FURIA Esports has been in the shadow of CSGO’s iconic Brazilian org MiBR for years, but Yuri ‘yuurih’ Gomes believes his club “deserves” to be the country’s premier name in the esport heading into the future.
For years, CSGO had recurring Brazilian faces that would basically serve as national reps of South America. So when more homegrown projects start to scratch the surface of international appeal, they’re instantly compared to the teams led by Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, namely MiBR.
But the biggest stars from Brazil aren’t competing for the nation anymore, and that’s opened the door for new countrymen to take the spotlight.
And now, it’s FURIA’s time to shine.
“We work a lot,” Yuurih said to Dexerto as to why they deserve to be the premier Brazilian org. There was a time where FURIA was never mentioned without MiBR being brought up, but that time may finally be at an end, Yuurih suggested.
“We have been working on this,” he said of FURIA’s success. “I’m proud of my team.”
The team is facing Made in Brazil on April 13 in the BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2021. In the new era of CSGO, South America is showing up with reps in four different teams (9z Team, Team Liquid) at the Showdown.
Of those remaining, FURIA have proven themselves to be favored competition among the elite. In the Fall Showdown, FURIA took down Team Liquid, 2-1.
They would later bow out at 5-6th in the Fall Premier. But that would be at the tail end of an amazing 2020 that saw them lift trophies at three events: ESL Pro League Season 12, DreamHack Summer Open, and IEM New York.
“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Yuurih, 21, said in response to FURIA replacing MiBR as the iconic Brazilian brand. “There’s a time we beat MiBR. Of course we are the [top] Brazilian team today.. We deserve this.”
When the MiBR brand was revived in 2018. The Immortals Group brought the Brazillian name to the modern era with none other than SK Gaming’s lineup which ,at the time, consisted of FalleN, Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, Ricardo ‘boltz’ Prass, Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga, and American Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip.
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While the branding and starpower let MiBR explode to the point of donning Brazil’s famous yellow-and-green jerseys, times have changed.
The names of Yuurih, Andrei ‘arT ’ Piovezan, Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato, and Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo have been talked about more on broadcasts than any of the rising Brazillian orgs, including today’s MiBR.
Yuurih doesn’t deny their predecessors’ place in Brazil’s CSGO history. Instead, he’s looking to the next chapter of all-time greats by leading the pack in 2021.
But this time the team will be doing so with American Paytyn ‘Junior’ Johnson, and Yuurih’s looking forward to where the team can go with the new addition.
“It’s good for us, it’s the first tournament we play with Junior,” Yuurih said.
“We’re going to learn a lot of things with him in this tournament… I think this tournament will be good for us to improve.”
FURIA will look to add to their ever-growing story on Tuesday, April 13, when they go up against MiBR in the Round of 16 at the Spring Showdown 2021. Only two teams will move onto the $425,000 Spring Finals in June.
Dexerto’s Matt Porter contributed to this report.
