What to expect from IEM Dallas' Brazilian brawl

When the opening matches for IEM Dallas were revealed just a few days ago fans quickly picked up on a salient matchup, a Brazilian derby between current top dog FURIA and veteran squad Imperial. Now it's time to break down some of the fascinating storylines taking center stage as these two squads duke it out.

An ill-fated reunion

By far one of the most important things to consider with this matchup is Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo, who made his way to Imperial after a lengthy tenure with FURIA that spanned more than four years. VINI played a key role in FURIA's rise to prominence, helping the squad land consistent placings in the top 10 rankings, securing three titles with the squad during the online era. VINI capped off his time with FURIA with a quarterfinal finish at the PGL Major Stockholm, the best placing at a Major for the team at that point.

Despite the strong placing at Stockholm, it was soon revealed that, according to FURIA coach Nicholas "guerri" Nogueira, VINI was "not in FURIA's plans for 2022", as the team looked to add a dedicated AWPer, something the team lacked since Paytyn "junior" Johnson's short time with the squad in mid-2021. This led to a report that VINI may be linked to a move with Liquid, along with Nick "nitr0" Cannella and Richard "shox" Papillon, but ultimately VINI opted to link up with the Last Dance squad on Imperial instead.

Since VINI's departure, he has yet to match up against his former teammates on FURIA, avoiding them in both the PGL Americas RMR and the Legends Stage of the PGL Major Antwerp. With this opening matchup between the two teams now confirmed, VINI will be looking to start Imperial's run in IEM Dallas on the right foot, knocking his former squadmates on FURIA down to the lower bracket in order to do so.

A rare meeting between greats

It may come as a surprise to many, but it is worth noting just how rarely the players on FURIA have tussled with the players on Imperial. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo has the most experience on his team against FURIA, having played against the squad a handful of times during his time on Liquid, and even more while on MIBR. While this isn't even close to FalleN's first time taking on FURIA, his squadmates have significantly less experience against the current top Brazilian squad.

Ricardo "boltz" Prass follows FalleN in most times playing against FURIA, racking up eleven series across his stints on MIBR and Luminosity, with his first recorded match against the team going as far back as December of 2018, and most recently in October of 2021. Fernando "fer" Alvarenga is up next in regards to experience against FURIA, with ten different series played versus the squad during his time on MIBR, ranging from the first series in October of 2019 to the most recent in June of 2020.

Aside from VINI, who of course has yet to play against his former teammates, Lincoln "fnx" Lau takes the title of most inexperienced against FURIA, largely due to the lengthy period he spent not competing. fnx has racked up five series against FURIA, all in smaller South American tournaments or qualifiers in the spring of 2018. With even the most experienced Imperial players not having played against FURIA in over seven months, this matchup provides a blank slate, and both teams will be looking to capitalize on that to secure their first head-to-head win with their current squads.

Who is the best in Brazil?

While this match has some importance in deciding which team will start their IEM Dallas run in the lower bracket, arguably the most important thing to take away from the result of this game is who will vie for the title of the strongest Brazilian team.

Although FURIA were far and away number one in Brazil for quite some time, Imperial's showing at the PGL Major Antwerp throws that up in the air. By no means did FURIA perform poorly; beating G2 to reach a quarterfinal finish is nothing to sniff at. That being said, Imperial displayed their own prowess in the same event, taking out Cloud9 before falling 2-3 in the Legends stage. When one considers that Imperial was only one series away from reaching playoffs alongside FURIA, the gap between the two may not be as large as it appears.

Currently, FURIA find themselves ranked number eight in the world, with Imperial hot on their heels at number fifteen. Moving down to the Brazilian regional rankings, FURIA hold the title of highest-ranked in the country, while Imperial sit in the runner-up position. While a win here for Imperial wouldn't necessarily reflect in them immediately toppling FURIA in the rankings, it would certainly be a sign that FURIA may be starting to slip from the top spot in the region.

Regardless of who ultimately comes out on top, this game is sure to be a bloodbath. The two sides are set to clash Monday at 02:20PM.