Creator Spotlight: KarateMike415!

Kabam Thel

Greetings Summoners!

Strap in for this months creator spotlight because its a wild ride, there's ups there's downs, you'll laugh, you'll cry. But in the end, its all about the friends we made along the way!

This month, the spotlight is on the one, the only, the lovely and talented KARATEMIKE!

I sent him a barrage of questions and this is the result:

Who are you?

Hey dudes! Who am I? Oh man, starting out with a tough one. Well for starters, my name is Michael Recchia. I’ve been a professional Actor & Singer since I was 5 years old – I’m from New York and just graduated from College this past May.
I’ve been an amateur Body Builder & Power Lifter for a little over 4 years now – as well as an independent personal trainer/coach Recchia_Fitness

I’m probably the biggest Denver Broncos fan you’ll ever meet in your life. When the Broncos were in the Super Bowl in 2015, I carried my Broncos pillow pet “Thunder” around every single place I went for the two weeks leading up to the game. I wouldn’t say I’m superstitious, but I am a little sitious.

Piggybacking off of that, I also have an unhealthy obsession with all things Marvel (don’t we all?) – many people have described my personality as a combination of “Broncos & Marvel.” Still trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or not...
Fun fact, when Avengers Endgame was released – my girlfriend, Rylie, & I saw it three times within the first 24 hours it was in theaters. I also saw Infinity War a total of 15 times.

What games did you grow up playing? Any stand out favorites besides MCOC?

There are a ton of games that shaped my life in ways that I don’t even know how to describe. My favorite video game series of all time is Final Fantasy. The depth found throughout the entire canon of Final Fantasy is unlike anything we’ve seen from any game series over the past 35 years. 90% of the time, my gym playlist consists of Final Fantasy music from Spotify.

I could also tell you more about Pokémon than I can about literally anything that I learned in High School. When is Venusaur being added to MCOC?

When I was younger, my Mom & I used to have weekly Tekken & Super Smash Bros “tournaments” – we were a little too competitive. Every now and then we bust out the PS4 and compete for “The Championship of the World.”

So I grew up with RPGs, Pokémon, & Fighting games… I don’t know, still trying to figure out what I like about MCOC so much.

Do you actually know Karate?

I absolutely do! I trained for 10 years growing up, in Shotokan Karate. I used to compete in national tournaments in sparring, forms, & weapons before I stopped training when I started auditioning for colleges.

Who would win in a fight? Karatemike or Kabam Miike?

Thel, I’m actually a little surprised that you asked me this. I grew up training vigorously in a Dojo everyday – but no amount of training could ever come close to how “effective” Kabam Miike is.

How did you get into content creation for MCOC?

As I progressed through the game, I moved through a couple alliances when my prestige told me it was time to do so – but I still stayed in all of my old alliance chats. Old alliance mates, now friends, would always ask me for particular advice in regards to the game, and eventually one of them said to me “ya know, you should really make a YouTube channel – I’d watch.”
I initially shot down the idea. There’s already enough MCOC YouTubers, right?

But then, about a week later, my girlfriend & I were just hanging out and one of Brian Grant’s Itemless streams was running in the background, and she said, “When are you gunna start doing that stuff? You know so much about that guy you always talk about, what’s his name – Corvus?” And I said, “I’ll start next week.”

So I did my first featured grind for Warlock, immediately took him to Rank 5, and crafted my first video of Warlock Soloing Crossbones in 6.1.5. I applied to the Content Creator Program a couple of hours later.

Describe the type of content you make, why should people check out your channel?

A grand majority of my content is focused very heavily on Endgame content. I’m really big on hard boss fights – absolutely love them.
Even my CCP Early Access Champion reviews – I don’t want to show you how your champion will potentially work against Winter Soldier. If you’re going to be either grinding for an upcoming champion, or buying crystals for that champion – I want you to see how they’re going to perform in Act 6, Variants, Abyss/LoL, and other Endgame content.

I’m the type of person who likes to really analyze a champion and find every nook & cranny discoverable about them. To use them in ways that people wouldn’t think they would be successful. I think a perfect example of this was with my recent videos about Mojo. I tested Mojo for a week, and I was less than thrilled with him – but I was determined to find something to really make him standout, and I came up with the “Buff Bounty Hunters” Trinity – and used a Rank 3 Mojo to Solo the Act 6.2.6 Champion Boss. This is what I want people to see when deciding if they should go for a Champion. I want them to feel confident that what they’re investing in is going to impact their account in a positive way.

If there’s a new synergy that’s going to seriously affect one of your older champions in a resoundingly positive way, I want you to see that - in relevant content.

