Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo.

They got to ESL One Katowice in a roundabout way, after being stuck in the US after X-Games, waiting for the community to crowdfund their travels to the offline qualifiers and returning home to Brazil to find a new sponsor.

But after finally arriving at the tournament, Keyd Stars captain Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo and his team now want to end the ”NiP curse” in the group stages.

– They’re always against us, but it’s time to beat them, FalleN tells Aftonbladet Esport.

During the MLG X-Games, Brazilian squad Kabum turned some heads as they flattened home team Cloud9 on Mirage. After the tournament ended they stayed in the US and, with the community’s help, managed to crowdfund their travels to the offline qualifiers in Katowice. There, they secured a spot in the ESL One Katowice major and after bootcamping at Inferno Online for one week, Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo and his team are now ready to once more take on the very best in the CS:GO world.

– This week has been really important because we saw how the big teams are playing, so we adjusted what has been wrong for us. I think we’re better prepared now. It’s impossible to practice in the right level in brazil because we only have maybe one or two other teams that can compete with us. But when you come to Europe or North America it’s a different game so it’s better to practice there before you come to tournaments. This time with Keyd as support we’ll try to come here more often, stay in Sweden or other countries to practice so we can be on top, FalleN tells Aftonbladet Esport.

What kind of things do you feel you’ve picked up during this week?

– The thing is we have two players, Fer and Boltz, that aren’t very experienced outside of Brazil because they’re pretty young. When you play on the highest level you can’t make mistakes since you’re gonna be punished every time you make a mistake or overextend. So it’s important for them to get this experience. And we saw the big teams have their own style of playing. Fnatic play their way, EnVyUs play their way. We’re trying to figure out which style is ours because you can’t just copy everyone and hope it’s gonna work. Some things we’ve tried to copy just doesn’t work because it isn’t our style.

Do you feel you’ve improved individually, or tactically, or both?

– It’s both. Individually we’re in good shape I guess, we need to see this tomorrow. Tactical-wise we have been improving this week but when it comes to CS, it’s all together. Some strategies might not be working but you can solve it with some headshots or on the other hand the strategies can be awesome but if you don’t hit your shots it just doesn’t work so you have to be in shape. But we feel really good and are prepared to pass the group stage.

”They won’t let us face them on Mirage”

FalleN and his squad will once again face Ninjas in Pyjamas in a group stage, but this time the captain wants a different end result than the latest encounters.

– It’s pretty tough, it’s the third time we get NiP in the groups, they’re always against us. But it’s time to beat them, he says and laughs.

I guess you’ll feel pretty confident if you face them on Mirage?

– They won’t let us face them on Mirage I guess. Until we prove we’re good enough on other maps they won’t try us there. Because this is how most of the top teams think, they’re prepared for every map and want to take away your top map.

At MLG you annihilated Cloud9 on Mirage but couldn’t perform as well otherwise. Did you spend that much time just playing on that map?

– No, that’s not something that happened. We didn’t know we were that good in Mirage. That’s the problem with not having more teams to practice against, we didn’t know our Mirage was that good, we just realized that during the tournament. So we have been working this last month to put the same level of play on the other maps, so we can compete.

So basically, during MLG you disqualified yourselves from ever playing Mirage again in a tournament?

– Yeah, for a long time. Until we prove ourselves on other maps we’re not hoping to play Mirage. But we’re still trying to play it and are practicing a lot to keep it in shape.

”I think CLG should be scared of us”

If the third time isn’t the charm for Keyd against NiP, they’ll face either Hellraisers or CounterLogic Gaming in a deciding game. After scrimming against CLG during their stay in the US, FalleN feels confident if they were to face the americans.

– We’re really close to CLG, we have been practicing one week in the US and played against them almost every day. We share a lot of common ground and after the games we discussed what went wrong and helped each other. It would be fun to play against them because they know our style of play but we know them too. And I think they should be scared of us because we won a lot of games against them.

What’s your main goal during this tournament?

– Our first goal is to beat the group stage. If we do that we have a guaranteed spot in the next major which is a big deal for us. Of course we want to play the quarterfinals but the main goal is to pass the group stage. There are two opportunities: If we beat NiP it’ll be easier because we’ll be so happy and excited about it but otherwise we have to focus again and go the hard way by beating CLG or Hellraisers. It’s hard to say the odds but we can pass.

You’ve grown into a crowd favourite during the last couple of months. What’s it like to have that kind of support from the community?

– We feel awesome because we have a great community that supports us, every time we need them they’re there. It was the same during ESWC, they were there. They support us a lot, and this time because we have Keyd, all they have to do now is cheer for us so we’re really excited about that.

– Our Brazilian community is always watching European games and think they’re the best in the world and think we’re so far from them, but that’s not true. We proved that in the qualifier and we’re gonna prove it again this tournament. Just because we don’t play against them doesn’t mean we can’t beat them.