As the official VALORANT Championship Tour 2024 season kicks off with a banger, MIBR are fighting for a spot at Madrid for the first big international tournament of the year. After losing to Cloud 9 in a very, very close series and taking down FURIA 2-0 three days later, the Brazilian team have found themselves facing the team in blue once again to stay in the running for a golden ticket to Madrid. This time, they won the series 2-0, much to the surprise of many fans.
We spoke with Arthur “artzin” Araujo about taking down Cloud 9, the power of revenge as a motivator, who they might face on the road to Madrid and his story and potential as a duelist in the Americas.
Aykut Sapaz, BLIX.GG: Hello arztin, thank you so much for being here right now, after a momentous victory against Cloud9. Before we get into other stuff such as 2024 and joining the team, I would like to ask, how did the series go for you?
Arthur “artzin” Araujo: So to be honest, I felt some little pressure in the start. So I don’t think I played really well to be honest, but I was helping my team the way I can. I wasn’t killing that much, but I was helping in other ways like communication and some stuff like that. So I’m not really happy with my performance, but at the same time I’m happy that we still won.
BLIX: Yeah, I mean it happens sometimes you perform a lot of the work, sometimes you don’t do a lot of the work but you still win and this was a very important series for you guys to still have a chance to go to Madrid. As you said, there may have been a bit of a pressure, how was it throughout the games? Was it all pressure or did it get easier after winning the first game?
arztin: So when I talk about pressure, I was just talking about myself because I was really needing myself to come back to the game. But as a team, we were very confident to play against them again in this rematch because we worked a lot this week. We figured out [how to fix] some mistakes we were having and that’s what helped us to win today.
Revenge thoughts and silent crowds
BLIX: Yeah, you guys faced them against Cloud9 before in this tournament and that was a very close series, maybe even closer than this one. Was that in any way impactful to this matchup right now or how much did it impact this matchup?
arztin: I think it really impacted because we were just thinking about revenge because to be honest the first game against Cloud9 we just threw a lot. We should have won that, so that’s why we got more revenge thoughts because we were supposed to win but we lost.
BLIX: So it’s like an extra motivator for you?
arztin: Yeah, yeah, yeah
BLIX: I mean that’s great to hear and it’s very important that these factors come together with the revenge, with all the being on the stage. And throughout the game as you continued on winning, the stage, at least the Cloud9 side, was maybe a bit quieter. How did that affect you guys?
arztin: I think we’re just thinking about ourselves because the special thing about my team is that we don’t really care for the other team. We just focus on ourselves. So I mean it helps sometimes when you see the other team like they’re not good, they’re not feeling good. That helps and gets you up. You get a little bit more motivated but to be honest we just focus on ourselves.
There were a lot of Cloud 9 fans in the audience, disappointed with the early departure of their team. Image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesBLIX: It is reasonable to not think about the other team while you’re playing the game and if that’s something that you can do it’s very great for you. And you know you guys are gonna need that because you’re still in it but you have a long way to go through and first you have to beat the play-ins. You have a chance to play against either Leviathan, Sentinels, G2 or KRÃ in the play-ins. Which one is the biggest challenger to you in your opinion?
arztin: To be honest there are four really good teams. I would say especially Leviathan because they have Aspas and they’re just playing very well. So I think the team that would give us some more work will probably be Leviathan.
BLIX: Yeah that makes sense as they are heading into this with the momentum behind them as well. After you beat teams and play-ins you have to face other teams who have qualified to playoffs to go to Madrid. And of those teams who do you think is the most powerful challenger to you?
arztin: I think the most powerful today is Loud. They win against strong teams. So I think they’re playing really well. They changed a player and still play like they always played. So it’s always a hard team to compete against but at the same time we work a lot to be prepared for some of those matches.
The real arztin
BLIX: Yeah it’ll be very exciting to see you versus Loud if it happens because it’ll be a very exciting regional matchup as well. And how does it feel for you to play on this stage against these teams coming from Ascension?
arztin: To be honest for me it’s a dream coming true. I always dreamt to play against the best players, the best teams, in the best region. So for me I just realized that I’m really living this. I feel so happy, I feel so grateful. But at the same time I just put a little bit of pressure on myself that I cannot just enjoy the moment. I need to play, I need to perform. I need to show them who’s really arztin.
arztin and MIBR are on the road to greatness as they take down Cloud 9 to start their journey. Image by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot GamesBLIX: Seeing you on this stage and being as happy as you are, because you’ve made it, is the greatest thing to see for a fan. It’s very exciting to see these kinds of stories happen to players in the scene. Where do you think your story will take you? Where do you see yourself as you go further and further?
arztin: I see myself in a great position, like one of the top tier of duelists in America. But I know that will not be easy so I have to work more on myself. I have to get my real performance. I have to be really happy with my performance. When I achieve that performance I will be feeling good. I will be more confident. So there is a long way to go obviously but I’m just getting more confident.
BLIX: It’s great to see you ramp up to that player you want to be, you want to see yourself as. Thank you so much for being here today. Is there a final message you want to send to MIBR fans out there?
arztin: I just want to thank you guys for the support. I think we are just getting involved in the championship. So your support was really important. Thank you guys. That’s it.
BLIX: That’s a great message and good luck to you in the future matchups.
arztin: Thank you. Have a good one.
arztin and the rest of MIBR have qualified to the play-ins of VCT 2024 Americas Kickoff, from which 2 teams will leave to go to Madrid. They have a long way to go and stronger opponents every step of the way, but if they can fix the mistakes they mentioned and keep cool during the game as they did against Cloud 9, they have a real shot of getting on that plane to represent Americas at one of the biggest stages in the esports world.
