MIBR sit just one series shy of qualifying for the PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage, having come out on top of a two-map series against Eternal Fire on day three of the first Swiss stage. Following the team’s victory over the Turkish squad, HLTV.org spoke to BIT, who has been the head coach since he transitioning out of being a player in April.

The Brazilian veteran spoke to his integration into the roster so far and how he is helping to establish a more balanced style of play, as well as discussed some of the personalities on the team and their run in Antwerp thus far.

First of all, congratulations on the win, you’re 2-2 now, you stopped a comeback on the first map and then took it over the line on Nuke. Can you walk me through that series?

I think on the first map, it was Vertigo, we had a pretty good start, but we missed some communications that should not happen. Like there were two rounds, we know where they’re going, and we still lost the round, so it was kind of bad. They got a little momentum in the match, they had four rounds in a row, but we still made a pretty good CT side even. But yeah, T side nowadays is very hard to be honest on all the maps. We fight a little bit point by point, and we lost a lot of clutches as well.

I remember the clutch we did where we didn’t communicate where the bomb was planted and WOOD7 didn’t know, he peeked on the A site and thought he wasn’t defusing but he was, because he didn’t know where the bomb was planted. We were a bit nervous, so that’s why when we finished the first map, we talked a lot about this, to just calm down and play calm, help each other and even if you’re dead, keep helping, keep talking, where the bomb is planted, who has a kit, stuff like this, so yeah, it was kind of important for us.

You took this best-of-three 2-0, but the rest of your journey in this tournament has been tough, you’ve had some really close matches, that one where you almost came back against Outsiders at the start too. Looking back now, how has that start to the tournament affected you and the run you’ve had so far?

Yeah, i’s kind of strange because we had a pretty good seed on this tournament, I think we are the top six seed, and we are just getting very, very good teams. Like Outsiders, people talk about them, but they are strong. I’m pretty sure they are practicing and they’re playing their best, they are in the Legends Stage right now. Then we got 9z which is a team that we always play, it’s always close. They are very good right now too, they are a pretty strong team as well, and then we got Astralis.

The bracket has been very difficult for us, and now Eternal Fire, it’s a very good team as well, they have been in very good form recently and they beat a lot of good teams. Tomorrow we play Bad News Eagles which is amazing team as well, they’re hungry for the victory just like us, it’s going to be an amazing match for sure.

You’ve been the coach of this team for over a month now, how’s your integration into the roster going so far? The team has only been getting better since you joined.

I’ve been playing the last two years, I had a pretty good experience in Europe with 9z. We came to Europe a lot of times, we beat Vitality, we beat other good teams as well, we almost beat MOUZ, we beat Entropiq in a closed qualifier. Those times kind of helped me to help them now, because they had a very different style, a pretty aggressive style to be honest, and I think they needed more structure for the team. We’re trying to get the right balance right now because they are very different from 9z, but they need it, the balance between those.

We are getting better every day as we’re trying to find that balance, knowing how to play against the European teams that play very smart CS, they take all info, get all the space, and have all the situations very well thought out and stuff like this. They [MIBR] are a very good team, they are very good players, and we are getting better as a team and learning how to play like Europeans play as well, so I think we’re doing good right now.

On the topic of the players on the roster, Tuurtle and JOTA are playing extremely well for you. For people outside of Brazil, they might not know too much about those two players, so I’m just curious what they are like in-game and what you’ve noticed having played with so many talents over the years.

JOTA is an aggressive player and he’s very hyped in all the moments, just like chelo. Tuurtle is more quiet, he’s hyped as well, but not as much as chelo and JOTA. He’s calm as well which is good for the team. I think we have a good balance between exit and Tuurtle, they are very calm, and JOTA and chelo are very hype. Then we have WOOD7 who is in the middle of everything, so we have a good balance in the team.

There’s a lot of good players in Brazil, they just need a chance to play in Europe, to play with good players so they can develop as individuals and to get more experienced and stuff like this, and they’re showing it.

Have there been any struggles with just how hyped the players get sometimes, to get them back and focused for the next round?

The celebration kind of helps us, because… I would say we’re a very different team when chelo is hyped and when chelo is not hyped, so it’s kind of a part of our game, you know? People talk a lot about chelo yelling and stuff like this, being disrespectful sometimes, but that is nothing real to be honest, it’s just because that is how our team works. When he is not on this way, we know something is wrong. and then our team is not on the best form you know, so yeah, this is very good for us.

Today we are very nervous a lot of times, especially when we are close to finishing the match, and I had to use a lot of pauses not to talk about tactics or anything, but just to calm them down, to remember some stuff. Like we lost one round where… Calyx is the outside player on Nuke, and we are asking ‘who’s the outside player, who’s the outside player??’ and I just paused to say ‘guys, remember, Calyx is the outside player, if he is alive he’s going to be there.’

This means a lot for us, a lot, getting to Legends and stuff like this, so we kind of need to calm down sometimes.

It’s you and Imperial left as the two Brazilian teams who have a chance to make it to the Legends Stage, where you would join FURIA. What’re you hoping to achieve by the end of the tournament?

To be honest, the team and me we are just here playing every day and doing our best every day. Now we’re going to go back to our practice room and we’re going to talk, we’re going to watch the demos and we’re going to work hard. Just taking it day by day, no expectations, no nothing, just… tomorrow is a new day, tomorrow we can go to Legends, and then if we go to Legends we’ll just keep doing this, and we hope to go as far as we can.