“I will always take risks” - fRoD after MIBR swap nzr for Verno

MIBR will arrive looking a little different at VCT 2025 - Americas Stage 1. Following a good start to the VALORANT season, the organization decided to change its VALORANT lineup and signed Andrew "Verno" Maust from NRG to replace Agustin "nzr" Ibarra. In an interview with THESPIKE Brasil, Danny "fRoD" Montaner explained that the change would happen regardless of the team's results and that the decision had been made collectively as a team.

*For the original interview conducted in Portugese click here.

“A decision we made as a team. Our objective is to get to Champions and win Champions. I know it's going to be tough and everything, but if your objective isn’t to get to the [Champions] final, you’re doing something wrong. We felt like we made a decision that we needed to make to get to the final. Regardless of the [Kickoff] result and whether we made it to VCT 2025 - Masters Bangkok 2025, we wanted to make this trade. And also because a really crazy guy [Verno] was released. The timing was perfect for us to make this trade. And, like I said, it's a decision I made, but I don't make decisions without communicating with my team and without being unanimous. I know it's a little risky, but if you don't take risks, you don't deserve to get to the final. I'm a person who will take risks. If shit happens, it happens. If it works, it works. I will always take risks. I've been in esports for 23 years and I've been taking risks every month, every year, my entire career. I'm not a guy who plays it safe in letting things happen. It was something that I realized we needed to do, just as I realized the change of IGL”, explained fRoD.

Despite claiming that nzr's departure would happen anyway, fRoD praised the fact that Verno's departure from NRG not only facilitated, but also sped up the change in MIBR's lineup.

“We wanted to make this trade anyway, but it made it much easier that there was a really good guy on the market like that. It certainly made it easier and we had to make this trade. You realize that you need to make a change of player and, when the perfect moment comes, you will do it. Since we were left out of Bangkok, we decided to go through with it. If we had qualified for Bangkok, we might have made the same trade as well, but the situation may have been that a good player wasn’t available [at that time]”, he added.

▶ New IGL

However, why bench nzr? In short, fRoD said that the player and the team “didn’t fit together.” In addition, the coach also explained why he made Arthur "artzin" Araujo the team’s IGL and denied that this had any effect on nzr’s departure.

“nzr is a good player and he wasn't an IGL on all the teams he was on before, like Leviatan. He wasn't always an IGL, he was more of a second caller of sorts. But nzr didn't fit [in MIBR]. The IGL change was something we said we needed to do as a team. If people want to call someone out, they can call me out, but I also make my decisions by communicating with my team, and that was something we needed to do”, stated fRoD firmly.

With regards to the IGL change, fRoD praised artzin a lot and said that he is a “key piece” for MIBR. The coach also explained that, with artzin in the role of captain, the team began to have more synergy—something that, according to the coach himself, was difficult to happen with nzr in the role.

“artzin is a very, very intelligent guy. He really is a player who can play any role. Last year, when we switched him from Duelist to Sentinel, he fit in really quickly. He understands how to play all roles. Additionally, he's worked with me last year and knows how I think about the game, which I think is even more aligned now between us. He and I are on the same page in everything we're going to do as a team. Game plans, what we're going to do during or after a pause, all of that. That part was a bit difficult before, but with him as IGL, you can see that our team is looking a little cooler on the server. For me, it makes it much easier to make that decision when I have someone like artzin. With the exception of Erick "aspas" Santos, who is our best player, I think artzin is key to our team because of not only his flexibility, but mostly of him excelling as the IGL. artzin is more than promising and I love him for his hardworking nature and his intelligence in how he perceives the game,” explained fRoD.

▶ Communication issues?

For the first time in MIBR's history in VALORANT, the organization's lineup will officially have a fixed North American player. Verno, in this case, will play with four Brazilians. The team will communicate in English. With regards to the language switch, fRoD doesn’t believe that communication will be a problem.

“The [Brazilian VALORANT] community sees [communication] as a problem, but we don't see it that way. You [the Brazilian VALORANT community] wanted a Brazilian and so did I, but I don't have any options. Everyone has a clause, everyone needs a visa, we don't have much time... this trade is difficult. But if we want to win and win Champions, we need to take a risk. We look at the market and think about who is the best player regardless of language, country or anything else. And it's Verno by far. The guy [Verno] certainly had offers from every NA franchise team last year, and maybe from Europe too. Everyone was betting that he would be the best player in NA [in 2025]. We really got one of easily the best players in NA. Everyone agrees with that. But, man, if there are problems with that because of the language or because you don't know the guy, that's your problem. But, our players who play with the guy on a daily basis or have played against the guy, everyone understands that he is good”, explained the MIBR coach.

In addition, fRoD praised Verno again and revealed that the 18-year-old American is fluent in Spanish and also understands Portuguese. The coach also came to the player's defense in relation to recent criticism about a possible lack of commitment in day-to-day life.

“He [Verno] is a monster in the game. And all the things the community thinks about the guy are very wrong. The guy doesn't stop talking, he doesn't "bait", he's a lion in the game, and you'll see that there's no problem [with how he plays]. First of all, our entire team speaks English, everyone understands English. Second, Verno graduated in Spanish. The guy knows how to speak a little [in Portuguese]. When we were doing tryouts, he told me one day that he thought he understood a lot of Portuguese. There's no problem in communication. We speak one language, which is the 'language of fRoDão', which is Portuñol and English all together and fck it. And there's no problem. But, if it were, do you think we would choose him if the problem was that big? No. Just have faith that we'll make decisions that can be a little risky, but I didn't get to this point in my career making bad decisions like that. I think a lot and respect the opinion of Brazilians and the [Brazilian] community. I love Brazilians, I love their opinions, but I'm not going to live my life based solely on opinions. Verno watches VODs, bro. Sarcasm is a hard thing to perceive. Every story has two sides, and they're only hearing one side that isn't mine or his, it's just the gossip side. I don't care about gossip. It goes in one ear and out the other”, said fRoD.

▶ A win-only mindset

After finishing in the top-3 of the Kickoff and missing out on Masters Bangkok, fRoD revealed that MIBR's main focus is to win Champions and consequently become “the best team in the world”. However, before that, the team will try to get through the “stages” before that.

“Our objective is to get to Champions and win. Coming back to reality and day-to-day life, our next objective is to win our group [in the VCT Americas], then we want to win the first split and then we want to qualify and win VCT 2025 - Masters Toronto 2025. Our objective on a day-to-day basis is to win, not to gain experience like other teams say. It's a lot of nonsense to say that we're here in the franchises, that it's a great opportunity, and that we're here to gain experience. Here, we train and wake up to be the best team in the world. If we are, good. If we're not, we try. But our objective is to win everything, win every game, and it will continue that way regardless of our Kickoff result or whether we play well or badly. Our objective doesn't change, even with the IGL change and the change of a player”, closed out fRoD.

MIBR will debut with Verno in the first split of VCT Americas 2025 against Leviatán on Saturday, March 22. The Brazilian team is in group Omega along with the also Brazilian FURIA, the Argentine Leviatán and the North American Cloud9, G2 and NRG. Find out more about the tournament format, teams, and more in our VCT Americas Split 1 guide.

Note: This interviews has been conducted in Portugese and translated using online tools as well as edited by an editor for the sake of clarity and conciseness.