FURIA artzin: "I'm really grateful for what I experienced with MIBR"

For a long time, FURIA struggled to find any success domestically since the start of VALORANT franchising. In 2024 and 2025, the organization held its spot as a bottom-dweller in the VCT Americas League. Just one year later, FURIA stands as one of the VCT Americas representatives at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters Santiago 2026, capturing the hearts of many fans.

For FURIA's in-game leader Arthur "artzin" Araujo, this love and appreciation meant a lot to him.

“The city is amazing, and the people that live here are great people,” artzin said. “I’m kind of used to it because I’m Brazilian so I know how [Latino] is pretty much, but I’m having so much fun.”

He remembered what it was like being at VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Masters Toronto 2025 and VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions. Despite feeling the energy of the crowd throughout Toronto and Paris, he never felt that same type of fan support as he did in Santiago.

“The crowd is amazing here. Fans have been coming up to us, and all throughout, they are cheering for us,” artzin said. “In Toronto and Paris, there was a crowd, but it never felt like they were on our side.”

Yet, through all of this success came a lot of hard work and responsibility to get it to where he is now.

Living a dream with FURIA

When artzin came to FURIA ahead of the VCT 2026 season, helping foster a healthy culture was something that was at the forefront of his priorities.

He remembered having a conversation with head coach Ian "shaW" Jardim about the direction of the team and about taking on the mantle of leadership.

“I’ve always been the guy who has some leader profile in all of my teams that I played with,” artzin said. “I just had to pretty much embrace the IGL role.”

Being an in-game leader is something that artzin has always had trouble accepting. While he had always had that natural leadership within teams, weighing the sacrifices of what it means to properly lead in-game was a tough decision to come to without full trust.

“I knew it was going to be hard because when I have to be the leader, I have to throw away my individual play sometimes,” artzin said. “But when I have a good team and they respect and follow me, I don’t care about that.”

Trust and respect are two things that are never just given to an individual based on title. It is something that is earned through authenticity and work put into getting to know people.

A lot of becoming the leader he is today stems from understanding people and how to talk to them. While he always had a strong base in the game, learning how to change the way he spoke to individuals and adapt easily was a big learning lesson he needed to adjust to the IGL role for both MIBR and FURIA.

“Every person is different so I need to understand how people are,” artzin said. “I ask a lot of questions to try and understand them more so that they are as comfortable as possible. That’s been the main thing that I have worked on as a leader.”

Remembering the journey

Artzin’s journey to VALORANT Masters Santiago marked a major shift in his VALORANT journey. At one point, he was on a team that barely won any games in the VCT Americas League. Instead, he now found himself in Santiago competing for an international trophy.

Yet, despite all that he has accomplished in his career, artzin is grateful for all of the teammates and people who have helped him get to where he is today.

“I was using the SEN Classic in honor of my boy cortezia, and I was using the MIBR Gun Buddy because I love that team,” artzin said. “I have respect for all of them. I have some friends over there, the manager, fRoD, aspas, Verno. I wanted to give them a bit of honor. I’m really grateful for what I experienced with MIBR. Even in 2024, when we went 1-9, I am so grateful for it, but life moves on, you know.”

Though FURIA have been eliminated from Masters Santiago, winning Kickoff and qualifying for an international event has been a massive step forward for the organization.

Be sure to follow THESPIKE.GG for more VALORANT content like this as teams progress through VALORANT Masters Santiago.

Image via Colin Young-Wolff