“I have no idea yet,” MIBR Txozin on if he’ll be a player or coach after LCQ

The VCT Americas Last Chance Qualifier kicked off with an elimination bout between KRÜ Esports and MIBR. With the worst records in the league to end the regular season, they were matched against each other with everything on the line. And hopefully for MIBR, André "Txozin" Saidel would be the difference maker.

He stepped up in a huge way for MIBR in the final matches of the regular season, but fell short against a team that went without a win all season long. Txozin knows he wasn't on top of his game in his only LCQ appearance, but he was gracious enough to speak with us about the match and what his future holds in VALORANT after his elimination.

"At the beginning of the regular season, MIBR got some big wins and things looked promising. We then heard a lot about disagreements within the team leading to heat stepping down. And that's when you came in. So, how did your addition to the starting roster calm those disagreements?"

Txozin: "We had not too much disagreement, but we always try to find the most consistent way to play the game. So sometimes heat had a vision, I had a vision, bzkA had another, murizzz had one. We have a lot of visions and a lot of thinking of how is the best way to play the game. We try to spend a lot of time talking about the game, review our own VODs to understand what's the best decision in every single play.

"So, heat had a different vision. Sometimes I had a different vision and that's normal. That's not why he left. And then, I kind of was the middle, bzkA had his own way, heat had his own way. I was kind in the middle, murizzz as well had a different vision on the game.

"We always, as staff, we try to find the best way to play after seeing everybody's opinion. Like murizzz is going to give his opinion, bzkA's going to give another opinion, I'm going to give another opinion, heat is going to give an opinion, frz, and that goes on. And then we try to take every single feedback and find the best way to play the game. So, that's part of my job, back in that time,"

"From being a coach on the team to a pivotal player in the final matches, I'd like to ask, what positives are there to having the knowledge and skills of a coach while you're in the server?"

Txozin: "I like being staff, to be honest, because when we are in the game, there is so many micro decisions. So much stuff going on, that is not easy to apply the knowledge that you have. So, when I'm looking from the outside, I can see everybody's mistake. I can see every single play that they made, but they already made the play and I'm just watching. So, for me, it's a lot easier than for the per person that is doing everything.

"It's not easy to have more knowledge and put it into the gameplay. But when I'm playing, I try to look at the map, look at the position of the team, and try to figure out what is the best to do at the moment. Since I'm playing KJ or Viper, I can use my own character, my own body let's say, to take some space freely. Just the info I have in the game, that's the best thing that I can do with it. Maybe that's why I can play better as a Sentinel instead, because if I play Initiator or Duelist, I couldn't have that vision."

"And on the contrary to that, are there any negative aspects you've found coming from that coaching spot into a starting player, maybe something you had to unlearn?"

Txozin: "To be honest, yes, because sometimes when we are the staff, like I said, we are always try to find the best system to play the game. So, if you see a 4v3, you don't want to do anything. You just want to stay alive, get with the team, and do everything by the book, you know?

"But sometimes when you're in the match, there's the mindset you have in the game, feeling the game as it changes a lot. Sometimes you're not doing the best thing, but you're doing something that you're going to get the feeling of the game. I think that's the most important thing. Sometimes you are doing the wrong stuff, but the wrong stuff in the end, that's going to be worth it.."

"So, the community opinion is definitely that the knife kill against 100 Thieves is your defining moment with MIBR this season. Would you agree or is there another moment you would personally put above that?"

Txozin: "I think if I was going to choose one moment for sure, it's going to be that. Even now, I don't know what I was thinking. I just did it. It was not the best decision. I still had like 10 bullets in the Spectre. I had my pistol. I had everything and I pull out the knife. I have no idea why.

"But one moment, if I was going to choose, is that, but for me, one thing that gave me a lot of confidence was the third round of Lotus that I won the 1v2 against 100 Thieves. I strafed the guy and then I pre-fire and killed the other as well. So, that clutch, I was doubting myself, if I was going to be able to perform in such a high level. But after that clutch, the 1v2, I said to myself, 'Okay, I'm back in the game. I can do it.'

"So, I'm sad that today was not my best day, not even close. I think I was having a really good practice, and really good ranked matches, but today I could not show my own gameplay. I just could not. I have no idea why. I need to rewatch it, but I think that moment and the knife kill, the knife kill was like, how can I say? The strawberry, like the top of the cake, you know, the final piece."

"Well unfortunately, the loss against KRÜ prevented you from having a lower bracket opportunity here at the Last Chance Qualifier. Some would say a team that went winless in the regular season would be a much scarier opponent in a tournament such as this. Did you feel like they were playing on a different level than we saw all season long, or were a lot of their losses just unlucky?"

Txozin: "I think it's kind of both. Not too unlucky to me, they have a lot of struggle to end the match, since the regular season. They start really well or they come back and when it gets to the point to close the match, they can't. They lose some rounds. And you can see even the game today, they struggled to end against us. We almost came back on both maps.

"We had at least a few minutes of people thinking, wait, wait, wait, they have a chance, because we are getting closer. I think they need to work with that. Go to the VODs and watch their game. They have so much aim. Keznit's really good. Klaus today was popping off. They have really good players and the regular season without any win is not what that team deserves.

"They are a lot better than that. So, even when we are preparing for the match, we always knew that. We always knew that they are really good team and we did look at the fact they lost every single match, thinking it's going to be easy. No, never. Because we know who they are. We already played a lot of scrims against them back in Brazil, since the beginning of the team. We know they're really good and we need to play at our best to win against them."

"You had mentioned the potential of a comeback. For your team's map pick of Lotus, we saw KRÜ take an early lead, but you guys started to string some rounds together. What are your nerves like when the other team is just one round away from winning and you know you have to be flawless to stay in this thing?"

Txozin: "Well, it sounds cliché, sounds like normal, but we played round by round. When the half goes 9:3 to them, we just said, 'Guys, round by round. We already came back in scrims, already came back in matches like this, every single one. So, we can do it. Let's focus on next round, next round, next round, next round. We can do it.' And then, there are words in Portuguese, I don't how to say in English, but it means like when we still have a tree, we still can make arrows. So, we always have a way to come back. Until its shows loser or victory on your screen, we still have a match to be playing."

"This ends the year for MIBR. We obviously don't know what the future holds. We aren't sure what any team will look like next season. But if you had your choice, are you looking to stay on as a player or would you like to step back into a coaching role?"

Txozin: "That's the thing. I have no idea yet. Honestly, like I said to you today, the match was off for me. But after reviewing the practice, reviewing the last match before this, I trust in myself again. Maybe I'm going to play. Probably, if I am going to play, I think I'm not going to have a spot in the franchise yet, but I can play back in Brazil. So, I honestly don't know what I'm going do. That's the thing that I'm going to think about in the next few weeks, about my future."

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