For so long, the Brazilian region hasn’t been able to make much of an impact on the international stage. According to Alexandre "TitaN" Lima — a veteran champion of CBLOL and the star AD carry of RED Canids — his team might be different. Considering their tough group stage opponents including Royal Never Give Up and PSG Talon, many immediately wrote off the Brazilian champions.

In their first MSI 2022 game against PSG Talon, RED Canids turned the table: winning a perfect game within 30 minutes. Inven Global spoke with TitaN after the match to discuss his thoughts on the game and his optimism for RED Canids.

Congrats on the dominant win, TitaN! What were your expectations going against PSG Talon? Did you expect it to be a perfect game like this?

I didn't expect this. We saw their game, we studied a lot about them. But I mean, we won the game perfectly. So I didn't expect it at all. But I'm so proud of my team.

What is different about the MSI version of RED Canids compared to last year at Worlds 2021?

We learned a lot. We are so much more confident right now. We are working so much as a team as well. I think we are different because we have the experience from Worlds that helped us a lot.

On the MSI broadcast, they said that RED Canids' coach stated the team is much more well-rounded. What do you think he meant by that? How is it more well-rounded?

We came here with a different mindset. Right now, we saw our strength and played more instead of just doing excuses about, "Oh, they are so much better than us. And we cannot win." They bleed as well. So yeah, we have a different mindset, and that's why.

If you could guess, what percentage do you give RED Canids to make it to the Rumble Stage of MSI?

I don't want to set expectation about us. Because yeah, we had a great game. But we need to play five more games. And we need to improve as a team, we made some mistakes. Even if we win a perfect game like that, we made some mistakes that we should look at. So I don't have so many expectations because we will face great teams.

Considering that you're the main carry and win condition for your team, it was very interesting seeing you go for the Jhin pick. What was your team's thinking with that choice?

When I picked Jhin, I knew that I would play always for tempo. So I'm looking for it, and I'm always getting tempo on Aphelios and doing something on the map for our team and getting something on the map. We had Gwen, we had Zoe that pushes midlane, so I picked Jhin just for this.

It was great hearing some cheers for your team during the match. It feels like you guys live off of the crowd's energy.

Yeah, the Brazilians' passion was so hard. They liked the game a lot, and [us] as well. So yeah, I like the crowd. I like to have this hype. But yeah, we should be happy about it.

The analyst Mylon mentioned that the other regions aren’t used to RED Canids' yelling. Do you think that's true?

Yeah, some teams don't have that. We have so much passion about the game. We like to scream, we like to have the hype for the game. We are a much better team when we do this.

Do you think it's that passion that is one of the reasons CBLOL has maintained such a strong fanbase — despite not having the best results at international events?

Because of the results that we've had in the past at Worlds and MSI, they [the fans] could criticize us a lot. And they give us so much passion and so much... they like us so much. They want us to have the results, they want us to win. And we always fail them. And right now, it's different. We are looking forward and trying to do our best for them and for ourselves.

We hype a lot during the game. We want to win so badly. And yeah, I think this is the key to winning everything.

You've been a member of the Brazilian scene for quite some time. How does this roster compare to some of the ones that we have seen in the past?

Yeah, we are so confident. We are playing so much more as a team right now. And I think this will be the best team that Brazil has brought here. We're looking forward. I like this team. And yeah, I'm so confident and hopeful that we're gonna make it.

Not just MSI, but Brazilian Worlds teams as well?

Yeah. We don't have enough experience at Worlds. But right now, we have experience and we are getting better and improving every day.

What's so good about this lineup? Is it the talent, the cohesion, or something else?

Because we are friends. All that we do, we do together. We like to do everything together. I think no team in Brazil does this as we do. And I'm happy to play by the side of four players that want the same thing that I want.

You've never experienced that in a team before?

No, never. I mean, my dream is to do well at an MSI or Worlds and go to NA or EU playing at the highest level. This is my dream right now. This is my goal. But if I win with my team, I'm so much happier.

How much of an adjustment for you has it been playing on the increased ping?

Yeah. This kind of sucks for me, because I'm an AD carry, and I need the ping to play. But it doesn't matter. These kinds of problems happen. Everyone is playing with 35 ping, and I heard that some people are complaining as well. But no problem. We are here to play at a professional level. And we should just play. You are a professional — you should face some troubles like that.