arT: "Fluxo is a long-term project; FURIA was about winning the next event"

The Brazilian gears up for his first LAN appearance since leaving FURIA.

Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan is a name synonymous with pioneering the aggressive FURIA playstyle that took the world by surprise all the way back in 2018, but the 28-year-old's six-year stint in the organization came to an end in the summer.

The team moved away from its trademark style under the leadership of Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo, which meant arT had to move on to pastures new. He found his new home in Fluxo, with whom he has just qualified for the RES Regional Champions 2024 LAN, his first offline tournament since leaving FURIA.

Ahead of their opener against Aurora, the Brazilian IGL spoke to HLTV about Fluxo's failed RMR campaign, playing with young and hungry teammates, and his expectations for the Serbian tournament.

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arT, I wanted to start with the RMR qualifiers. You were one win away from making the RMR. How tough was it?

Yeah, it's always very important to qualify for the Major. I think that's a milestone every team tries to achieve. And I think that one was important to us. But at the same time, I think the team wasn't ready. We had a very tough loss in the first BO1. And after that, we were just one loss away from going out of the tournament, from being out of the Major as well. So it's a very hard way to qualify. You cannot make mistakes.

And it's CS2, you know… Two pistols or one gun round and you're close to being eliminated. BO1s are very crazy. And after we lost that one, we got RED Canids, a very good contender for the spot as well. It was an even match. I do think they had the upper hand as a team. They had better results and I just felt they were better prepared to play the maps than us. We had a very bad Dust2 against them. Those were some really tough matches for an inexperienced group. We just didn't have the experience factor to beat them.

At the same time, it's very frustrating not to qualify for the Major. It's been a while since I haven't qualified for a Major. So it's a tough blow, but we know it's just the start of the team. The players are young, and now with piriajr in, it's a new team in the sense that there are new players.

Shortly after the qualifier, you lost Lucaozy to MIBR. Would the move have happened either way, or was this the price you had to pay for not qualifying?

The move would have happened either way. It was just a matter of when. Lucao is a great player, but at the same time, it's good to have a new player on the team, to change the mood. Lucao had been playing for Fluxo for many years. And when he had the chance to play on a more ready team, like MIBR, who have had more time together, a good group, playing bigger stages, he took that opportunity. And that's fine for us. I think the mood is better now. New players, a new group… We're starting together. We're kind of starting fresh. I think it's good for both of us.

piriajr has been putting up some great numbers since he joined. Do you think you've snatched another young prodigy?

Yeah, I really do think so. When we got him in, it was a little, not risky, but you can't be sure… Like, in Brazil, star players are different than in Europe. You have like a donk, who dominated tier-two just three years ago, or kyosuke now, or m0NESY when he was starting up. You just know they are insane, you know? In Brazil, there are a lot of people killing a lot and you cannot know they are insane because it's just a different science.

I was very surprised by him when he joined the team. He is a very confident player and I think he's ready to play at this level. And he's been playing well. I was very happy to sign him and see that he's really good.

You're now playing alongside kye, who briefly replaced you on FURIA. Do you think he was promoted too early and that now he can develop into the sort of player that can take on this challenge?

Yeah, I think that's something that happens a lot on CS when you promote young players to tier-one teams. They just struggle because it's a different scene. They have a lot of pressure on their shoulders, and they're playing at a different level than what they're used to. kye had to do it on FURIA. I do think it's a good experience for the player. It's good for him and he could not say no. But those are very tough shoes to fill.

It happens to so many players from all over the world, in Europe as well. Let me think… Maybe npl when he joined NAVI. He had a short spell there and he did not play that well. And now he's playing very well, you can see his stats.

It's a matter of places. And of course, it can damage the player's confidence when he is struggling, and you have to have a very good mindset to come back from that. kye is recovering very well, getting his confidence back, and he's going to be improving.

When you left FURIA after six years, you said you felt free, happy, and excited about your future. Now you’re at a point when you’re building yourself back up. How does it feel so far?

It's been a different way of seeing the game. When I played for FURIA, I had outside pressure to just win, win, win. Win at any cost. It's just a different mindset and you have a different position, of course. I've been playing from Brazil, while I was with FURIA, I just played from Europe the entire year. It's a different mindset inside and outside the game. With Fluxo, I do think I have way more responsibility and tasks because we have so many young players. I stress a lot and there are a lot of things to learn.

