Kyno: "I'm just going to show up tomorrow and try to just give the crowd a good game"

Leonardo "Kyno" Figueiredo is one win away from reaching his second consecutive BLAST R6 Major grand final—but, this time, in a completely different team.

It feels like a lot of time has happened since M80 lifted the Denari-shaped trophy in Munich. Three months after that, the Brazilian exited Fabian "Fabian" Hällsten's group and joined DarkZero Esports' new project, which included Spacestation's core as well as Nick "njr" Rapier.

On paper, DarkZero Esports' project is North America’s superteam. The former astronauts—coming off several strong international performances within the last two years and a regional finals title—was joined by the Brazilian, one of the league's best supports, and the American, who isn't only among the most efficient players in the scene but also embodies DarkZero's identity; after all, he has been part of the organisation since February 2021.

"Any team I have been on with any players, I have learned something, even if it was something negative I have taken something from it. I feel like the more I play, the more experienced I get," Kyno said at an interview with SiegeGG shortly after DarkZero Esports' win against Wildcard.

Logically, even the most experienced rosters can go through some struggles. It's not like DarkZero Esports had major issues to qualify for Salt Lake City; however, their one-sided group stage performance contrasted with their playoff displays, losing to Wildcard and struggling to get past Spacestation before another nail-bitting victory against Shopify Rebellion.

The team's third-place finish in North America's Kickoff was followed by a 4-7 defeat against G2 Esports who, at that point, were one of the main favourites to lift the trophy. That's not the case anymore as Shopify Rebellion sent them home on Friday.

Since the purple roster's defeat against the samurai, the team has yet to lose a single map. Victories against Ninjas in Pyjamas and LOS were followed by back-to-back 2-0 wins against Wildcard. The most recent one came in the quarterfinals and it wasn't so one-sided as it may seem; Wildcard pushed DarkZero Esports to maximum overtime on Border.

When asked about that final map and what Wildcard's players were doing that worked so well against them, Kyno appeared to be a bit confused. "I'm not exactly sure. They were getting the opening kills a lot on us, those attacks were catching us off guard a lot. When we hit that 6-3 we're not stopping and that's like when we're the best, when we shine the most with our backs against the wall."

Eventually, the team ended up securing the victory, which is what matters at the end of the day. Now, DarkZero Esports' upcoming test will be the most demanding one since the roster was put together a few months ago; they will have to beat FaZe Clan to reach Salt Lake City's grand final.

"I don't really think about the team we're playing, I don't really focus on the whole perspective, the narrative part of it. I'm just going to show up tomorrow and try to just give the crowd a good game. That's my main goal with this," Kyno admitted.

Regardless of what happens today, there's a player who has made a statement in Salt Lake City; and that's njr. Following an underwhelming Kickoff stage, the American player had to bounce back; and sure he did.

So far, njr is the highest-rated player in the competition. He currently averages a SiegeGG rating of 1.32 after seven maps played. He's also the third-best in terms of K-D and entry. Additionally, he holds the second-best KOST and KPR. He even has produced two clutches for his team, only surpassed by Ethan "Nuers" James with three.

"Njr is a beast. I mean, I feel like anybody who plays the game knows. I feel like the best quality of him is how selfless he is. He's always putting the team in front of him, regardless of the situation. That makes him such a great teammate," Kyno said.

Lastly, we asked Kyno about the most notable differences in his move from M80 to DarkZero Esports. After all, Kyno had been part of M80 since the team had joined from XSET.

"I think the culture is a big change. I love how close we are, how big of a family we are on this team. Plus the strategical part of it, all three of those, Callout, TchubZ, and ALO are just geniuses. They are very smart when it comes to the game and makes it so easy for us to not have to think about so much of the macro all the time," he concluded.

For more information about Rainbow Six Siege and its esports scene, make sure to check out Siege.GG.