VINI: "I won't say we're going to win everything, but we're going to give some trouble"

Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo believes Imperial are on a good path with their sights set on performing well at the second Major of the year, as it could take place in their home country.

Imperial missed out on an opportunity to go 3-0 with a tough loss to MIBR in a three-map series on the second day of play in Romania, but the Brazilians have now punched their ticket to the PGL Major in Antwerp with a 3-1 record after defeating Party Astronauts in another three mapper.

VINI sat down with HLTV after the match to talk about qualifying for the Major, expanding on where the team led by Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo currently stand, what their expectations were for the RMR and what they hope to achieve at the second Major of the year, which ESL are working on bringing to Brazil.

The 22-year-old also talked about the feeling of being on around new teammates and how it compares to his time in FURIA, his former team of four years, which he hopes to play against in the future.

First of all congratulations on making it through to the Major with a 3-1 record. Tell me your impressions about the matches themselves that got you through.

I would say that we were prepared for the MIBR match, how we wanted to play, but the result showed us what we need to work on. We definitely need to rework our CT side on Nuke. On Vertigo we lost a lot of clutches, so I don't think we need to worry that much. We knew that we had some good maps and were just waiting for our match-up with Party Astronauts.

We knew Party Astronauts like Inferno and it's one of our strongest maps as well, so we picked Dust2 because it's something comfortable. I think they did the right thing in the veto and managed to capitalize on us not playing Nuke so well. They gave everything and they're definitely going to be a hard opponent for someone in the 2-2 pool.

Are you more comfortable on the classic maps, like Inferno, or maps where firepower can show through like in Dust2? Is that what you're preferring now?

I don't think so, the maps we've played we've been very good on in practice, but the situations are different. We just need to play more official matches, we're on the right path. About the maps, the only one I know the guys have a bit of trouble learning is Ancient because everything is new. fnx and fer weren't playing, so it's literally learning a new map from zero, that's why we're banning it right now, but I think anything is a possibility.

What were your expectations coming into the tournament, did you think you'd be fighting for the 3-0 spot?

We knew from the practice we were having and the tournament that we played online in Europe (Omen WGR European Challenge), that the win gave us a lot of confidence, so coming to the RMR we weren't favorites, but people didn't know how good we are.

We were expecting to go 3-0 against MIBR, it didn't happen, the match was really close, and we were in a spot in which we knew that we could do it but if we didn't manage to qualify it was OK because we're still making a lot of progress in our maps. The guys say that the focus for them is doing really well at the Brazilian Major, so doing well here is a huge step and we're just getting better.

You've joined Imperial with some Brazilian legends of the game. What's that like for you?

When they reached out to me with the opportunity I was analyzing my options and I knew that I could help FalleN in the way that he was calling. It wasn't bad, I just think he needed to be comfortable in the team and I think that's what we're doing. I try to help as much as I can on the T side, I try to switch the pace and help the guys with the newer meta.

I wouldn't say I'm helping a lot right now because we're in a mood in which everyone knows what's comfortable for them and we're progressing there. But in the reviews I'm definitely helping, boltz is helping FalleN a lot with the IGL stuff, they're always watching matches and figuring out how to do better in the rounds.

For me, it's the first time I switch teams, so I have the feeling I had at the beginning of my career. Meeting new guys, living with them, and pretty much it's a new experience.

How does it compare to FURIA?

It's hard to say because I was in FURIA for four years and pretty much everybody was like family, you know? You don't see anything new from your brother or sister. With these guys, everything is new. I'm just figuring out what they want to do after practice, what they want to eat, stuff like that, everything is new and it's a very good feeling.

It's helping the team a lot in the way we're progressing together. I don't know if it's about the age or something, but the core, they're really good friends and when we're losing matches we're still in high spirits and trying to do our best.

Did you think the team would progress as fast as it has? A lot of people doubted the project and if it would work out or not.

I would say the expectations were the same for me when I joined the team because I didn't know how good fer would play, or fnx or boltz, or even FalleN, so I just learned how good they could be during our bootcamp in Europe. We weren't losing by much, we were trading rounds and playing well against tier one teams, so I knew that with our mentality and the way ideas were developing we could become a strong team.

I remember joking when we started practicing our first week in Brazil and fer was dropping 40 kills in every single practice, so I was like 'OK, not a problem that I need to kill anymore, he's fragging, it's good.' It's just the core, no? They're happy playing together, they've known each other so long, so they know what's comfortable for them.

Now you're going to the Major itself, where the level is going to get turned up a notch. What do you expect from that?

I think people will be surprised by how good we can be against the good teams. We didn't have time or tournaments to experience that, we've just been playing regional matches against a lot of Brazilian guys and the only tournament we played was online against tier two teams, so you can't know how good you're going to be. I expect close matches, I won't say we're going to win everything, but we're going to give some trouble.

How about preparation? Are you going to be staying in Europe?

Our next step is the IEM Dallas qualifier in South America, so we'll go back to Brazil, play that, and then return to Europe to bootcamp for the Major.

Had you gone 3-0, you would have played FURIA. Would you have liked to face them?

Definitely. We were waiting for the 3-0 match, it just didn't happen because we lost to MIBR, but it'll definitely happen either at the Major or another tournament. It would be a fun match for Brazilians to watch.

A lot of haters will be really turned on to watch it because they just want to say bad things about the team that loses [laughs]. We're just used to that. I never played against an old team, so it will be fun. It will be fun seeing them in the server, as well.

One last question about the rumors in the off season that put you in Liquid's orbit. How real were those rumors and how advanced were the conversations?

They were really real, they just didn't happen because of timing. They had their lineup ready, but there were some good conversations that I had with Liquid's manager. But when that opportunity wasn't possible, I got this one, and I'm happy.