Players from the Sharks want to follow the progress of Brazilian teams in the international arena.
Sharks Esports is heading towards another edition of the ESL Pro League (EPL) and the team captain, Rodrigo "drg" Ausenka, spoke about the team's expectations for this circuit. The Portuguese organization joins the international competition after winning the tournament's South American Qualifier. Along the way there were teams like paiN, MIBR, 9z, and Legacy, but in the end, it was Sharks who took one of the two places. Imperial took the other spot.
For this edition of the EPL, the Sharks arrive with young talents and new addition Mateus "supLexN1" Miranda. The 24-year-old player returns to the team four years later to replace Victor "gafolo" Andrade.
"Removing gafolo was something that we were looking [to do] some time ago. It was a personal issue. We didn't have much of a choice there. SupLex is a player that we were looking for in tournaments and [he was] playing against us. He was always good. From [his time] with us, we [can tell] that he's a very competent player," drg said.
Drg and the growth of the Brazilian teams
The growth of Brazilian teams compared to previous years is notable. In the Major, paiN and Imperial stood out while MIBR returned to form in Brazil after missing the Major. We asked drg whether the pressure associated with this growth of teams in the same region is negative or positive, and how it manifests in the EPL.
EPL Season 19 for the Sharks
EPL Season 19 starts with a complicated clash for the Sharks. For the team captain, drg, the Sharks will take it match by match.
"Our advantage is that we are unknown [to] some teams. We'll go match by match. We took a month to practice in Portugal and gave our best to grow and learn because the practices in Europe are very good. In Brazil, we played a lot of tournaments because we needed competitive rhythm."
N1ssim's case
One of the key figures behind paiN's success at the Major, Vinicius 'n1ssim' Pareira, has returned to the Sharks after his loan stint with paiN. The organization was interested in buying n1ssim permanently, but public controversies arose between the two organizations regarding values. Meanwhile, n1ssim is on the bench waiting for the resolution of this case. For drg, this issue is unrelated to the players.
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