way?

Feel the Burn

When you watch footage of DidimoKOF, you could easily dismiss him as just another Dhalsim — but that would be a disservice to him. This is one of the most aggressive Dhalsims out there. When you look at some of the Dhalsims, they all tend to have their own style. While Filipino Champ tends to weave in and out a lot more, and Gllty has often played the more-conservative route, DidimoKOF manages to use Dhalsim’s tools in the most aggressive way possible.

He further is a believer in abusing tactics that are working but shouldn’t, and is quick to adjust when they stop working. He did this against Caba during Grand Finals of the Latin American Regional Finals by doing near-point-blank Yoga Fires, stopping only when Caba started to punish the attempts. This also shows on-the-fly adaptability from DidimoKOF beyond his tournament results.

Low Records

Martins was one of the lowest-rated players to get in, with only 131 points on the CPT prior to his win in Sao Paolo. While he was able to make four top 8s out of seven events prior to his win at the finals, his results weren’t the most stable.

Moreover, if you look over his career in Street Fighter V, DidimoKOF had never won a tournament until it mattered most. His only other time in grand finals was an online ranking event, and given what we can see on his ranking page, he has not had a chance to show himself otherwise. People will be quick to dispute his win as a fluke, but it could just be that he figured out what it takes to win at the right moment.

Unknown Factor

Last year, I dismissed DR Ray as the metaphorical Oscar nominee who has zero shot of winning anything, but was just happy to be there. That was a huge mistake on my part, as DR Ray was able to best Tokido in the opening round and bust a lot of people’s fantasy brackets.

A lot of this could be attributed to DR Ray’s low status. Because he was unknown, very few players could scout him, but he could scout literally everyone. This is the same position that DidimoKOF is in. There’s very little footage of him circulating, which could be to his advantage this weekend.

Final Thoughts

I’m not going to be on the wrong side of this one this year, hopefully. I have a feeling that DidimoKOF could come in and do what DR Ray did last year, and pull an upset first round against Yukadon. While Ibuki is an aggressive character — and he will have to adjust fast — it’s quite possible that Yukadon will be taken aback by an aggressive Dhalsim, to his detriment.

I’m not going to sit here and say that DidimoKOF wins Capcom Cup. But this could be a tournament where he gives at least one upset, and makes a name for himself in Street Fighter V.

Check out our prior articles in the Capcom Cup 2017 Player Analysis series!