Luminosity Gaming won the biggest Counter-Strike tournament ever at MLG Columbus, so expectations where high for the Brazilian team coming into DreamHack Masters Malmö. As it turned out, the team fell entirely short of those expectations as the Chinese team eliminated them from the tournament during the group stage with a 2-1 defeat.
But the team was in a great mood when we caught team captain Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo after a fan meet'n'greet during the quarterfinals stage at Malmö. We obviously asked about the surprise loss, but we also wanted to hear about FalleN's work with other Brazilian Counter-Strike teams. Among others, he's been working closely with Tempo Storm, notably coaching them during IEM Katowice while also playing with his own team.
"I've been working hard to keep CS alive in Brazil since we were playing 1.6," FalleN says. "It feels amazing to have the support from my community, they love what I do and I love the support they show me."
"It feels great for me to able now to speak properly, and I'm trying to fight to have more opportunities for them because I know a lot of Brazilian players would love to be here competing, and sometimes they don't have the chance. We had to move, go to the US and play in another country, and that's not something everyone can do."