It has been a learning experience. Fluxo is more of a long-term project, while with FURIA it was more about winning the next tournament. We have more time to prepare for the long run. That has also changed the mindset of the team and my own. The whole experience in general has been very different. Both sides are good.

When I played for FURIA, I played in big stages, and the adrenaline of playing big tournaments and facing the entire opposition, it's always a great feeling. On Fluxo, I have a different mindset. It's more of a learning/teaching role where I can have time to teach and also learn in the process. It's just different things.

For a while, it felt like in FURIA there were too many cooks in the kitchen, in a way. Now in Fluxo, you're the most experienced member and the one leader. Would you say you have more authority now?

I don't think it was that simple. Even in FURIA, that was not really the case. When I was IGLing, I had the freedom to pretty much do a lot of things. Of course, in practice, it's a little different. And of course, you have different mindsets and that shows in the game. Overall, neither FalleN nor I was trying to go over one another. I think we did a pretty good job playing off each other's strengths during the time we played together, and the players were trying their best to make it work.

I think the biggest difference between FURIA and Fluxo is that in FURIA I was trying to do many things. In Fluxo, I am more focused on little things. I am not really certain, because we've been changing players, which positions I'm taking in Fluxo, if I'm going to be like a star player or more like an anchor player. I want to play star positions to help my team make plays and move across the map.

I want to teach them to play that way as well because we have so many young players that I have the luxury to spend some time teaching them how to play star positions. And just help develop this sense in them because playing star positions has a lot to do with making fast decisions, and I'm still kind of unsure what to do on some maps. We are trying things out, changing positions a lot. So I think that's the main difference.

In terms of the team composition, is it still a work in progress? Do you think you might change players in the future, or are you hopeful that this roster will last?

I'm feeling comfortable with the team. I do think everyone brings great things to the team. But of course, I really want to test the players out and make them better players. Now, we're going to play a European event against European players. While we're in Brazil, it's always the same teams, same teams, same teams. Playing here is very important for us to get better at the game and also develop new things.

We need to play LAN stages, we need to play tournaments outside of Brazil, and this experience will help us see what we need in the team, what we need to change. I don't think about changing the roster anytime soon. It's more about finding our place on the team. And I think this experience is going to show us the path we are taking and what we can improve with time.

You, kye, and your coach, tacitus, have been on FURIA. Do you personally have that goal of reaching FURIA's level and being comparable to them? Do you think you can do the same or even better?

Yeah, I do think so. All CS players have ambitions. I think that's mandatory. We need to be ambitious; otherwise, you cannot succeed. So of course, I have the ambition to be the best team in Brazil. As a player, that's the only thing I think about. Of course, we have a long way to get there.

I do think next year can be very good for us because of the way tournaments are going to be like, with fewer invites. It will be more based on Valve's ranking. It's going to change, there won't be partner teams anymore. It's going to be a lot better for us to climb the ladder and have opportunities to play bigger tournaments. It's up to us to qualify for those events. Let's see what the future brings.

And in terms of your personal history with FURIA. Is there a grudge factor there?

Not, not at all. I do think FURIA are the best team in Brazil right now. Of course, if we're going to face them, there will be rivalry, I will want to beat them, but that's just on the server. I have known the players for many years. I root for them. I want them to be the number-one team in Brazil for a long time. But if I'm in a position where I need to play against them or I am a contender to be the best in Brazil, of course I'll take it. (laughs)

After missing out on the Major, how important is this event for your team?

It's like I said earlier. I'm not qualified for the Major, and also we missed out on qualifying for two other international tournaments. We lost the finals of both qualifiers. So this one is very important to us because it's the only one that is guaranteed for this semester. We have a couple more opportunities this year but it's uncertain, so we need to do our max here.

That's why we're bootcamping, we're trying to do the best we can to be prepared for this one. The most important thing about it is the experience. We want to learn from this experience. It doesn't matter if we win the tournament or not. The experience is going to matter a lot.

Solid are another Brazilian team at the event. What do you think about them? Do you think they can surprise people?

Yeah. As the name suggests, they are very solid. I don't think they are a bad team in any sense. But they have struggled for consistency like we have. In this tournament, they can be either very good and qualify for playoffs or not. Same thing for us, you know? Consistency is something that requires time and experience. And they haven't got either. So it's very unpredictable, but I think they can do a lot here.