Banner Image: Furious Gaming
Despite Malvinas Gaming and 9z Team calling the shots for the entire year, it was Furious Gaming who arose as the South American champion.
This team has been in the shadows for the whole season. Furious could be rated as the best-of-the-rest, always being extremely close to qualifying for Copa Elite Six — but that qualification ultimately always slipped through their fingers. While the big names were playing against Brazil, Furious was keeping its nose to the grindstone.
Mariano "Yekko" Sánchez spoke about his team's progress throughout the year, expressing his thoughts on the format currently used in LATAM: "We didn't like the format from the very beginning, especially because we were the most affected team by it, I feel like it is a very demotivating format for some teams because there were some that were fighting for absolutely nothing. In our case, even after finishing at the top of the Stage 3 standings, we couldn't finish among the best two. I hope they change it."
Furious Gaming's players at the South American Finals (Photo: Furious Gaming)
Furious Gaming would eventually make that step forward, but it was too late. The Argentinians would top the Stage 3 standings, but with LATAM having a combined score system, their efforts were in vain — Malvinas and 9z Team would represent the South American region for the third time.
According to Yekko: "Malvinas Gaming and 9z Team play a more Brazilian style, aggressive, while we play more intelligent, two different ways to play but there's no difference between us three."
However, things were about to change. Following their victory at the Copa del Sur Stage 3, the roster would upset the two big names in the region by winning the South American Finals. Later on, the Argentinians would win over 9z Team at the SA SI 2022 Open Qualifiers Grand Final by 2-1.
Furious Gaming will finally have its debut outside the SA region, fighting for a Six Invitational 2022 spot.
Things are looking up for Furious Gaming
To understand the team’s improvement, we must have a look at the involved players. Although he is not working anymore with the team, the signing of the Brazilian coach and analyst Lucca “LGS” Santucci back in Stage 2 was pivotal in its progression. South American teams are known for giving young, talented but inexperienced Brazilian coaches and analysts the chance to work with them, so they can learn the basics — and more — of how the best region sees the game.
Said Yekko: "When people from abroad come you learn new things. We felt like he brought many things to the squad. He did so while he was with us, but at some point, we felt like he wasn't needed anymore."
The Brazilian coach was also pivotal in the team getting scrims with Brazilian rosters. According to Yekko: "when Lucca came, we started to train with Brazilian T1 teams such as FaZe Clan, FURIA or Team oNe."
Not only that but it also made sense for Brazilians to scrim against Furious Gaming, as it was the best opponent to prepare for Malvinas and 9z before the Copa Elite Six tournaments.
So far, this strategy has worked well for everyone. Another example is 9z Team’s previous analyst, Cesar “Dark” Adriano, who would leave the purple squad to sign for the eventual CES Stage 3 and Sweden Major champions, FaZe Clan.
The squad has also been at the top of the players’ standings, with similar ratings to the ones held by both Malvinas and 9z Team. The roster has two of the best fraggers in the region in Valentin “WeTz” Lima and Jorge “Shoxo” Figueroa.
Furious Gaming was crowned as the South American champion after defeating Newstar (Image: R6 esports LATAM)
"We only stopped training for one week, after the South American finals. We were training the following week," he admitted.
The squad's objective is to upset their neighbors and arise as Brazil's main threat. This time, the region will be facing two mid-table teams in MIBR and Black Dragons. However, these two are well-known rosters in the region, and Furious Gaming is aware of the dangers they represent. Even though, the team is hopeful.
"We know that Brazil is a very complicated opponent, they are the best region in the world. We have the chance to see what happens against mid-table teams, I feel like we and the rest of the teams can give them a fight," Yekko said.
The Argentinian sounded confident when talking of the Brazilian teams, to say the least. With Furious Gaming having scrimmed against them for the whole year, Yekko expects his team to have a fair shot against their neighbors. Nevertheless, in order to qualify for the SI 2022, the team will have to win a BO3 match, which will be followed by a BO5.
"It depends on the map, we play aggressive in some maps, intelligent in some others, we always prioritize playing intelligent, but I feel like the Brazilian style won't be an issue because we always play against them, we are already used to it," he concluded.
Furious Gaming's competition will begin on Jan. 15, as the South American champion has been drawn in a group stage alongside Atheris Esports, Black Dragons, and Malvinas Gaming. If they survive the group stage, the team will face MIBR or Fenix Esports in the semifinals.