VINI: "All the [buyout] prices [in Brazil] are really inflated"

Imperial have been thrust into the spotlight in recent days, with almost none of the attention focused on their gameplay, but rather what will happen with their leader, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo. In recent interviews, the most famous Brazilian player has admitted that both paiN and FURIA are chasing his signature. Despite all the outside distractions, the squad is in Washington D.C. for the BLAST Spring Finals in hopes of proving themselves at the international stage for the last time this season.

Can the roster stun the big dogs? A last dance for the last dance? Maybe. Dust2.us' Samuel "Draik04" Popkes talked with Imperial's Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo to get a closer look at their squad ahead of BLAST Spring Final.

Before you came here, you just won the Brazilian Premier League. How does it feel to get that ESL Pro League slot?

It feels good to know that we have something for the next semester of 2023. I think we might get the Cologne spot as well because of the SA rankings, so it's we have good possibility coming here.

At the Brazil Premier League finals, you beat ODDIK in a close win. Can you tell me a little bit about ODDIK?

We didn't study them that much, but we knew after they beat 00 Nation it could be a hard match. They had a good counter against us, winning our pick, but overall it was a great game, they have good individuals. They could be new prospects.

In FURIA, you played in North America for a while, but on Imperial, you've leaned back into playing more in Brazil. How much has the scene changed since you left and are there any teams or players that stood out to you?

I would say the Brazilian scene has grown a lot; there are a lot of individuals, but they are spread out in a lot of teams. That's why our scene is a little bit hurt, because nobody can build a really good team, because all the players are separate.

Do you think that might change soon, with teams like MIBR moving players around?

I think they are going to get cheaper prospects, because I know the orgs wont be selling others for very cheap. It's a big problem in Brazil right now, all the prices are really inflated, like almost European prices, so I don't think the orgs have the budget for that.

Tell me a bit about your results this year. It's been sort of mixed. You did well at the BLAST Showdown to get here. What went right in that event?

I think in BLAST Showdown we just had a really good CT-side, which is something we've been working on the whole semester. In that tournament, everything clicked. Its kind of messy, because if we could win a single match in Pro League, we know our results would be different, but going 0-3, going to BLAST, have some hope and then the RMR, it just kind of shut down our semester. But I think we did our best to come prepared.

Before this tournament, you briefly went to Europe to compete in Brazy Party. You guys ended up last place, but how useful was the experience?

The problem with Brazy Party is we had chelo with some health issues, so we couldn't prepare 100%. It was more of "let's try and grow individually" during those matches. I think we used that as experience.

A few months back, you guys added JOTA and zakk to the team. What's it been like working with them?

It's pretty good, they're really good teammates. I would say we're still trying to figure out how they want to play in certain maps on CT because of all the roles. But I think we need more time, to be honest.

Some reports have come out of FalleN meeting with Akkari, co-CEO of FURIA. Can you tell me about the possibility of FalleN departing the team?

There's a lot of talk on Twitter, but I don't think anything has happened yet. They're probably gonna have some conversations about that after this tournament. Anything could happen. He could stay, he could go to a new team, whatever. We just need need to focus on playing here right now.

What are your goals and expectations for this tournament?

I think our goals are honestly winning one match to be able to go to playoffs. We want to see the arena. We're focusing on eliminating a European team here. That's our focus.

You've got Vitality as an opener. How do you feel about that?

They just won a Major so they probably had a lot of partying. They probably didn't practice well, they won't prepare that much since we're the underdogs, so we're just shooting our shot.

Win or lose, you then play G2 or Cloud9. How do you feel about those?

I think against Cloud9 we have a good matchup. We had close games against them in the last Major, we eliminated them in the Antwerp Major too. So we know how they play, but they are really good individuals, so it's going to be a very hard match, but it's going to be a good show.

For the second half of the year, there's no Major, so do you have any other goals for the second half of the year?

We're just waiting for Valve to be honest, cause I don't think CS:GO is going to exist. We're just waiting for the new game to release and grind a lot. I think all the teams are doing that, since we don't think we're going to be playing any more ESL or BLAST events in CS:GO. Just waiting.

Player break is coming up, any plans for you?

Probably just waiting to see what will happen with our team and what we can do in the future. Pretty much just use our free time until Valve release the new game, since if they release it in the first week, there's no player break. Everybody is going to be playing the game.

Imperial are set to play against Vitality this morning at 10:00AM.