arT: We're way stronger with this lineup than ever before
In an interview with Pley, the FURIA IGL talks about the saffee transfer and surpassing prior achievements and rosters.
Looking at the world ranking through the last couple of years in CS:GO, you've always could find FURIA at the top – and at their best also within Top 3. However, here in 2022, the Brazilian panthers initiate the season on a #27 spot.
Going into this year, FURIA has brought in the 27-year-old AWPer Rafael “saffee” Costa from paiN to fight their way back to the very top of the game. A signing, the captain and in-game leader, Andrei ”arT” Piovezan touched on in an interview with us.
- saffee is definitely a more experienced and very skilled AWPer, which is what we have been looking for since HEN1 left the team two years ago. saffee is very cool and always chilling. He’s also a person who wants to learn and listen so he definitely a nice teammate to have, arT said about his new teammate and continued:
- The way FURIA play, makes it harder for a new AWPer when he joins the team. He needs to adapt to the playstyle and the pace of the game.
"Stronger than ever before"
In the latter stages of 2020, FURIA, led by the always aggressive arT and the powerful AWPer of HEN1, managed to climb all the way up to a #3 place on the world ranking after winning DreamHack Open Summer, ESL Pro League Season 12 and IEM New York.
However, arT still believes they are better suited now.
- We are way stronger with this lineup than we were ever before (…) Here in the first two months, we just need 2-3 tournaments to put the pieces together. When you get the ball rolling you need to start winning tournaments to get your confidence up – that momentum is what keeps a good team at the top.
You can watch the full interview featuring arT in the video below. In the interview, the 25-year-old IGL also touches on his personal level and why his rating has dropped significantly over the years – but also who he thinks has the best opportunity to dethrone NAVI this year.
