BIT: "The team only played three scrims with me instead of brnz4n"

Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore was able to catch MIBR's Bruno "BIT" Lima prior to the match against Liquid. The two spoke about being a replacement, tournament seeding, the team's recent roster move, and much more.

To start, how is the team feeling following the match against BIG and day two in general?

I think we are feeling pretty ok. Of course, we lost and we are sad about it but in general, I think in general we are just having a lot of fun playing together. We know the circumstances of the team without one of our players so it's been fun playing with the guys and we had a pretty good fight against a very good team, BIG, and we have to hold our heads up.

Focusing on that match against BIG, the team played a very close game on Mirage but struggled to hold it close on Nuke. What happened with Nuke that made it difficult for MIBR to find their momentum?

To be honest, Nuke was not that bad. I mean T-side on Nuke is very hard at the moment and we found four rounds which was ok. We lost a lot of other clutch rounds where we could have been 8-7 or something like that. When it's 11-4 and the game depends too much on winning the pistol, and we lost the CT-side pistol so it was hard to come back after that.

MIBR came to IEM Dallas on extremely short notice. I was wondering if you could share the story of how you were notified and the amount of time you had to get ready?

We were in Portugal and Europe practicing for maybe two weeks. We were playing some tournaments and then we have a showmatch against OG. We had our flight at 5 AM and at 11 AM, ESL told us they had invited us to Dallas. We were about to fly to Monterrey to play ESL Challenger in like five hours. ESL gave us new flights so it was pretty quick and we had no time to practice because we arrived the day before. The team only played three scrims with me instead of brnz4n.

Somewhat controversially, ESL announced they weren't going to be able to reseed the bracket because MIBR's addition was so last minute. Were you happy you ended up seeded against Complexity because of this coincidence compared to a team you've never scrimmed?

I don't think Complexity is a bad team, to be honest. Of course, they aren't a high seed so maybe if we are last minute and we are also not the highest seed so it was kind of two teams with a low seed. But, at the same time, people are talking about Complexity like anyone can win against them and that's not true. They did a pretty good fight against NIP and they can win against a lot of teams. It was good for us but it's not like everyone is going to win against them and it's a free win.

Coming out the Major, MIBR made the decision to bench WOOD7 and bring in brnz4n. I was reading an interview Tuurtle did with Fraglider about the decision and I was wondering if could share some more insight on that. How do you rate brnz4n as an AWPer as the goal was to bring more firepower to the team?

He just needs more time to play because he was not an AWPer. But, he's a kid that loves to play CS like a lot of other upcoming players we see like b1t from NAVI or the guy from Spirit. I think he's leveling up very fast. He's enjoying AWPing right now and I think he's going to be very good but he needs more experience, time in the server, and to play more tournaments. I see a very bright future for him.

You mentioned the fact that he wasn't a primary AWPer until joining MIBR. With that, how did you decide to bring him on versus finding an already experienced AWPer? Was his performance on MIBR Academy a big factor?

When we decided to change our IGL we had to think about a lot of stuff. We were thinking about who would be our IGL and then chelo popped up very fast because he was our leader with WOOD7. This decision was not easy but then we had to make a big change to fill the hole. chelo wanted to also try to be the AWPer but he brings a lot to the team because he's a good rifler. We were trying to figure out little by little which was the better decision for the team and if we needed to change a lot of protocols or not. If we did it this way we could avoid changing a lot of roles as we're just bringing in a new AWPer. chelo was already a secondary caller together with JOTA. They both call a lot in our team so we didn't want to move so much stuff.

Unfortunately you make the decision to bring in brnz4n and then you realize his visa wouldn't be ready for Dallas. When it was decided you would be playing, did you decide to take over calling for the team to take the pressure off of chelo?

We had a single day of practice and we played maybe three maps. On the first two maps, chelo was calling like normal and I was filling brnz4n's hole on the team. But, chelo felt I was not playing very comfortably so he asked me if I wanted to call on the third practice map and then after this, we decided I should call in Dallas so I can think more about the game. I think it is better for the team because I was the captain for my whole life. I'm calling right now while chelo and JOTA are helping me.

Are you enjoying being an IGL again? After such a storied career is it fun to return to the stage after perhaps thinking you were hanging up the mouse?

It's very fun to play a tournament like this. It's not about the role I'm playing because I'm AWPing sometimes and doing whatever the team needs. They are giving me a lot of freedom to do whatever I want but I'm having a lot of fun playing a structured tournament like this. ESL is doing an amazing job here and playing in front of the crowd is a dream for now but hopefully, we can do it tomorrow.

Your next big hurdle is Liquid tomorrow, a team you've never played before in an official. How prepared do you feel for Liquid tomorrow and how do your rate your chances against them?

They are a very good team on paper and have a lot of great players. Maybe they are not in the best shape in the last few tournaments but they're always a very good team because they have EliGE and NAF-FLY and they're amazing players. I think we need to do our homework right now and see what we're going to pick to prepare as much as we can.

One last question for the NA connection, I learned from Swisher that MIBR, ATK, paiN, and GODSENT all live close to each other in Monterrey. I was curious about whether the four teams ever get together to scrim or just hang out?

We talk sometimes with the ATK guys but we've never met, to be honest. I think the paiN guys and the ATK guys are very close and they go out together but we go to Mexico a lot of times but we never stay there for very long and we're always practicing and playing tournaments. It's hard because the GODSENT or paiN guys will invite us to a barbeque or stuff and we're never able to but I hope I can meet them.

Since BIT's interview with Dust2, MIBR has been eliminated from IEM Dallas. Their next appearance is at the Pinnacle Cup Championship beginning June 8th.