One of my favorite moments of my MCOC career was using Corvus to Solo Labyrinth of Legends Star-Lord. Corvus can ABSOLUTELY be used for long fights – in fact, you may not know this, but Corvus is absolutely fantastic for the Abyss of Legends.

Speaking of Abyss, I’m currently working on releasing guides to every single fight in the Abyss –
A Havok SOLO with Warlock is coming soon…. So… Subscribe if you want to see that...

Aside from that, I’ll do the occasional Crystal/Rewards Opening & Alliance War videos as well –

AND I’m looking into starting streaming!!! I just have to figure out HOW! Hahaha

Favorite champion in the game?

Mojo. Kidding (kinda), Omega Red, Doctor Doom, and Corvus.

You seem to have a deep knowledge of obscure Marvel heroes, who do you want to see put in the game?

YES!!! I love this one. There are SO many heroes/villains I would absolutely love to see added to the game.

My number 1 most wanted champ has always been GORR The God Butcher, from Jason Aaron’s run on “Thor: God Of Thunder.” Believe it or not, the fact that Jane Foster is a playable champion in MCOC is one of the main things that initially drew my interest.

I’m an enormous Thor fan in general, so there’s a surplus of characters from Thor’s comic history that I would be thrilled to see make their way into the battle realm. Particularly Odin, Malekith, The Mangog, Beta Ray Bill, The Absorbing Man, Laufey, The Enchantress, Volstagg, Lady Sif, Hercules, Valkyrie, D’ario Agger The Minotaur, & Ulik, – just to name a few...

Outside of Thor, I would love to see The Molecule Man Owen Reece, Adam Warlock & The Magus, Cosmic Ghost Rider, Black Cat, Apocalypse, The Beyonder, The Puppet Master, Charles Xavier, Moondragon, The Mandarin, The Maker, Conan The Barbarian, Bullseye, and Fin Fang Foom.

If you want to REALLY talk “obscure,” I’d love to see Xemnu The Original Hulk, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mad Jim Jaspers, Ex Nihilo, Shuma-Gorath, Swarm, Orb, Bi-Beast, Frog-Man, & Devil Dinosaur.

You have to nerf one champion and buff one champion, who are they and why?

Wow – I have to nerf a champion? Are you trying to get me killed??
Okay, I’ve thought about this long & hard and came up with my decision.
People aren’t going to like reading this, but I have to go with the most powerful champion in the game – Diablo. The fact that Diablo has an Unblockable Special Three is way too overpowered in the current state of the game, and I truly believe it needs to be not only fixed, but also rebalanced sooner rather than later.

If I’m forced to give you a real answer – there’s absolutely no reason why Proxima Midnight needs to be doing upwards of 1 million damage per special 3 when the only content in the game where this could be truly utilized is blocked by a damage cap.

Buffed?? Netflix Daredevil – BUFF OUR BOY.

But actually - Thor Jane Foster.
And other Mystics released in 2015/16.

Let’s take a stroll back to the beginning of 2018, when Science was the class you feared seeing show up out of any crystal you popped open. Fresh off the release of Sentry, the only Science Champion you’d want anywhere near your account was Quake. Fast forward over the next two years and we see not only the addition of Void, Gladiator Hulk, Captain America Infinity War, Wasp, and all four members of the Fantastic Four – but also significant buffs to She-Hulk, Spider-Gwen, Red Hulk, and Luke Cage – giving 13 champions in the science class a genuine Rank 5 argument.

With the recent outstanding extensions to the Mystic Class in Mojo, Longshot, Doctor Doom, Man-Thing, and Black Widow Claire Voyant – it’s time to beef up the earlier members of the class. If science can go from Worst to First, so can Mystics.

I couldn’t help but notice that there were 0 mystic champions in both of the “Community Choice: Champion Update” polls.

So let’s start with Jane. (And throw in Daredevil while you’re at it).

Anything you want to say to the whole wide community out there?

I want to say thank you for being such a great community as a whole. I’ve been making content on YouTube for a little over 6 months now, and have felt welcomed from the very beginning! This game has been a really impactful part of my life the past few years, and I’m very happy that I’m able to share my account, game knowledge, & experiences with all of you.

Where can people find your content?

You can find my MCOC content on YouTube under the Channel Name Karatemike415

If you’re interested in fitness/powerlifting or are in the market for an online coach, well check me out at Recchia_Fitness

And if you want to follow my personal Instagram, it’s actually the same name as my YouTube Karatemike415 – The last picture I posted was actually a lovely commission made by our very own Cat Murdock as a Valentines Day gift!



Thanks for the incredible answers Karatemike!

Don't forget to go check out all of his amazing content, Summoners!

See you all next time!

Kalantak

oh man i'd love a jane foster buff!! she deserves it, she needs it , lets make it happen devs!!