HEN1: "I hope I can reach my full potential with Imperial"

With a scrappy victory over Grayhound, Imperial have extended their debut tournament at IEM Cologne 2023. Following the 2-1 series win, Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke with AWPer Henrique "HEN1" Teles to discuss the win, his reunion with his former Immortals teammates, and HEN1's recent explosive form. Note that this interview was conducted in Portuguese with live translation by Gonçalo "GoncOak" Carvalho.

You beat Grayhound in a relative scrappy series to pick up your first win (here) with your new team. How do you feel this series went, overall?

Happy. The work has been going well, I think we are doing things right with not a lot of time to do so, so we are really happy and I think we will achieve good things if we put in the work.

Heading into IEM Cologne, the team only recently formed. How many time did this squad have to practice before coming here?

We practiced in Brazil for a week and a week and a half in Europe.

With that in mind, there’s a bit of familiarity with this roster, because you are playing with boltz and felps again. This is a core that’s been together some times, how does it feel to reunite with felps and boltz again?

I’m happy, we developed a lot as people, it’s nice to find them like this, more mature, I, as well, have changed a lot since my time with Immortals. I’m very happy to be playing with them again, I know about their potential. I believe we are going to be successful together.

You have been away from these players for four years and you have all had lengthy careers since then. Do you think there’s still room to innovate with them or do you risk it just being a retread?

We now have another chance to build a new path together and we are trying very hard to try and create a great moment and victorious once again.

You are now working with zakk once again. How does he compare to your previous two coaches, guerri and BIT?

They all have different personalities, personally they are the three best coaches. zakk is calmer, he has a more familiar profile, he has evolved as well, he’s bringing new stuff for us and he is able to keep the environment healthy and cool.

Coming out of the Brazilian shuffle, we have this new Imperial lineup, but we also have a new FURIA roster with FalleN. As those are sort of the two de facto best squads in Brazil right now, is there a sense of rivalry, do you want to take down fallen and take the crown after being in his shadow for so many years?

It’s very hard. FalleN is very good, very skilled, and smart, and he’s also the leader. It’s very hard to replace him, but I believe that I am playing at a high level and I can perform and reach my prime. He is still very good and I think he’ll be successful with FURIA, and I will be very successful in Imperial.

You talked about reaching your peak. Recently it seems that you are becoming stronger and stronger, especially towards the end of your time with MIBR and heading into Imperial. What do you attribute to your recent explosive form?

I’m happy that I’m able to keep my form and my good game. It’s hard to start with a new team and keep your form. I’m still adapting to Imperial. It was a successful time with MIBR, I’m happy for them to have a new roster. I hope I can reach my full potential with Imperial, because I think we will have a good future together.

LUCAS1 has been out of the scene for a while. What has he been up to since 00 Nation in 2021?

LUCAS1 tried to comeback by playing with me a while ago, we had a good team but not everything went right. I had other opportunities and the years start to pile up, so I was sad to abandon him but I told him that I would look for a new path. He didn’t get new opportunities so he’s not active, but he is super ready, he’s become a better person and he has a lot of dedication. I would say he is missing that opportunity, who knows in CS2.