Following the announcement of FireGamers as the new CompLexity Counter-Strike team, coL.br, we sat down with coL.br’s captain, Renato “nak” Nakano to allow him to introduce himself and the team.
Who are you? What experience do you have with Counter-Strike? What are your accomplishments?
Hello everybody! My name is Renato Nakano, also know as “nak.” I am the current captain of coL.br. I’ve been playing professional CS since 2004, when I started on g3x, playing in my first CPL Winter in Dallas, TX. From that time until now I have already competed in twenty different countries representing Brazil’s top teams, including g3x, mibr and Rio Sinistro (CGS). I’ve won some well-known tournaments like ESWC, shgOpen, WCG-PanAmerican (3 times) and a reasonable number of Brazilian tourneys (5 WCG, 3 ESWC, 1 CPL, 2 Brasil Cup, etc).
What does it mean for the team to be a part of such a prestigious organization as CompLexity Gaming?
We feel very honored to wear compLexity’s jersey and want to say thanks for the opportunity of being in such an amazing organization. We will surely practice hard and dedicate 100% of ourselves, as to not disappoint the coL fans, sponsors, crew and the history they have behind that name. Of course, the results cant always come as we expect, but with support we can reach some our goals and the results will show up in due time. With this partnership, we finally have the ability to put together talented players and tremendous support.
Last month, you defeated EG at the WCG Pan-American Finals. What was that experience like?
We’ve defeated them in the past at events such as WCG-PanAmerican 2006 and ESL Stop Los Angeles, but this time was special. They were placing very well in many of the tournaments they were playing in while we were here practicing. They came in as the favorites, while we were the underdogs.
What is the Brazilian CS scene like? Are there a lot of teams? Are you able to play against teams from any other countries?
The Brazilian CS scene has changed a lot since the golden times when teams like g3x, GC, MiBR were fighting for the top prize. After g3x and GC folded we had a “long” period of MiBR winning it all. But in last year when this roster joined FireGamers and got a victory against MiBR in WCG 2009, things changed. MiBR have been without a team for months and CnB-Gaming has been formed. We won all the qualifiers we played in Brazil since WCG 2009. Like the US scene, we have 3 good teams fighting in the top (compLexity, CnB-Gaming, MiBR) and some other good teams like semXorah, GamerHouse, GoldenGlory etc.
Brazil is a huge place and there are situations when we play where our pings are greater than if we played a team from Europe. Sometimes, however, we can play against Wild.I, the top team in Argentina.
What leagues do you participate in online?
None. Unfortunately Brazil has no online leagues with constant matches like the US and European scenes do. Believe me, it would be outstanding training if there were.
What events are coming up for coL.br?
We are attending the WCG Grand Finals in Los Angeles, California and IEM New York (if we win our playoff match vs the Peruvian team) for now.
Any shout-outs you’d like to make?
I would like to say thanks to everybody who cheers for us and believes in our team. We wont disappoint you. Thanks to Jason Lake, Jason Bass and Alex Conroy of course (have to be nice with the bosses). I’d also like to greatly thank XFX, Creative, QPAD, G8 Brand and Sound Blaster, as without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we love. CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME!