tiburci0: "This year has been amazing to prove to everyone that we are on the right path"

We had a chat with André "⁠tiburci0⁠" Rossetto in the aftermath of DETONA's victory at the OMEN Atlantic Challenge to discuss the campaign in Lisbon and the future of the team.

DETONA came out on top of the four-team OMEN Atlantic Challenge after a nail-biting best-of-five series against French side Heretics. The victory represents the biggest achievement in the history of the young Brazilian team, who burst onto the global scene in the summer, when they attended the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals.

In this interview, tiburci0 admits that it was important to finally add a LAN trophy to their resumé after a series of second-place finishes in the last few months. The Brazilian in-game leader also discusses the team's rapid growth this year and confirms the intention to move to North America after they have established a hegemony in Brazil.

What does it feel like to hoist your first international trophy?

It is our first trophy in general, not just international. We had won a few titles before but this is the first one that people respect. We have played some quality tournaments in Brazil but we have lost in the final four times, so this is not just our first international trophy but also the first one at a big event. Beating great teams like Heretics, Movistar Riders and eXploit, I think there is a lot to take away from that, especially the experience, and we can head into our next tournaments mentally stronger. There were a lot of mistakes in the final and emotions were running high. We always make a lot of mistakes and today was no different. We made a lot of mistakes but we came away with the trophy.

You had mentioned that you preferred to face Heretics than Movistar Riders in the final because you thought you could read them French team better. Considering how the match went down, did that series meet your expectations?

Actually no, I thought it would be easier. I know they have very experienced players, but I saw that they were a new team, with players who had only recently got together, and those teams tend to make more mistakes. But maybe because they are so experienced... they played really well and all maps were really hard. We had no chance on Overpass but thankfully we won the title.

Just how important is this trophy for a young team like yours?

I think the biggest thing is believing in the team, in the potential of every player, and knowing that this title is the first of many. We are still a new team, it has been four months since our last player joined the roster, so we just have to believe.

Looking at your recent results in the Pro League, you lost all three matches but you took a map every time and some of those games were really close, with overtimes. Did those results assure you that you were on the right path?

The Pro League was very hard indeed. I think the first match we played already had overtime, then there were some maps that were 22-20, 28-25... We had some very tough games, and I believe that experience really plays a role in this type of games, because you're playing on LAN, and then things are getting really hard, you've already played 30, 40 rounds and you're at your limit mentally. I do not know if those matches gave us some extra experience to be able to win this tournament, I do not think so, but they certainly made us better suited to play long games because, even though this last map did not go to overtime, it was 16-14 and every round was close. I think the Pro League gave us a bit of experience but was not a determinant factor for us to win this tournament. I think we came here with the mindset to play loose, to play our game, and we ended up surprising people with our aim and a lot of intensity, and everything worked out.

You won the tournament but things were not always easy. Against eXploit, you lost the first map, Dust2, which is one of your better maps. Did you feel the pressure of facing a team you did not know? Did you not respect your opponent?

Our first game was very hard because we were having several LAN problems, the kind of problems that you run into when you get to a PC, you have half an hour to set up and then you have to play. We were having sound issues. Three of us had to play with sound coming out of the noise-canceling headsets, our in-ear headphones were not working, so the noises were very weird, it was super hard to play. I think they had more experience in terms of playing on this stage, they had already played the final of the Portuguese league on it. After that first map, we were no longer nervous, we lost that feeling of playing your first game, we went into Vertigo, where we are usually very strong, we dismantled them on it and went on to win the series.

What happened in the Brasileirão, where you finished next to last in the global standings?

The final was supposed to be played tomorrow [today], we would have got a walkover defeat. They ended up changing the dates at the last minute, but we had already decided to focus on the OMEN Atlantic Challenge. We had come back from the Pro League, with a 16-hour flight, and we went to play two BO2 matches the next day. We did well in the first game [against W7M], which was a 1-1 tie, but then we lost control of the next game [against Keyd Stars], it was a really tough match. But I think we have no reason to complain, we got the spot at the GC Masters, which was the most important thing. I hope that we will have much better results at GC Masters than we had in Brasileirão.

What are your goals for the future?

Our next goal is the GC Masters in two weeks. This is the biggest tournament in Brazil and we want to win the title after finishing second in the previous edition. I think next year we want to play even more CS and win even more.

It has been suggested in the past that you are looking to move to North America, like other Brazilian teams have done. Do you think this is necessary for you to take the next step?

That is part of our plans, yes, but the team is not yet ready for that. I think that, in order to take that step, you have to be better prepared than we are right now so that you can win things when you get there. There is no point in moving if you are going to spend a lot of time struggling. I think a team needs to be prepared to win and to play high-caliber tournaments, and I think we are not at that level just yet. Despite this victory, a tournament does not mean that we are stable. I believe we will move to North America, yes, but maybe in the middle of next year or at the end of the year. It is still too early.

But for example, FURIA moved at a time when they were not yet ready to compete against the best teams in North America...

But FURIA was dominating the scene in Brazil. I think that is the biggest difference. We are not dominating Brazil. We are reaching finals, we are playing well, but we are not dominating. I think that, in order to leave the country, you need to win everything for like three months, you need to win two, three, four, five tournaments, one after the other.

Looking back, what do you make of this year?

We had a lot of big events where I never thought I would play. I started playing CS:GO in early 2017, I was playing for fun with friends. I ended up meeting a YouTuber and I started playing CS again because I thought that YouTube could be a good thing for me. I was in college but I did not really enjoy it, I chose CS as my escape and it turned out that I was better than I thought. I started to improve and, little by little, we were building this. I think this year has been amazing to prove everyone that we are on the right path, that I am on the right path, and that many good things will come.

How far do you think you can go?

There is no limit. I think that will depend on how the organisation and the team will grow. The sky is the limit.