Worlds 2021 RED Grevthar: “I’m really looking forward to prove wildcards can be the best”

Worlds 2021 Play-Ins have already left us with some great moments heading into the main event, where both LNG Esports and Detonation FocusMe are waiting to start their journey against the 12 best-ranked teams from all around the world.

Besides, several teams from different wildcard regions still hope to qualify for this phase, with the champions of Brazil, RED Canids, being one of the organizations that will seek to move forward tomorrow against the Oceania squad, PEACE.

Prior to this decisive battle, Daniel “Grevthar” Xavier, mid laner of the Brazilian squad, took some time after his day in Iceland to talk with us about this first experience in an international tournament, as well as his opinions regarding their recent games and the position of Brazil within the competitive scene.

What are your feelings about going from the Challenger Circuit, to be part of RED’s Academy, play in the CBLOL and now at Worlds in the span of two years?

It’s wonderful. I don’t know if it ever crossed my mind I would play at Worlds this year, but it’s definitely a happy change of destiny. I’m really happy to be here, and although we lost today it’s OK, we’re going to play the best-of-five tomorrow, and we will take our revenge.

How does it feel to play internationally for the first time? Is it everything you dreamed of?

It’s really good to play among the best, I think that’s the best. Yesterday we played against China and Korea, so it was really good to play against probably [one of] the best mid laners in the world, Chovy.

It’s what a player dreams of, playing against the best ones and trying to beat them. Unfortunately we didn’t, and today we didn’t have the best of luck, but tomorrow we’ll be better.

Now that the Play-Ins groups are over, what do you think about the evolution of the team and how your last match against PEACE went?

I think the draft today wasn’t the best one as we didn’t play accordingly. For sure, we didn’t play to the level they did today, so we will pay attention to this [performance] more, but I think our evolution and the way we think is improving, as we knew what they would pick but we had the wrong concept of what we should do inside the game.

We must focus on this and the mid-game to play better, and learn what they can do, what we can do and should do, and if we are gonna trade or play against them.

What do you think of the Worlds meta, especially for the mid lane? Are there any surprise picks we can look forward to?

I think the pool of the mid lane is really good since I used to play different champions like Sett or Kled, and I’m not surprised by what’s coming with picks like Tryndamere or Yone, so I think the meta is really nice and fun to play.

Your next challenge will now be the best-of-fives, is there anyone you are more interested in playing against for the Play-Ins knockouts and beyond?

From Play-Ins I don’t have especially a mid laner I want to face, since I already faced the one that I wanted, but I think I would like to play against Perkz or Aria from DetonatioN FocusMe, and, if we get to the group stage, the one that is my idol and I want to play against the most is Doinb.

Even after the first struggles during the Play-In, it seems your mentality stayed strong as always. How have you managed this and what is your mindset before and after a match?

I have the mentality that no matter what happens today, I would just enjoy it and play League of Legends, the game I love, against the people I dreamed to play with, and I think the rest of the group had the same mentality.

We want to play with the best, we have a strong team without a doubt, and I’m really proud of what we are doing. I’m really enjoying just being here, so it doesn’t matter what happens, I will just play step by step and aim to the next stage.

What is your opinion about the evolution of regions like Oceania, Japan and Brazil have had in recent tournaments?

All the international wildcards have had really difficult opponents, like Chinese and Korean teams in our same group, so it’s kinda hard, but in our case, I think we can really match up well against them at least in the early game without fear by just trying to beat them the best way we can, so I’m really looking forward to prove wildcards can be the best teams as well.

To wrap this up, is there anything you want to share with your fans and RED Canids’ followers?

Sure, I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart that has been cheering for us. I had never encountered a passionate feeling like this from all the fans everywhere before, [including] from my friends and my family. We love you guys, we are doing the best to represent you, so thank you very much, and this is not over yet.

That said, thank you so much for your time and we’ll be looking forward to your next match tomorrow, so we wish you the best of luck.

Thank you so much for the chatting, muito obrigado.

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Featured image courtesy of Riot Games and Getty Images.