leo_druNky: "We need consistency; when we play our A-game, we can beat anyone"

We spoke to Leonardo "⁠leo_drk⁠" Oliveira ahead of Sharks' lower-bracket match against FURIA to hear about the European bootcamp, having a stable roster, and more.

Sharks made it through to the playoffs of the Americas Minor by defeating Singularity twice, while also having a solid showing against NRG who managed to avoid an upset in the end.

In our interview, leo_drk talked about the team's recent months, the trash-talking between him and Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe, and the AUG.

Starting with where you were last seen internationally, you had the event in Abu Dhabi, then Rio, and then after that you haven't been playing international competitions. So what has the team been up to since Rio?

After Rio we came back to Portugal and we had a few online tournaments but we didn't manage to play them very well or win any of them. But we've been practicing a lot, we've been bootcamping for a whole month, adding some tactics and fixing some of the mistakes and that is it. We were very satisfied with the bootcamp, as I've said we've fixed a lot of mistakes and we've made a bunch of new tactics. We felt ready for the Minor.

Moving to the Minor, you played against NRG and pushed them to the limits. Can you tell me a bit about that, not being able to close it out but also playing pretty well against such a good team?

Talking about the game against NRG, we were very frustrated because we lost maybe four anti-ecos across the two maps. I think we should've won those maps and made it directly to the semis, but that is how it was. We watched all of the games and talked about the mistakes that we made and if we face them again we will not make the same mistakes again.

The INTZ game was pretty interesting because of the emotion that was coming out. They are pretty loud in general, but in that game, they were especially loud and you were replying to it. Can you tell me about the emotional and the rivalry part of that game?

I know kNgV-, he is a friend of mine, we talked about the game before it last night and we said: "Man, we will scream, but don't worry, we are still friends". This is very common in Brazil, we are known for being emotional, being really passionate about the game. I think that sometimes you can cross the limit of being hyped and that can be a problem. But overall it was pretty normal, during the match it is common, we trash talk, say a lot of things that we don't even think about, but after the game, it is all good, we are still friends, we talk about the game and everything.

How disappointing was it losing that match in the end?

Honestly, it was really disappointing, we prepared a lot to play against them, but we made some crucial mistakes, we lost an anti-eco at 12-12 on Nuke that fu**ed us up... it was really disappointing.

You are playing FURIA in the lower bracket next, another Brazilian matchup, but a pretty different team. What are the expectations going into that one?

The last time we played FURIA was in Rio, we played Vertigo and Inferno against them and lost. But last year we faced them in the LA League, the first one, and we managed to win it. Now, it is a different scenario, we are clearly the underdogs, they are the favorites, so the pressure will be on them. I think that we will just do our A-game, try it at least, and show the world we are capable of at least placing second at the Minor.

How will the nerf of the AUG affect your team?

Personally, I played with the AUG back in 2015 in Brazil, only me and VINI played with it. I thought the weapon was really good but nobody used it. It wasn't a problem for me though because I thought, well, if the gun is that good why wouldn't I use it. Now the nerf came and it kind of fu**ed up the weapon, the fire rate is terrible. There is a lot of gunfights that you can't win because of the fire rate, especially the close quarters one. I don't think it will affect our team a lot because we have a lot of good riflers, everyone plays well with the M4, but of course, the CT side will be more difficult because there are a lot of angles the AUG would hold alone, without resources, and now with the M4 it is not the same thing.

In general, looking past the Minor, what do you think your team needs to progress to the next level?

We need consistency because when we play our A-game, we can beat anyone, anyone really, any team in the world, I can assure you of that. But on the other side of the coin, when we play our lowest level, we can be beaten by anybody, a shit team could beat us. We are just trying to find that consistency. We are working with our psychologist Carlos Martins and he is helping us a lot with this, a lot of mental stuff, we are improving day by day in it and I think it will help us a lot. Because if your mental game is strong you have more consistency in your game. I think that is what we are missing and trying to find.

Your team has been together for quite a while, as no one is picking up your players, but also, you are not making any moves for players from other teams. How come?

As you said, we are a longest-standing lineup, and I think if we are not the oldest then we are one of the oldest in CS right now. Actually, the organization itself, the players, the staff, we all think it is a long-term project. If we don't get results in 1-2 months, it is not going to be like "Oh, if you don't get better, you will get kicked". We try to focus on the long run, try to see long-term problems, and I think this could be very beneficial because you get to know people, how their game is, and eventually, you start naturally understanding what the other person will do in the game, you know how to be with them as a person, all of this is positive in my opinion.