Short and Paquetá set their sights high with new roster

Paulo “short” Campos is a name to keep an eye on. Starting out in 2020 as a coach for SWS Gaming, the world quickly saw that short could do more from inside the server vs. behind the players. Campos had brief experiences with other teams, but it was in Arctic that he drew the attention of the Brazilian community.

Short led the team as IGL and captain and in 2022, the team won most of the tournaments in Brazil. CBCS Masters, CBCS Elite League Season 2 and CBCS Finals are just some of the tournaments they won. Their hard work was awarded with a qualification to the Americas RMR, despite the favoritism of Sharks, Fluxo or Case Esports.

But, a strong season for a small team means interest in players and Allan “history” Lawrenz was transferred to Fluxo for $100,000 USD. However, Arctic wasn’t able to keep the consistency from the past, and in May this year, short announced his free agency. It's an appetizing name on the market since the scene lacks good IGLs. After his excellent job at Arctic, Paulo’s name was set to shake the transfer window.

Following a good season, history was sold to Fluxo

Despite the reported interest from LOS, short chose to sign with Paquetá: a team with prospects such as Carlos “venomzera” Junior along with other strong players like Lucas “DeStiNy” Bullo and Gabriel “nython” Lino. To complete the roster, Paquetá signed Wesley “hardzao” Lopes, who was part of paiN’s good last season, last transfer window.

short on the signing: “Paqueta’s offer came from Righi; the talks were really fast.”

Short was one of the names in Leonardo “leo_drk” Oliveira's orgless project, but in the end, the team didn’t get out of the planning stage.

“I was in the leo_drk’s project, but Righi (Paquetá’s coach) gave me a short term to answer the proposal. I accepted because it’s a solid project with great talents in the team and a team with an organization, which gives me more security than an orgless project.”

Paquetá comes to the second half of the year with known names in the community (Photo: Paquetá/Felipe Guerra)

“I received a lot of offers, mostly from tier 2 Brazilian teams. My idea was to play with ponter, history and t9rnay; that was our core, but then t9rnay left to join Fluxo, which affected me. I still wanted to play with the remaining players, but what made me accept the Paquetá offer was the uncertainty on the process of looking for an organization.”

The results started with an important victory for the Paquetá boys in CCT South Americas Series #9. The team beat Sharks in the grand final in a tournament with solid teams such as BESTIA, Case Esports, Fluxo and ODDIK.

However, short explained that the team is aiming high with their long-term goals: “We are a team with players with a different vision of the game due to coming from other projects. Our goal for sure is the first CS2 Major qualification, we’ll use these upcoming months to practice and play a lot, try to get the maximum spots in international tournaments we can.”