Editor's Note: A fascinating look into the world of competitive Street Fighter 4 and one team's recruiting process, by former Gamers.com editor Stephen Kleckner. Some pretty hardcore videos after the jump, too -- makes my play look like a complete joke. -Shoe

You have a five-man team competition coming up. Your team has four solid players, but you need a fifth. Do you plug the hole with the slightly unorthodox, infamously flamboyant player or the guy with a slightly more text book, yet safer play style?

This is the question that, for the last two weeks, has been weighing heavily on John Choi’s mind. As the captain of NorCal’s Street Fighter 4 team, he now has to make a decision, almost literally, right this second. Evolution 2009, the largest yearly fighting-game tournament in the world, is only days away.

As a special invitational event, Evolution is also hosting a five-on-five regional team competition. Northern California, Southern California, Midwest, East Coast, Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast have all been invited to form up and face off against each other in a Super Battle Opera-style team challenge*. Unlike the grueling individual event where only an individual’s ego is at stake, this competition is placing an entire region’s reputation on the line.

Every region has its own style of forming its teams. Some have “tryouts,” others have random secret events, while others have been known to vote via committee. The Bay Area kept things simple for the first four slots this year: If you want to be on John Choi’s radar, you better be consistent with real-life tournament and ranbat (ranking battles) results. Wiping the floor with random Xbox Live scrubs doesn’t count for shit here.

The Bay Area’s choices for the first four slots have been very strong so far with little argument from the player pool. The fifth spot, however, is where things have become slightly volatile and a bit more interesting....

Two weeks ago several names were being tossed toward John Choi for consideration. Players like A-Rival (Chun-Li), Haunts (Sagat), FilipinoChamp (Dhalsim), Graham Wolfe (M.Bison), and LPN (M.Bison/Sagat/Balrog) have been nominated for consideration. The problem is, all of these players are equally dangerous and could be considered a very strong fifth player. As the week wore on, more debate followed until two names began to overshadow the rest of the prospective challengers in the discussion:

Ryan “FilipinoChamp” (Dhalsim): He’s become a living, breathing Kung Fu movie cliché. He’s been traveling to various Bay Area crew locations, calling opponents out and destroying the room at random MMs (money matches). This has helped FilipinoChamp gain a slightly urban legend-like reputation in the Bay.

His infamous shit talk, however, may have also put him in a negative light for newcomers to the scene, but the old timers know “that’s just how Street Fighter is.” He’s known for playing a very intelligent Dhalsim, an uncommon character for high-level play that may give the team an unorthodox edge.

* One team versus another team. Player 1 from Team A versus Player 1 from Team B. If Player 1 from Team A wins, then he faces Player 2 from Team B, etc. Winning team is determined when all players on one team have lost to a member of the other team. No duplicate characters on the same team. No character swapping.

** A huge Bay Area tournament ran in a Fuddruckers in Concord, California. Every tournament pulled in at least 128 players, with people having to be turned away from entering. The last tournament pulled in around 180 players.