With the Intel Extreme Masters 5 World Championship only a few days away, Renato “nak” Nakano conducted an interview with HLTV.org. The interview discusses the teams preparation for the event as well as what Nak predicts the outcome to be.
Below is an excerpt from the interview:
Who do you think that are the main favourites for the IEM trophy?
The favourites are the same as always, Na´Vi, fnatic, SK, mTw and FX. But in my opinion, the teams are absurdly even. Being favourite does not win matches. I have no idea who will come out with the title. There will be 12 teams with great chances of getting the crown, some with the help of a good day or luck, but all with great chances.
At WCG, you finished in fourth place. Do you think you will fare better this time around?
That is our goal. We have been growing, at ESWC we finished in 5th-8th place, at WCG we got a top4 finish and we won the IEM5 American Championship. The results have always been improving. We believe that a top3 finish is possible or a place in the final, who knows?
HLTV.org also provided an excellent preview of coL @ IEM5. An excerpt from that can be found below:
Brazilian Counter-Strike has a great place in history, it has always been mingling with the very best in the field, but very few titles have actually been brought back to South America. Looking in the history books, we have to go back to 2006 to find the first and sort of the only major win for Brazil. At ESWC 2006 in Paris, a team experienced players and young talents went to the very top, as Made in Brazil downed fnatic to win the event.
A year later in Copenhagen, Made in Brazil won shgOpen 2007 with a victory against PGS. The same year, DreamHack Winter was conquered with a win against SK Gaming in the final. In the Summer of 2008, the Brazilians once again won an event, winning GameGune 2008 with a win against mousesports in the Grand Final. But this sums up the tournament victories for Brazilian CS. A good three years brought Brazil 3 titles, but what happened afterwards?
To view the entire interview, click here.
To view the entire IEM5 Preview, click here.