Team Brazil are ready to kick balls... and we ain't talkin' soccer

Did you know that Team Brazil will be represented by Brasil Gaming House at the World Cup? Oh, you don't know who Brasil Gaming House are? Alright, let me tell you their story…

It all began as based, the name originally used by the team in the first few months of Overwatch's life. The team joined 31 other teams to play the first (real) Brazilian tournament, Liga Brasileira de Overwatch Preseason. An unlucky bracket draw saw them face Keep Gaming, the #1 team at the time, in the second round. The result was an early dive down to the loser's bracket, but the team would rise to the challenge and deliver a memorable upset, taking down Keep Gaming 3-1 in the Grand Final, and getting signed by Black Dragons e-Sports along the way.

That marked the beginning of the team's sovereignty over Brazilian and South American Overwatch. Other tournaments came and went, new teams were assembled and fold, but none were capable of stopping them. Black Dragons went on to win every regional tournament. After their biggest win, the Overwatch Old Spice Tournament, they would be signed once again, but now their jerseys were black and green - Brasil Gaming House was born.

Brazil quickly became too small and the hunger for new challenges brought BGH to their first international event, the Alienware Monthly Melee March 2017, where they faced big names such as Rogue, FaZe Clan, Immortals, and eventually caused another upset, this time over the Koreans from RunAway. This was probably the first time they hadn’t finished in 1st place, but the experience would prove invaluable.

We reached out to team captain, dudu, to learn more about the last great hope of South American Overwatch:

Could you briefly introduce your team? dudu: We all came from Team Fortress 2 and we decided to start playing as a team as soon as all of us got into the closed beta stage. What is like playing competitive Overwatch in Brazil? d: It's complicated. There is still a lot of resistance from big organisations to invest in esports and this ends up hurting the local competitive scene overall. In the beginning we had a good number of tournaments and a lot of interest in Overwatch’s potential as an esport here, but nowadays we have a very limited number of teams and consequently less tournaments. What do you expect from Blizzard for the Latin American scene? d: What we most expect from Blizzard at the moment is communication with the competitive scene, as well as official championships. We are a large region and I am sure, with Blizzard support, we are capable of producing top tier teams and players to compete within Overwatch esports. How are you preparing for the group stage? d: As mentioned, the number of teams is very limited, so our practice time becomes very limited as well. We practice as much as well can, but concerning scrims it would be around four hours daily. What do you think about your group? What are your expectations? d: The expectations are high! We are very confident and we think we have good chances to move on and qualify to BlizzCon. How do you feel about travelling to the US to compete? d: It is a dream come true. During the last year we trained for an opportunity like this and finally have the chance to play in a World Cup is something very big for us. Which team are you most excited to play against? d: I think the team we are most eager to play against is Team USA, because they are the home team and certainly one of the favourites. Which teams and players do you follow the most? Who inspires your game style? d: We really like Rogue. We always follow them and their playstyle is something we admire a lot. We have studied their matches many, many times. Any final thoughts? d: I would like to thank all Brazilian fans for the support that we have received so far, and Brasil Gaming House for the great help provided to improve our gaming.

The Team Brazil World Cup roster is: