In the wake of MiBr's recent replacement of Arthur 'prd' Resende with their ex-captain, and at the time of his departure current captain of FireGamers, Bruno 'bit' Lima HLTV.org has interviewed FireGamers rifleman Renato 'nak' Nakano about that change and the effect it threatens to have on the future of both teams. nak in no uncertain terms makes it clear he considered FireGamers, with bit1, to be the better team and puts MiBr's victory at Kode5 Brazil down to the bigger team's ability to bootcamp abroad.

Regarding the state of MiBr, with whom he won ESWC in 2006, nak told HLTV.org:



The Brazilian also suggested it is likely that the ousted Arthur 'prd' Resende will become the new fifth man for FireGamers, essentially making this a straight player swap. That is significant though as bit1 has been well known as the key anchor man in Brazilian CS, in terms of tactical understanding, for the past two years at least. This move also takes a little of the air out of FireGamers' seemingly driven focus to defeat MiBr at all costs.

MiBr has always been the undisputed top dog of Brazilian CS in as much as their sponsorship situation, which far exceeds that of any other team, has enabled them to cherry pick any player or roster to represent themselves. As a result any significant losses at qualifiers and the like could quickly be corrected, and in a manner which crippled their rivals. What's significant about the recent era of FireGamers players is that nearly all of them were both ex-MiBr players and players who had contributed greatly to MiBr's successes over the past 3 years.

In fact when in-team tensions arose between cogu and other players, according to bit1, the other players had wanted to implement a lineup which would have been essentially what FireGamers then became a few months later. Despite FireGamers still retaining the best five man team on paper one has to wonder how they will manage to overcome MiBr at future Brazilian events without their leader since they did not succeed with him, to this point. Plus as FireGamers is weakened it grows ever more likely another of their players may feel the temptation to accept an offer into MiBr and the improved practice conditions therein.

Source: HLTV.org