Team Brazil, comprised of four NoPing e-sports players joined by Gustavo "Fcr" Ribeiro, offlaner for Interitus, have won this past weekend gold medals in the Dota 2 open category of the inaugural edition of Global Esports Games (GEG) held in Singapore.
We had the chance to chat with the team captain, Matheus "KJ" Santos Jungles Diniz and Gustavo "Fcr" Ribeiro a day after the grand finals. Given the COVID restrictions and the tournament bubble, the interview was conducted online.
Hello guys and big congrats for the GEG golden medals claimed in the Dota 2 open category with Team Brazil. Is this your first time in Singapore?
KJ: Thank you! Yes, it’s our first time in Singapore, but we didn’t really get to see anything around because we stayed in a bubble. We are going to keep staying in the bubble until our departure. We can’t leave the hotel, but from the window, the city looks so beautiful. I wish I could visit a bit.
What do you think of the Olympic format, national teams only, does it have a place in esports, do you see it as a good opportunity or just a gimmick?
KJ: I think the format is nice, it gives more opportunities for the up and coming players. However, here we didn’t really have a prize pool and that’s not fine for every player to do this. Not everyone wants to travel around the globe to play for no prize money. We managed to do it because we already have a Brazilian team, NoPing Esports, and because we didn’t have DPC matches scheduled for this weekend. Obviously, if we would have had DPC games overlapping with the GEG schedule, we would have turned down this event. For the professional scene, events like this are not really worthwhile.
Fcr: But, the idea overall, having national teams compete for their country flag and for medals, is pretty good. You get to see a lot of new teams this way. For example, NoPing is a Brazilian team, but they don’t have a Brazilian offlaner, so, they contacted me for this event. You can say that this event created an opportunity, if you want.
How did you discover Dota 2 and when did you first play the game?
KJ: I've been playing since DotA 1. I discovered it in 2010 when I was 10 years old through a friend playing it. He showed me how to download it on the Garena platform and I got completely hooked on it.
Fcr: I started playing Dota 2 when I was 14 years old, and I didn’t like the game that much at first. But for some reason I kept playing. I started to actually enjoy the game once I got a better internet connection, because back then, the internet was so bad that you couldn’t do anything. So, when I had the better internet I instantly loved how it feels to actually play this game with and against other people.
If you weren’t playing Dota 2 on a professional level, what would you like to do?
KJ: I would do something related to art. Theater and dance, that’s what I was doing before becoming a pro player and in the future, if I have to stop playing competitively, I would like to go back to it.
Fcr: For me, it would probably be programming. I love computers and before I started to play competitively I was learning programming languages and preparing for a career in IT.
Have esports influenced or impacted you as a person?
KJ: For sure. I learned a lot, I experienced things that I never went through before, like captaining a team, going to TI this year and having to take decisions that, you know, would cost so much money. It’s not easy to do those things and I’m still learning and I’m happy that I get to develop as a person through esports.
Fcr: Esports is making us feel the pressure and forces us to learn how to deal with it. There are a lot of things that you don’t get to experience at such a young age if you wouldn’t be in esports. I am 20 years old and KJ is 22 and we are already making decisions that are life changing. Even the fact that we just travelled to Singapore to play Dota 2 for our country, who would have imagined that a few years ago?
What are the three words to describe your team and why?
KJ: Friendship and talent. We are very close to each other, which usually is not that easy in the Dota 2 teams. Most of the time you have one or two players who are more egocentric, or very introverted, who don’t speak much with the rest of the teammates. But that’s not the case with Team Brazil or NoPing. Here we are very close to each other, we are all good friends and we are a young team so we have a lot of talented players.
Did you expect a bigger patch after TI10?
KJ: Yes! I thought that at least the map would change.
Fcr: Or at least that they make some changes to objectives, like outposts and Roshan.
What would you like to see changed in the next patch?
KJ: A map change for sure, to keep the game fresh. If you watch the games nowadays, they are all so similar. If I am Radiant I’m playing around Rosh timer, if I’m Dire I’m focused on having a better laning stage and getting stacks for my carry. It’s becoming very boring, really.
How do you like Marci? Do you see her becoming a highly contested hero when she will be added to Captain’s Mode?
KJ: I hate this hero.
Fcr: I love this hero, it’s so good. I’m obviously a Marci player and KJ isn’t. He is the one who has to play against it.
KJ: I don’t understand why anyone would play Marci right now, she is not even in Captain’s Mode.
Fcr: Because it’s so fun, man, it’s so fun!
KJ: You are just ruining others MMR by playing a broken hero.
What is your resolution for the new year?
KJ: For the Dota part of my life I want to go to TI again and I want to do better than this year. For the non-Dota part, I want to get to spend more quality time with my family and friends. This year I was on the road so much that I barely spent time with my family.
Fcr: I just want to become a better player. I’m currently competing in the second division of the SA league with team Interitus. So, my new year resolution is to at least promote to Division I and then try to qualify for a Major. I’m not TI calibre yet, I know that, so first I want to become better as a player.
With that in mind, we wish you both a very happy new year and may your wishes become true. Thank you both for taking the time to talk to us and once again congrats on the big victory in Singapore. Until next time!
KJ: Thank you for the interview and hopefully next time we won’t have to deal with corona restrictions anymore!
