yuurih: "When I see molodoy playing, it's almost like m0NESY, some players like that"

yuurih has seen flashes of brilliance in FURIA's new AWPer — but stressed that he's "very new" and needs more experience.

The move to international came with more than a language change for Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos in FURIA. He also had to completely change his playstyle.

"I need to do everything for the team," yuurih tells HLTV. "I'm totally an anchor now, the game is different now."

After being the second star in the team for so long, yuurih is down to fourth in terms of resources — and even in-game leader Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo has better CT spots.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Stage 2
07/06/2025	FURIA Finished 13:4 Lynn Vision	Match
07/06/2025	paiN Finished 13:11 FURIA	Match
08/06/2025	FURIA Finished 13:8 M80	Match

The swap has come at a tricky time in yuurih's career, to be fair, with him sitting at a 1.02 rating against top 20 teams in the last five months of the all-Brazilian roster.

That he stayed instead of the more natural anchor Felipe "⁠skullz⁠" Medeiros, however, is proof that FURIA still hold belief in yuurih to recapture the form that made him a top 20 player in 2020 and 2022.

In Austin, he has started well with a 1.17 rating after three maps, and yuurih even top-fragged against M80. At 25, this panther is still learning new tricks.

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Good performance top fragging, how did that feel?

It felt good. Yesterday we lost against paiN, we made some mistakes that you can't make. Today, we had some good rounds, we played better. We need to play better always to win those maps.

What's it like arriving in Stage 2? Do you feel like you're still warming up?

I think the tournament and practice are really different. We came from 14 days of prac but when you come here it's different. We need to play what we pracced, but in tournaments it's always different situations, and you need to win those situations. It's a bit of a warmup for us for now, but today it was really good. Yesterday, we were confused some rounds, but now we are feeling good, everyone.

How are you finding the transition to an international team, from your perspective?

In the beginning, when we started playing with junior in 2020 it was hard because our English was a bit bad. Today, we are having English classes, a lot of stuff, and the English in Counter-Strike is a little bit easier. We have calls, we have stuff like that, you just need to understand what FalleN is saying, and reactions.

It has been good for us. We needed to do this. In Brazil today, you can't take some players that you want because they are very expensive. It's impossible to buy, impossible to have these guys. It has been good for us.

With molodoy and everything, are you seeing much change? Are people improving in understanding FalleN a bit quicker? Sometimes, when you stand in front of you guys, he has to repeat himself so how is that going?

When we got molodoy FalleN and I practiced against him, and we didn't know who he was. But when we saw him in prac, we thought, 'this guy is good.' The point that we thought we need to change and put FalleN in another role, that we needed a better AWP who could focus on only the AWP, we thought about molodoy and so we took him. He's been very good for the team.

He has a little bit of a problem with English. He doesn't speak English very well. But he's learning very fast, and like I said, the English in CS is a bit easier. It has been good. He's a very good player. When I see him playing it's almost like m0NESY, some players like that. He has a good impact on the game. But he's very new as well. He needs to play more, have more experience, and it will be very nice.

Something on yourself, you've done a few role changes with YEKINDAR coming in...*

A lot, a lot.

Yeah, a lot. All anchoring, a lot of lurking. What's that been like?

I changed every role. Apart from two maps, Inferno, I guess. But I changed everything. In the beginning of the team FalleN tried some new positions but he was uncomfortable so I went there and took his positions. It's very new for me so I need to play more. I need to do everything for the team. I'm totally an anchor now, the game is different now. I need to constantly be the guy on site, I need to kill, I need to be smart and be a good lurker. It's a different role, I've never played this role. But I need to do what's best for the team.

There's a lot of star lurkers, star anchors out there too. We know you and KSCERATO are a bit more of a passive duo, sort of, do you think it suits your playstyle?

KSCERATO was more anchor guy, lurker guy, I was the second guy, trading. I was in the fight, so it is really different now everything is more quiet. KSCERATO changed his role a lot too, but he is very comfortable in what he is doing. I'm learning a lot with KSCERATO as well in these new positions. We are doing the best for the team, me and him. I'm watching a lot of demos of good anchors, ropz, mezii some positions, a lot of good players. I'm learning.

And on T side, people talk a lot about roles but how important do you think they are on T? You're still able to be the trade fragger a lot of the time, are you more comfortable there?

Yeah, when you see the stats I'm very good on T side. I have a lot of confidence on T side. As CT it's harder because you just need to hold the site and when you see three or four guys coming it's more hard. As T I'm very confident because I know what I need to do, I have more freedom. I like the way I'm playing on T.