Imperial still have a tough task ahead of them, but the win against Nouns puts them a step closer to qualifying for the Major.

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and company defeated Nouns in the 2-2 match to secure their survival at the Americas RMR and advance to the eight-place decider. They will have to win two consecutive best-of-three matches to clinch the last qualifying spot If they are to reach their home Major.

Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes was a key component of the Brazilians' squad comeback on Inferno, sharing the top of the scoreboard with his captain with 1.20 and 1.29 ratings respectively.

chelo touched on how it's like to play with FalleN

After Imperial's vicotry, chelo joined us to have a chat about the lastest match, his time playing with FalleN, and their current form.

Congratulations chelo, you survive another day at the RMR. It was a tough match against Nouns, especially at the start of Inferno, what went wrong to begin with?

The start on the CT side started kinda rough because we did not understand how they were playing and we could not adapt. Switching to the T side helped, and after seeing FalleN win the eco round we found the motivation and hype to turn the match around.

What were you struggling to understand about their T side?

The turning point was that FalleN pretty much knew how to play against them, punishing their FPL-pug style on the B bombsite so we were just playing the same meta as them, just punishing some of their peeks and winning the rounds off of that.

Every match or practice that we have I learn something new chelo on playing with FalleN

So it was FalleN's experience that got you through that game?

Yeah yeah, the T side was pretty much decided by the eco that FalleN and his own mind just doing things.

What were the discussions in the team after that comeback and ahead of Overpass?

After coming back and winning in overtime everybody was really hyped and we knew that we had Overpass in our bags. It could have been easier, but they got some good rounds, and FalleN just asked us to calm down and to take a deep breath knowing that we had it in us to close the game.

Is Overpass your home ground then?

Yeah, it's our map pick I'd say.

You have been playing with FalleN for a couple of events now, how has that experience been for you?

I have already been playing for two months with him and with every match or practice that we have I learn something new. We are getting a lot of experience I think, and the time playing with him has given me the best moments of my life.

Read more FalleN about playing the RMR: "My feelings were everywhere, from anxiety to almost crying"

You won today, but here are still two matches at least before you can claim a spot at the Major, what's the feeling in the team to get through those two?

We are not super confident about the way we are playing right now, we're not in our A-game yet, but we are building confidence match by match and I would say we are really motivated and confident that we can take the last spot [at the Major].

We are really resilient and if we can stay like that, we can beat anyone in the world Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes

Do you think that Inferno comeback helped in building that confidence up?

It brings more confidence to us and it showed to the team that we are really resilient and if we can stay like that, we can beat anyone in the world.

There's been a lot of speculation about the team's future, especially FalleN's, do you have any words regarding it?

Right now our goal is [to reach] the Major, we don't even know what we will be doing after that. I know that FalleN is not going to be retiring after the Major, but how long he will be playing, only he knows.

Any final words?

Believe that we are going to the Major in a month.

Imperial #21 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Nouns #44 Dominick 'JazzPimp' DimpfelDavid 'cynic' PolsterBrendan 'Bwills' WilliamsDanny 'Cxzi' StrzelczykJeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes Age: 24 Team: Imperial Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 932 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Age: 31 Team: Imperial Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1598 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.60