Imperial came into IEM Cologne a somewhat unknown prospect due to the recent change of Santino “try” Rigal for Henrique “HEN1” Teles, but it seems that the tournament came too soon for them after that change as they have been eliminated following losses against FURIA and paiN.
After their elimination, we spoke to VINI about the change for try, disappointment in Cologne, and what’s next for Imperial.
A tough loss for you, how are you feeling straight afterwards?
Sad, we know how hard we worked just to get here but I don't know what went wrong, every time we come to Cologne it's always the same result. This is like the third or fourth time I haven't made it past the first stage, so it's pretty disappointing.
So what are your expectations when you come into these events? Do you expect to advance to the next stage every time?
Not every time, no, but seeing the bracket we had with just the SA teams to play against, we expected to win. They're two teams we know we can beat in our region, and we're confident enough that we should do that.
The SA region is always very competitive, do you think it's as even as it seems or do you place yourselves higher than others?
Honestly, I would put us as the third best, but we know we can beat everyone. It's not that other teams aren't strong, we're all around the same level, so we just need to figure out what we can do differently to get ahead of these guys.
You became the IGL before last year's IEM Cologne, how do you think you've developed in the year since?
I can say a lot has changed, I have a lot of ideas in terms of how to approach the game now. I also know how to deal with the nerves that come from tight rounds better.
The team made a bold change recently dropping HEN1 for try, can you explain the reasoning behind the change?
I think the change was more about how aggro try can play and his understanding of the game, he helps me a lot with his second calling so when I was a bit lost on Inferno he was helping me in the rounds.
That's the main reason, we didn't change HEN1 because of any performance reasons, he was a beast and playing really well in our team, it was just more of a bold move because we want to get to these bigger events and go further. For now, that hasn't happened, but let's see how it goes at Pro League.
How important is it to have that second voice?
I think it helps a lot because sometimes people are nervous and no one is saying anything. The rounds go silent and people are afraid to make moves, so having that second voice, if one of us is dead and the other is alive we have that second voice that makes sure there's always someone talking and the other can focus on their aim.
What's next for Imperial?
Going back to Brazil, watching the games, crying a little bit, and then having a bootcamp before Pro League. Hopefully, we'll then have a better system to play against the bigger change.
With the recent change, do you think that bootcamp is important? Did this event just come too soon after making that change?
We have had a lot of time in Brazil, so it's hard to say. We play MIBR and paiN a lot in qualifiers so we get used to certain things, so we just need to change some stuff because we aren't performing.
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