North American esports organization Panda Global has picked up two brand-new fighting-game players across "Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3" and "Guilty Gear Xrd": Raynel "RayRay" Hidalgo and Kyohei "MarlinPie" Lehr.
For "Marvel vs. Capcom 3," the team has signed RayRay, who is ranked fifth overall on Shoryuken's Fighting Game World Rankings for the game. RayRay is best known for running a team of Sentinel, Doctor Doom, and Magneto in-game. Last year he took home first place at Apex and second at EVO, two of the biggest fighting-game tournaments, as well as a handful of top-two finishes at small tournaments across the rest of the year.
MarlinPie is a veteran of competing in the Guilty Gear franchise. He is also a top "Marvel vs. Capcom 3" player and has been for quite sometime, but with the release of "Guilty Gear Xrd" in 2014, he's become one of the strongest players in the game, primarily playing as Zato-1.
"RayRay has long been a staple in the Marvel community and produces hype in of the most exciting games in the FGC," Panda Global CEO Alan Bunney told ESPN. "While MarlinPie's smart Zato-1 play is the face of the Guilty Gear community, that has long been overlooked but has great potential in esports. Panda Global is becoming one of the strongest and most dynamic teams in fighting games today, and we think these two players are a perfect fit for our goals in the community."
Since launching in 2015, Panda Global has signed some of the biggest names across fighting games like "Super Smash Bros. Melee," "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U," "Ultra Street Fighter IV," "Street Fighter V" and "Pokken." Members include top USF4 competitor Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez, Melee players Justin "Plup" McGrath and Robert "Wobbles" Wright, and Smash for Wii U's Eric "ESAM" Lew and Jestise "MVD" Negron.
It also has teams in "Heroes of the Storm" and "Splatoon," and has plans to pick up more fighting-game players across "Mortal Kombat X," "Killer Instinct" and "Tekken."
