The offseason leading up to the start of VCT 2022 was an exciting one for Brazil. Many players from top teams were exploring their options, and there were talks of multiple high-profile organizations such as LOUD LOUD Brazil Rank #1 dgzin Douglas Silva v1nny Vínicius Gonçalves pANcada Bryan Luna tuyz Arthur Andrade cauanzin Cauan Pereira , Ninjas In Pyjamas Ninjas In Pyjamas Inactive , and MIBR MIBR Brazil Rank #4 artzin Arthur Araujo xenom Eduardo Soeiro cortezia Gabriel Cortez nzr Agustin Ibarra aspas Erick Santos looking to enter the Brazilian region to conquer it.

FURIA FURIA Brazil Rank #6 heat Olavo Marcelo raafa Rafael Lima mwzera Leonardo Serrati havoc Ilan Eloy Khalil Khalil Schmidt was also swept up in the flurry of roster shuffles. They lost their in-game leader and star duelist, Alexandre "xand" Zizi, to NIP and had one of their former CS:GO players, Rinaldo "ableJ" Moda, join the roster in his stead.

Even amidst the evolving competitive landscape that manifested in Stage 1 of 2022 VCT, there was one constant that would showcase itself in the Brazilian region – FURIA placing top four in Challengers Playoffs.

A year of top four finishes and being just within reach of qualifying to international Masters events had defined FURIA's 2021 VCT journey, and FURIA's fourth place result in Stage 1 Challengers Playoffs was keeping this trend alive.

This top four placement curse was soon broken in Stage 2, but unfortunately not in the way the team or their fans would have liked. FURIA breezed through the group stage and into Challengers Playoffs as they had done without fail in past VCT Stages. This time, however, they would be disappointed with a 0-2 record in the playoffs bracket for a top six placement, their lowest regional standing yet.

Although qualification to a Masters LAN event always seems out of reach for FURIA, their consistently decent results in Stage 1 and 2 garnered them enough circuit points to guarantee a spot in the South America Last Chance Qualifier to fight for a slot at Champions.

Just as it was for them last year, LCQ gave FURIA one last shot at attending an international LAN, and the most prestigious one in the VCT circuit at that.

With their Champions dream still alive, FURIA went ahead with another roster change for the year. This time, they acquired a player whom they were reportedly interested in at the beginning of 2022. ableJ was benched and star duelist Douglas "dgzin" Silva who last played on Gamelanders Blue Gamelanders Blue Inactive joined the FURIA roster on their South America LCQ journey.

dgzin's addition to the team meant that, including Gabriel "Quick" Lima and Matheus "mazin" Araújo, FURIA now had three duelist players on their roster. A question arose as to how roles in the team would be swapped around to accommodate the trio.

According to coach Carlos "Carlao" Mohn, dgzin's duelist-centric playmaking and how he fits into FURIA's own overall play style was well-accounted for when deciding to bring him into the roster.

“He plays without fear,” Carlao said. “He is an aggressive player, so he is searching for gaps all the time. We organized [our team in] a way in which we can continue with our playstyle [while fitting dgzin in naturally]. We studied him [before making] the decision to put him on the team.”

Additional firepower was not the only positive contribution to the squad by its newest member. “dgzin brings calm and tranquility to the server. He has calm comms, and [this] was a thing that the team needed,” Carlao said.

With less than a month to practice for LCQ alongside their new teammate, the team approached preparations one day at a time without focusing on any specific results for the tournament.

“We were getting better each day until the LCQ,” Carlao said. “Since we had three weeks of preparation, [our main focus was] just to get better everyday as a team.”

This approach apparently paid off for the Brazilian squad. FURIA crushed LATAM teams FUSION FUSION Latin America North Rank #17 Dobsha Juan-Diego Llobregat Xhowi Luis Enmanuel Corcino Garcia prask Mike Cortbani MiniNiwde Lenin Mateo and 9z Team 9z Team Latin America South Rank #4 Tacolilla Vicente Compagnon suther Tomás Zurita delz1k Joaquin Espinoza NagZ Juan Pablo Lopez Mikey Tap Luciano Pensa in the upper quarterfinals and upper semifinals on the way to facing their biggest obstacle of the LCQ: KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #2 keznit Angelo Mori Mazino Roberto Rivas adverso Benjamín Poblete Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro . This was the team that eliminated FURIA in last year's Champions and one that is notorious for their undefeated record against Brazilian teams.

KRÜ's record remains untouched as FURIA lost to the LATAM powerhouse for a second time. Nevertheless, they were able to secure the second LCQ slot for Champions without much of a challenge in a 3-0 victory over a more familiar opponent in TBK Esports TBK Esports Brazil Rank #24 vit9ine Champzera Joaquim Alves Myssen Rodrigo Myssen Kring ind1n .

That win made FURIA the only team to participate in both Champions tournaments by qualifying through LCQs without having attended any international Masters events.

FURIA pose for Champions Features Day Champions 2022 marks FURIA's second international LAN appearance (Photo by Lance Skundrich/Riot Games)

FURIA showed great potential during their first international appearance at last year's Champions, having played two very close games against KRÜ and Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid . But close unfortunately wasn't enough, as they were eliminated during the group stage.

The team is once again confronted by a tough group stage from the get-go. They will have to fight their way through the likes of DRX DRX Korea Rank #4 Flashback Cho Min-hyuk (조민혁) MaKo Kim Myeong-gwan (김명관) free1ng No Ha-jun (노하준) HYUNMIN Song Hyun-min (송현민) BeYN Kang Ha-bin (강하빈) , FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #5 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder and 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #7 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk for playoff contention. Playing against new opponents from regions they haven't encountered before, particularly Korea and EMEA, may pose a challenge of its own.

In the past two years, any international matchups FURIA faced in South America LCQs and Champions 2021 have only been against LATAM teams and one North American team. Now, they must learn to adapt to three vastly different playstyles from teams and regions they are less familiar with. Their ability to do so will likely play a considerable role in how competitive they will be within their group.

While the Brazilian roster may be less acquainted with international competition than most teams at the event, their last appearance on the big stage was not without merit. Even with only a couple of games played at Champions last year, Carlao affirmed that this exposure has helped the team in preparation for their upcoming Champions appearance.

“Without a doubt, we are a more mature team [than we were in Champions 2021]. We are a more experienced team in every way possible. With the experience from last year, we now know the way to evolve faster.”

So far, FURIA's VCT journey has been panning out in a similar fashion to last year. Missing out on Masters LAN events and fighting through LCQ to Champions: they did it the year before and they have done it again. With more experience under their belt, now is the chance for the team to rewrite a different ending to their story – by making it out of the group stage and going on a deeper run in Champions.

To Carlao, though, this is not something to worry over.

“I think that we don't have the pressure to play. We are a team that takes this weight off and plays the game we practiced for. The expectation [for Champions] is more than results. It is to get better everyday and start off Champions as the best FURIA we can be.”

Time and time again, teams that play without heavy expectations on their shoulders have proven to be some of the scariest ones to play against. And perhaps, this is exactly the mindset needed for FURIA to bring some underdog magic to Istanbul.