VINI: "try has balls and sometimes dies, we're just trying to find a balance"

Imperial won their match against RED Canids to stay alive in the Americas RMR.

Imperial are one of the teams to have made a roster change during the summer break, replacing Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles with Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal in a surprising move. As fate would have it, Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo's troops would go on to face their ex-player in a 2-2 match at the RMR.

"All the rivalry is on the server. Outside of the server, I actually love him, and I hope we're still friends," VINI said about his ex-teammate.

Imperial are not through to the Major yet, however, as they require FURIA to beat 9z, otherwise they are set to play a 7th-place decider match against M80.

You can read the full interview with VINI below.

If you cannot see the Soundcloud embed above, listen to the interview here.

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You stay alive at the RMR after beating RED Canids. What are your immediate thoughts after the win?

Just extremely happy. I think we played really well as a team. Everyone showed a lot of individual rounds. I had some clutches, decenty some clutches, felps saved our ass, try had a 4k, noway killing everyone.

It was a team win, and we are feeling very happy because we started a little bit down in the tournament, going 1-2. We were kind of doubting ourselves a little bit, but we knew we prepared a lot. We were ready for this match, and we are ready for the next match if FURIA doesn't win. It's not over.

You say if FURIA doesn't win. How are you feeling about this format? Does it take a bit of excitement away from your win now?

Not exactly. I think the win was just a huge confidence boost for us. We knew it was 7 spots, so that's just the tournament. In the last one, we qualified with five spots, this one we need to grind to get in with seven. It doesn't matter, we just want to be at the Major.

You will probably watch the FURIA game. Do you have a couple of nervous hours ahead of you?

We're going to be watching the score, but most importantly, we'll be preparing for the next match. Because we can't wait for the score to be good for us, so we'll be doing our preparation. I think we're facing M80, so we're going to prepare against them. We lost to them in Pro League, so we want to get revenge.

You were a part of FURIA for a long time. Did you talk with your ex-teammates ahead of the game?

Not really, but we just screamed a lot to them, and they probably heard that from the room, they were really close. Let's hope KSCERATO drops a 30-bomb on each map today.

To go back to the RED Canids game. You faced HEN1, your ex-teammate. How was that for you?

I think it's pretty emotional. After doing a roster change, you kind of doubt yourself because of some worse results. I think we knew what we were doing. I just have good feelings with him, all the rivalry is on the server. Outside of the server, I actually love him, and I hope we're still friends. It was a really great game by both of us.

His replacement, try, had a very good game today. How has he settled into the team?

Pretty good. He's gaining confidence each month with us, feeling more comfortable, and being more vocal. That round on B was totally his call, he had a read in the game and said, 'VINI, we're going to help you with this round. Don't worry.' And I didn't need to worry! He's a really good player with a lot of experience. He loves to grind and plays a lot of CS, he just lives CS, and I think he deserves to be in the Major.

What do you think is the biggest change now in the team? You probably made the change for a reason.

Honestly, I don't know. try is a totally different AWPer in the way he plays. I would say he's more aggressive, sometimes too much. He gave a free kill in overtime in the middle of Dust2. You want a guy with confidence, he has balls and sometimes dies, it's okay. We're just trying to find a balance. He's doing well, but sometimes he's going to fail, everyone's going to fail sometimes.