(Banner image: Ubisoft/Kirill B.)
From falling against Team Empire in the Lower Bracket Round 2 of the SI 2021, to beating the Russians in a thrilling five-map Grand Final in Mexico, Team oNe’s year has been one full of emotions, and most importantly, success.
Since Arthur “TchubZ” Martins put together all the pieces back in March 2021, the roster has delivered very strong performances. Despite the players being inexperienced and the roster young, it felt like the team was ready to take any fight against any team. Many would say it was just a matter of time until the roster would outshine the Brazilian veterans in the region. However, hardly anyone could anticipate what was about to happen in Mexico.
Following three losses against BDS Esport, Susquehanna Soniqs and CYCLOPS athlete gaming, the Brazilians had to pull off a miracle in order to stay in the competition. But that is exactly what happened, as two victories over BDS Esport and the Soniqs were followed by a 7-2 win over CAG, which forced the first and so far the only tie breaker game in a ‘Siege’ major competition. After defeating the Japanese squad for a second time, Team oNe advanced to the quarter-finals, and the rest is history.
“We didn’t believe in winning the Major after losing the first three matches, but we knew we had a chance to make it to the playoffs,” revealed Karl “Alem4o” Zarth in an interview with SiegeGG.
Just like that, the future of Brazil became the present as they wrote the second chapter of the current Brasil dynasty in ‘Siege’. With Ninjas in Pyjamas being the main character in the first, Team oNe led the charge in the second. The region looks now ready to write a third, with the Brazilians decided to be the protagonists once again.
“In my mind it is very clear that Brazil will win again, we are practicing with all the good teams in Brazil and the level is so much higher than EU or NA, I think maybe just BDS has a chance of beating Brazilian teams in BO3 games,” said Alem4o.
When looking at oNe’s Stage 3 results, we must read between the lines. The team had a slow start as they won in overtime against W7M Gaming, while they lost 3-7 to FURIA Esports. Despite these looking as poor efforts from the golden squad, Lorenzo “Lagonis” Gomes said in a previous interview with SiegeGG that “after the Major, we stayed one or two weekends without playing Siege [as a] team,” which gives some context to oNe’s sloppy start to the third stage.
Team oNe's stats after a flawless victory over NiP in the second week of the BR6 Stage 3.
With the beginning of Stage 3, Consulate dropped off from the ‘Siege’ map-pool, with Bank joining in its place. That undeniably has had a huge impact in Team oNe’s map-pool, as Consulate was one of their most played maps, with 12 appearances throughout 2021. Back then, that was oNe’s second most played map alongside Coastline and Chalet, with Oregon being the most used with 21 appearances.
“Bank is a terrible map, it has changed our map pool and it even helps FaZe Clan because they didn’t play Consulate, while they were good at Bank. Brazil is the best region in Bank, I think the other regions will pay attention to it. But I hate Bank, the attack is too powerful in that map,” said Alem4o.
Nevertheless, Team oNe have produced some strong displays during the third split, such as their flawless victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas in Week 2 of the BR6, a 7-2 victory over FaZe Clan in the Copa Elite Six Stage 3 or their 2-0 victory over NiP in the CES Stage 3 semi-finals.
“I feel like the community thinks that FaZe Clan is the best team just because they won the Copa Elite Six, but we don’t give a damn,” said Alem4o.
In fact, despite not having won any tournament in their home region, oNe is alongside NiP the only two LATAM rosters to have finished among the best four teams in every split played this year. That speaks wonders of oNe’s consistency.
However, the fact that oNe is yet to win a regional tournament does not affect the team. In fact, Alem4o admitted that the Grand Final against FaZe Clan was “a boring game” as for oNe the “Copa Elite Six is just a mere qualifier, so when we won our group we already accomplished our goal”.
“I wanted to win against NIP in the semi-finals because Fntzy was trash talking and saying that we could not get to the finals, so I wanted to win just to trash talk to Fntzy on Twitter. But against FaZe Clan, we did not have any motivation, it was a boring match,” said Alem4o.
A key to understanding Team oNe’s playstyle is their synergy. The Brazilian roster is known for its players relationship outside the server, with Alem4o admitting that “(the synergy) helps a lot especially in our playstyle”.
That is exactly what they will need in order to survive in their Sweden Major group. Looking at their rivals, we find some interesting storylines. Team oNe’s first international win ever came against Cloud9, currently known as SANDBOX. The Koreans will be oNe’s first opponents in Sweden.
“SANDBOX is not better than CAG, (CAG) they are a very scary team because of their play style, so I think it will be a lot easier, but we must pay attention to them so we don’t lose points,” said Alem4o.
While this will be the first time they face Team Vitality, oNe’s last opponent has a pending account with DarkZero Esports. After defeating them at SI 2021 by a 7-2 scoreline, the North American side were hungry for redemption. However, two positive COVID-19 tests before their quarter-final match against the Brazilian roster limited their options, as DZ fell by 2-0 after winning just six rounds throughout the whole series.
Regarding Alem4o’s lucky charms being present at the Sweden Major, he admitted that “no mustache this time as it gave us bad luck”, but he was keen on the pink shorts: “I will definitely wear them!” concluded the Brazilian.