So You Want to be a Master: Esa Juntunen
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
Esa Juntunen from The Deck Out at the 2012 Top Cut Invitational
I’ve decided to start a new series to hopefully breathe life into this site again. I will be interviewing major players in the Pokemon community, asking them anything from their opinions on the metagame to what their favorite sport is. First off is Esa Juntunen, winner of Finnish Nationals a grand total of six times! Before I start, I would like to say that this interview took place over email in early October, 2012, so some things may seem a little dated. So without further ado, let’s get this started.
OneHitKO: A lot of people disagree on how to pronounce your name. How should it be pronounced?
Esa: That’s a question, I get asked a lot and in fact, I answered to that question in one of my blogs’ entries (right before World Championships). If you click this link: http://translate.google.com/#fi|en|esa The google translate will pronounce my name as close to the real pronunciation as artificially possible. However, in the 7 Worlds, I’ve been, I’m so used to misspelling my name that I don’t really mind it.
OneHitKO: On to some more serious stuff, what made you want to play competitively?
Esa: The competitiveness is in my nature. No matter what I do (sports, school etc.) I have always been competitive. I get the most out of any hobby when I do it competitively and aim to the top. As I’ve become older I have noticed that I’m not as competitive as before, but I still enjoy winning, so I’m still pretty competitive. I was in my first tournament in 2002 when I was 11-years old and in my first official tournament I was in 2004.