chelo: "We developed the habit of forcing into too many rounds during our time in Brazil"

The 22-year-old rifler discusses one of the team’s biggest issues, their plans to work with a six-man roster, and the uncertainty regarding coach Alessandro "⁠Apoka⁠" Marcucci’s ban from Majors.

Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes and co. have been practicing hard since they arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, on January 16 to compete in European tournaments under the MIBR banner. So far, the Brazilians are 1-3 in official matches, having defeated FaZe and lost to Cloud9 and HEROIC (twice) in cs_summit 7. The current world No.37 are about to be tested once more as they’ll face Natus Vincere, who recently won the BLAST Premier Global Finals, in the first round of the BLAST Premier Spring Group C, at 16:30 .

The players and head coach Apoka spent almost the entire 2020 tournament season in Brazil, playing under Indonesian organisation BOOM, and enjoyed massive domestic success, winning nine tournaments in a row, including two Regional Major Ranking (RMR) competitions. However, they are still adapting to the level of competition in Europe, which is much higher than in South America, and chelo stressed they still have to work on some fundamentals in order to succeed.

chelo and his teammates are having to adapt their game in Europe

"Our biggest issue has always been the economy," the 22-year-old says. "We developed the habit of forcing into too many rounds during our time in Brazil and we’re working on it because there was a game on Inferno where yeL played just one or two rounds with the AWP as a result of our fragile economy. In Brazil, we would win those force-buy situations with our individual skill.

"I don’t think we’ll be the best team in the world once we fix this problem, but we’ll be a solid team. If we show everything we have been practicing in the last weeks, we can qualify for the BLAST Premier Spring Final."

This new MIBR lineup doesn't include João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos, who stepped down from BOOM in December and went on to sign with GODSENT. After the experienced rifler left, they played - and won - the FlowFiReLEAGUE 2020 Global Finals with Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga as a stand-in, but in the end they landed a far less experienced player: Daniel "⁠danoco⁠" Morgado, who had never competed in international tournaments until cs_summit 7.

"Apoka watches a lot of streams and saw danoco playing very well in PUGs and in tournaments," chelo says. "We invited danoco to practice with us, he had 40 kills in the first two maps and we called him a cheater (laughs). We thought he would feel way more pressure when we would arrive in Europe because he had just started playing on a professional level, but he's improving quickly."

This week, a report by Brazilian website Draft5 suggested that MIBR could add David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado as a sixth player. chelo admits that he doesn't know much about the Chilean youngster, who averaged a 1.27 rating in 2020 and recently left RED Canids along with the rest of the lineup, but he says that that team have long wanted to add a backup option.

"Personally, I barely know who he is," he says. "I played just a few matches against him and I didn’t hear anything about him until the report. It’s true that we want a sixth player, we have been considering it since last year, so it’s not just because we're on MIBR. We’ve considered a couple of players, but we never negotiated with anyone as we’re still looking for the best fit."

Apoka still doesn't know how many Majors he will miss

While they are waiting for the right player to expand their roster, the Brazilians have already bolstered their coaching staff, having named veteran Renato "⁠nak⁠" Nakano, who won ESWC 2006 in Counter-Strike 1.6 with the organisation, as a strategic coach. The 33-year-old is helping the team in scrims and is also their coach during official matches as Apoka is still serving a 5.4-month ban by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) for using the spectator bug. He can’t enter the server or communicate with the team in any way during official matches.

According to chelo, Apoka has the final say on everything concerning the team, and he reveals they wouldn’t be together if it wasn’t for the 35-year-old’s contribution in 2020. "He’s the team’s cornerstone," the rifler says. "Last year, we would have fallen apart if it wasn’t for him because we were playing from home and we struggled to focus in the beginning."

Although Apoka’s ESIC ban is close to expiring, MIBR still don't know when the 35-year-old will be able to guide the team in Valve-sanctioned competitions. Last month, the game developer issued a statement saying that the coaches who were caught using the spectactor bug will not be eligible for a number of Majors. The length of the suspensions is determined by a scaling table of ESIC demerits, although it remains unclear if the esports watchdog group's concession allowances - Apoka's 36-month ban was reduced by 85 percent due to his confession and assistance in the investigation - will be considered.

"We know as much as you do and that is very bad," chelo says. "It’s complicated to deal with Valve and I honestly don’t know how their stance hasn’t harmed the professional scene too much. It’s bizarre, but we will fight against this injustice together and we’ll keep Apoka no matter what happens."