Team Liquid has confirmed the signing of the top Brazilian players in Rafael "mav" Loureiro Freitas after his departure from FaZe Clan. The move reunites mav with his former FaZe teammate João "HSnamuringa" Deam, after the latter was dropped from FaZe after the Six Invitational 2019.
After starting off as a Battlefield 4 pro in which he finished second in the 2015 ESL One event in Cologne, he and his teammates of wag, Nesk, Julio, and NinexT all moved over to the Rainbow Six scene during Year 1 of the game. In this time, this lineup won the Elite Six Season 3 Brazilian before narrowly missing out on a spot at the 2017 Six Invitational and the subsequent Season 4 Finals.
Following these results, mav opted to move with Muringa from Keyd Stars to Santos Dexterity -- the team which had beat them to the Six Invitational spot -- creating the famed core of mav, Astro, gohaN, Muringa, and cameram4n. This team met with immediate domestic success as it claimed the BR6 2017 and 2018 titles and to this date holds an 11-event streak of attending every single international "Tier-One" (Six Major, Six Invitational and Pro League) event since Season 5.
The most famous FaZe lineup. From left to right: cameram4n, Astro, mav, Muringa and gohaN. (Photo: Gui Caielli)
This success led them to quickly be picked up by the FaZe Clan organization, however, they couldn't leverage this into an international title. Two third-place finishes in Seasons 5 and 6 became joint-fifth places in both the 2018 Six Invitational and the Season 7 Finals -- an event which mav's old teammate of Nesk won on Team Liquid. This meant that despite becoming the 2018 Brazilian champions, a group stage exit at the Paris Major against Team Secret led to the team's first roster change.
Yoona joined to replace gohaN in September 2018, followed by Muringa exiting for ion in March 2019, cameram4n for Live in March 2020 and, most recently, mav leaving following the second disappointing result in a row for the FaZe lineup -- two fourth-place finishes in Stage 1 2020 and Season 11.
Now, while just Astro remains from the initial FaZe Clan lineup, mav and muringa have reunited on Liquid after 18 months apart:
From red to blue, an old rival now carries the colors of Cavalry on his chest Blue circle⚪ Adding to our technical team, we welcome him: @mavfps
Despite FaZe's consistent appearances at international events, the Team Liquid lineup is by far the most successful team in the Latin American region with them winning both the Season 7 Pro League Finals and the OGA Pit Minor making them the only team from the region to win an international title. As well as this, the team has also attended the Season 4 and 5 Finals -- finishing second and third -- as well as the last three Six Invitational events and the Paris Major -- peaking with a quarter-final exit at the 2019 SI tournament.
Liquid with their OGA Pit Minor trophy
Most recently, however, the team has struggled in domestic tournaments, finishing the LATAM Major in third place behind FaZe and NiP and was unable to re-qualify for a Pro League Finals since their Season 7 victory. Now, the team has chosen to bring one of the most experienced players in the region to the lineup as a coach and substitute to help them as we approach stage two, the November Major and the 2021 Six Invitational.
As well as being an ex-teammates with muringa, mav has also worked with both Silence and Nesk before. Silence worked as the coach of FaZe at the Season 6 Finals and 2018 Six Invitational and mav previously won the Elite Six Season 3 national tournament alongside Nesk in Year 1 who he also played with at the 2015 ESL One Cologne Battlefield event previously mentioned:
André "nesk" Oliveira Thiago "xS3xyCake" Reis Paulo "psk1" Augusto Luccas "Paluh" Molina João "HSnamuringa" Deam Adenauer "Silence" Alvarenga (coach) André "Sensi" Kaneyasu (coach) Rafael "mav" Loureiro Freitas (coach)
