Dash: “I think we’ll be better; we are really thankful for Lagonis but it’s time to move on, correct some things and improve others”

Big moves for the “Golden Boys” for the third split of Brasileirão. Lorenzo “Lagonis” Volpi signed with Team Liquid while the coach, Vitor “IntacT” Janz was moved to R6 Manager. Team oNe will face the next split with two new leaders, Leonardo “Dash” Lopes, who was in the previous roster and succeeds Lagonis as the team captain and Gustavo “Norris” Júnior, who joined from SuperNova to replace IntacT. Júlio “L0BEX” Souza is the fifth player, a name known to the Team oNe players.

The new captain, Dash gave BLIX.GG’s Rafael Ferreira an exclusive interview to talk about this new period in oNe’s journey.

Goodbye Lagonis

“Lagonis is a hardworking person, he worked a lot for our roster [to] go well.” Dash said, speaking on the former team captain’s departure. “In [sic] the time he said he was leaving, we were a bit shocked, and we didn’t know which team he signed with.” He explained. However the team doesn’t see the change as wholly negative. “Lagonis leaving has a lot of positive points, I think we end up adapting better to the meta that requires a more aggressive playstyle.” Said Dash.

“Teams like w7m and FaZe that are going well in international events, play in an aggressive style.” Dash elaborated. “I think we’ll be better; we are really thankful for Lagonis but it’s time to move on, correct some things and improve others.”

A new phase

The departure of Lagonis marks a new phase for oNe. We asked Dash how the team was feeling since the changes.

“L0BEX played with me, dotz and our new coach Norris in SuperNova so we knew him for a long time… his playstyle and the role that he liked to do.”Dash explained. “We had to adapt some things to fit him into our team. We didn’t discuss it that much, when Lagonis left, all of us knew the [one] chosen would be L0bin, there wasn’t a second option.” He said.

Part of adapting means strengthening the system as a whole, not just the players. Dash explained that switching the role of IntacT was the team’s idea.

“The decision to move IntacT to Manager was ours, we had an eye on Norris for a long time and we knew he can add a lot to our roster.” He said. “We thought we were needing more power in our coach staff, so we moved IntacT to that role, [it] has been cool. He helps us a lot. There’s not too much to talk about Norris, it’s a coach we always wanted. IntacT and Norris don’t work together.”

And it seems the results have so far been positive.

“Dotz is our first support, rhZ the second support, me as a flex, L0BEX as second entry and Maia as first entry.” Dash explained. “To be honest, I got [sic] surprised with our results in the practices. We had two days of bad practices but since then we improved a lot in so little time.” He said. “All the players are performing well in their new roles, and I think we come to face all the teams in the eyes.”

The new captain

What about stepping into Lagonis’ shoes? We asked Dash about the decision making process behind his move to team captain, and how he feels at the helm.

“About me being the IGL there was not much discussion because I’ve done that role in SuperNova and in the team no one has the IGL profile.” He said. “When Lagonis was in the team, we completed each other in the server, so it was a natural decision.” Dash explained.

“Team oNe trusted me to do that role… I always had the dream to be the captain of a BR6 roster and it’s happening.” He said, before expressing his appreciation for the trust and support he’s received from Team oNe so far.

“I’m really thankful for Team oNe and my teammates to [sic] trust in me in this new role, even when Lagonis was on the team I didn’t have the space to lead so now that I have the chance, I’ll focus much more.”

Third split

Finally, Dash spoke a little bit about how the team feels about their prospects heading into the third split.

“I don’t think we’re starting behind the other teams because we learned a lot with Lagonis, we improved our bad decisions… also the good ones.” Dash said. “We know what happened in the first split to qualify for the Six Major and in the second split what didn’t happen to qualify for the Six Major, so we come stronger.” He said. “Our expectation is to qualify for the Six Major of course, we’ll be patient because we changed some things.”

So, does he think this roster can perform better than the previous one?

“I think yes, with our roster being able to adapt better to the new meta, I think we can be better, yes.”