kNgV-: "Where I came from, people cannot afford to give up"

We caught up with Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe following INTZ's qualification for the StarLadder Major and quizzed him on his personal struggles and the meaning of returning to the biggest tournament in the game.

INTZ secured the final spot at the next Major after finishing in third place in the Minor Play-in with a 2-0 victory over MVP PK, joining a stacked team list that includes two other Brazilian sides, MIBR and FURIA.

kNgV- is the sole player on the INTZ roster with Major experience. In 2017, he helped Immortals to reach the final at PGL Major Krakow before his career took an abrupt turn south following heated arguments over Twitter with fellow players and renowned analyst Duncan "⁠Thorin⁠" Shields, and issues with the U.S. immigration services that are yet to be solved.

In this interview, kNgV- opens up about the impact that Counter-Strike has had on his life, his past mistakes and the feeling to compete in the biggest tournament in the game once again.

Your career has seen ups and downs. What does it mean to reach your second Major?

I screwed up many times, I did things that I should not have done, and that was a learning experience, it made me a better person. Honestly, I do not regret what happened because, if it had not happened, perhaps I would not have become the person that I am today. I am really happy to be back, at a certain point I thought my career was over but God gave me a new chance to be able to do what I love.

Having been through everything you have been over the course of your career, one thing that no-one can take away from you is determination for the game. What does Counter-Strike mean to you as a person?

CS is my life. I come from a humble family and CS has completely changed my life. If I wasn't playing, I would be doing some other thing, maybe some bad things. Where I came from, people normally do not have many options. CS means everything to me, and that is why I give my best all the time and I never give up. Where I came from, people cannot afford to give up.

INTZ was kind of your step back into Counter-Strike at an international level. Talk to me about the progress you have shown since joining the organization, in September 2018, and how you have managed to achieve this progress since then?

At the time we had a different team, with felps and horvy, and everything happened so fast because we did not have many options, there was very little time before the Pro League started and we had to find an organisation that could help us compete outside of Brazil, cover the costs and all that. Thankfully, INTZ showed up and we kept improving. We know we still have a lot to improve and that we are an inconsistent team, but we are also hard-working. We know our qualities and our faults, we are putting in a lot of effort and I think we are starting to become a team that is harder to beat. But we still have a lot of work to do. The Major is right around the corner and we will be very focused in the next days. Teams will have some time off but there will be no holidays for us as we want to be very strong for the Major.

You had to qualify through the Play-in after coming third at the Americas Minor. When you went back, what did you talk about with the team, and how did you re-arrange to make sure that you qualified?

We arrived at the Minor very strongly and reached the final. We ended up losing to NRG and FURIA, two great teams. We could have won against FURIA, that match came down to details. We knew we had a good chance to reach the Major through the Play-in because there were three spots for four teams, but we knew it would be hard because nothing is ever easy for us. Everything is a battle. We went to Poland to practice but we did not have that many practice games there, we wanted to clear our minds because we had been working very hard. Our preparation was a little bit basic but we came in with a good state of mind because we had spent so much energy at the Minor that we were a bit fed up of playing so much, of everything.

What went wrong in the match against DreamEaters? I spoke with svyat, and he said that they had really prepared for your team, they had a good understanding of the way you played. Did you feel that?

I did not feel that, no, we took a long time to wake up in the series. I heard those guys saying it was easy, but don't forget: we will meet again and I will prove that it is not that easy to play against us. I will remain silent and will work very hard to meet them again and win.