Adenauer "Silence" Alvarenga has been playing professional R6 since Year 1 when he and his teammates, One, Yuuk, and D1OGO1, were crowned as Brazil's very first national champions after winning Season 1 of the Elite Six tournament. Following this, he made his first international appearance on Santos Dexterity (later known as FaZe Clan) at the 2017 Six Invitational, falling in a close three-map contest against the eventual champions, Continuum.
With the LATAM region inducted to the Pro League in Year 2, he played on Santos Dexterity and then INTZ e-Sports before finally rejoining FaZe Clan (then known as Team FONTT) as a coach, working the 2018 Six Invitational for free after FaZe Clan had bought out the FONTT roster except for Silence. Unfortunately, FaZe fell in the quarter-finals, prompting Silence to move to a paying position with Team Liquid ahead of the Season 7 Finals. Here, he helped the team win Latin America's first ever international event after beating Fnatic, Millennium, and PENTA Sports (now known as G2 Esports) to win the Pro League title.
Team Liquid after winning Pro League Season 7 (via: ESL)
Since then, Liquid has finished the 2019 Six Invitational and DreamHack Winter Minor in joint-fifth, the Allied Minor in third, DreamHack Montreal in second. Most recently, though, Team Liquid secured LATAM's second-ever title last weekend at the OGA Pit Minor in Croatia (which you can read about here).
Team Liquid with their OGA Pit Minor trophy. From Left: psk1, Muringa, Nesk, xSexyCake, Silence, Paluh and Sensi.
We, therefore, spoke to Silence about the tournament and what comes next for the reigning Brazilian champions of Liquid:
Firstly, how are you feeling following your victory at the OGA Minor and how has Liquid been celebrating?
We are all very happy with what we achived in Croatia, the whole team worked so hard to hit that level and here is the result. The best way to celebrate is with our families, for sure!
During the winners-final against MIBR, both LATAM teams played much less aggressively compared to previous maps. Was that planned by you guys and if so, why?
This is because we know each other, so we tried to change our play style to try to counter them. And it worked pretty well.
Which players outside of Team Liquid do you think stood out to you at the event?
I think Hyena and Fultz, both players did very well in the tournament. Also, Pengu, he pulled off some amazing plays to save his team in some rounds.
How helpful was OGA having dedicated practice rooms for each team, a closed event and your hotel rooms so nearby?
It had the perfect format for events, for me. We had it in Atlantic City before in the Pro League, where you can go to your room, take a shower, or rest a little bit before the matches. The training room was also very good, big, and comfortable for everybody.
Liquid chose to ban Thatcher in over half your maps at this event, how well do you think this benefitted you?
We did an extensive study and found that the teams outside of Brazil love to play with Thatcher, and we are already used to not playing with him, so it worked for us well.
Team Liquid during the grand-final of the OGA Pit Minor
Since S8, LATAM has struggled at LAN events despite having the all-LAN BR6 league to practice. Why do you think this is and do you think this will continue for other teams at the Six Invitational?
I don't think so, but the biggest problem with the Brazilian teams are their mindsets. If we fix that, we are good.
Out of all the roster changes we've seen worldwide over the last month which one do you think has been the best?
Maybe DarkZero, but on my point of view, I don't like roster changes.
The new DarkZero roster. From left to right: Skys, Hotancold, Mint Hyper and Eclypse
How will Team Liquid be spending the next month before the Pro League restarts?
First of all, we have gone almost one year without vacations, so we are going to to see our families and after that, we will return to the scrims.
Finally, do you have anything to say to your fans?
What I want to say it THANK YOU ALL! All the support that we received at OGA and other tournaments was awesome! Love you all.
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With Liquid already qualified for the 2020 Six Invitational, their next game won't be until the Pro League kicks off in the second full week of January. Keep an eye out here at SiegeGG for more interviews and updates throughout Season 11.