VINI: "It's a terrible feeling because we could have won both maps"

Imperial were left ruing a missed opportunity to grab a G2 upset at the beginning of their BLAST Open Lisbon campaign.

Imperial's campaign at BLAST Open Lisbon has gotten off to a painful start.

Playing their debut tournament with new addition Richard "⁠chayJESUS⁠" Seidy, who replaced João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos on the team last month, the Brazilian squad failed to convert two promising maps in their opening match against G2 to fall into the elimination games.

Several clutches lost to a red-hot Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač and losses against low buys cost them on Mirage, while on Inferno Imperial gave up a 10-7 lead after a blistering start on the offense to go down 0-2.

The missed opportunities left Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo feeling "terrible," the in-game leader told HLTV after the match. "On Mirage, we literally choked and couldn't convert an eco. We played scared, we didn't manage to do anything we replicated in training," he said.

BLAST Open is Imperial's only opportunity to make a big push for a spot at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, for which invites go out in three weeks. Coupled with this being their first event of the year and their debut with chayJESUS, the pressure may have gotten to the team, VINI admitted.

"Maybe it's due to the nerves of the debut or people not being really confident, and with pressure it's a bit different," he said. "I think everyone failed at making micro-decisions. There were people taking duels before a flash popped, peeking when they shouldn't, so... It's the nerves of the first match."

You can read the full interview below, in which VINI also spoke about his new teammate, Imperial's underwhelming finish to 2024 at the Shanghai Major and the lack of a Brazilian team that can make deep runs consistently.

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A 0-2 defeat in your first match here at BLAST. Two close maps, especially the second one. Tell me your thoughts on this match.

 It's a terrible feeling because we could have won both maps. On Mirage, when we got the momentum, we literally choked and couldn't convert an eco. We played scared, communication wasn't good... So I think that, like it or not, we kind of deserved the defeat because we didn't manage to do anything that we replicated in training, and that's maybe due to, either, the nerves of the debut or people not being really confident and with pressure it's a bit different, right?

But it's normal. Now we drop down to the lower bracket. This is a very important tournament for us because it's right before the Major cut-off, so if we can get a couple of wins even in the lower bracket, we can get some ranking points. Now we will wait for the outcome of Eternal Fire against Liquid, make a good plan and try to execute it well.

You got off to a good start on Mirage, with a 5-0 lead, and you also came out well in the second half, but that eco round turned the game around. At the same time, it's very hard to beat a team that has a player with 36 frags. Walk me through that game.

 Honestly, I only saw that he was killing a lot towards the end of the game. I think the biggest problem was us. We can't win a CS match losing two or three ecos per map, so I think after the 5-0 lead we had, it took us a while to adapt. They changed the game plan a bit and it took us about two or three rounds to understand what they had done. By then, it was a little bit too late because of the economy. That's CS, if you don't convert the easy rounds, you cannot win the match.

Clip: huNter- converts the eco with a triple and 1v2

And then on Inferno, you hit 10 rounds and then lost to a low buy where huNter got three kills with an MP9. It's these small decisions and mistakes that make a huge difference in the end…

 Oh yes, of course, losing a round like that really shook the team up, so you go into the next one without confidence, with a slightly different game plan. In that huNter round, we had the read on what was happening; if it was well executed, we could have won the round, but the way we did it, in a hurry, that's what gave him the chance to get a triple kill.

This is your first LAN event of the year, and we're in April almost. Would you say this lack of reps on LAN played a role today?

Absolutely. I think you can always use this excuse, but at the end of the day, we're playing with chay, who is playing his first tier-S tournament, and the guys hadn't played on LAN in two or three months. So nervousness kicks in, you might not trust the game plan and you end up being too defensive and passive. And in today's game, that's fatal.

How would you rate chayJESUS' first match here? This is only his second LAN event on record and it's by far the biggest event he has ever played. Especially on Inferno, we could see that he has very good aim, but sometimes his decision-making isn't the best, which is normal for a player who doesn't have a lot of experience.

 I think he's doing well, having a lot of fun, he wasn't too nervous and was communicating well, sometimes lifting the team up. But sometimes, when the game got tough, I think everyone failed at making micro-decisions. There were people taking duels before a flash popped, peeking when they shouldn't, so… It's the nerves of the first match, right?

Last year ended on a disappointing note for Imperial, with that 0-3 run at the Major, which try described at the time as unacceptable. What do you think that went wrong in that tournament?

I think we prepared the wrong way for that Major, the atmosphere wasn't good already, there were changes after the event. I think we focused on the wrong problems and when we got to the tournament, it was just an illusion. In practice, everyone was a lion, but when it came to the championship and it was time to make plays, no one was making them. I would say that the goalposts have sort of changed with the new team, because we have another young player, so we're going to have to start from the bottom.

I think the biggest problem was going out 0-3 and not getting any ranking points. We dropped down a bit in the ranking. Now it's about rebuilding. We know where our level is at. We need to at least be strong again in our region and then take on the big teams head-on.

In Brazil, we have FURIA, paiN and MIBR getting invites to the biggest tournaments. A bit lower in the rankings, there are teams like Imperial, Fluxo and Legacy always fighting it out in qualifiers. Still, it feels like Brazil isn't close to having a team that can make deep runs or challenge for titles consistently. How do you look at the current state of the scene?

 I think the situation at the moment is pretty bad in general. We have a few teams that can do well in some tournaments but not consistently. Either the players are too spread out because of buyouts and nobody manages to put together a very strong team or we're actually really behind as a region.

I don't know what the solution is. Otherwise, we would probably be performing better, but I think that the Brazilian scene, in general, is pretty weak. There's still a lot to improve. We need to be more consistent in tournaments. The only team that was doing that was FURIA, and even they have lost that magic. So I think a rebuild of the entire region [is necessary].

You played for FURIA for a long time earlier in your career. What are your thoughts on their current situation?

I think they're getting more in each other's way than they're managing to play. I think they have a lot of internal problems and maybe external as well. And whether you like it or not, when you have one tournament after the next, you don't have a lot of time to practice and find the best solution or the way out of the problem. That's one of the problems when your team is having issues, because you keep playing in all these tournaments when you're high in the rankings and there's no time to cry, right? You keep playing and trying your best.

You've already said you want to accrue ranking points in this tournament. Is there a specific placement you're targeting here?

I think we'd be very happy if we managed to get to the stage where we're fighting for a playoff spot. We're not here for sightseeing. I think that if we win the next two lower bracket matches, eliminate a few teams, and get to the playoff qualification matches, we will show that we can really grow as a team.