In the Chapelaria Season 3 Legatus Grand Finals, SVIFT SA beat Bee Work 3-0 (Process 4-2, Snakewater 4-1, Gullywash 4-1) in a Best-Of-Five series, winning the third season of Chapelaria’s Legatus division, the current premier TF2 league in South America.

Within SVIFT SA’s all-star roster is powah, a veteran Brazilian player who became famous within the Team Fortress 2 community for his DM ability, especially on Sniper. During his career in competitive TF2, powah played primarily in South America, but also made appearances in North American leagues through tenures in BUDSQUAD, Mad Men, and briefly as a stand-in for Classic Mixup.

Coming off a victory in Chapelaria and a semi-return to Team Fortress 2, we caught up with powah to get his thoughts on SVIFT SA, the South American Team Fortress 2 scene, and his plans for the future.

How did it feel to win the Chapelaria Season 3 Legatus Grand Finals?

It definitely feels great. My team has definitely put effort into the game for this season and they definitely deserve it. I know legit and ninjax are great players and I actually didn't expect any different result coming from this team. I play more of a ringer role for the team, since I'm not really active but whenever my team needs me to play I show up to do my job and fortunately I think I've been able to deliver.

Why did you want to join SVIFT SA?

I had some free time and wanted to have fun with videogames once again. The invite came from legit and I was told that this team was at least one of the best in the SA scene. I also played a few tournaments before with akrom, our demoman, so I knew they were cool dudes to play with and that was really all I wanted. Unfortunately I feel that the top teams from SA are weaker than they have ever been before, but I'm happy to see ongoing tournaments and leagues, so I wanted to give this renewed community a show to compete once again, according to my disponibility to play, which SVIFT SA agreed to respect.

How has it been playing with SVIFT SA so far?

It has been fun. They're very dedicated to the game and have been developing some noticeable teamwork during matches. As I mentioned before, legit and ninjax are key players to make all of this work and I don't feel any pressure to perform well (and we have fun together whenever I show up rusty). They also respect me a lot for my history with past teams and the experience I got from playing for so long, so I feel very comfortable playing with them.

Why did you want to return to Team Fortress 2?

I wanted a game to have fun playing and I always had fun playing TF2. Finding a team with people to have fun with was all I really wanted, getting good results would be just a probable consequence, as it showed after this grand final. The TF2 community in general has always been very kind to me as well so if it wasn't hard to get back. Of course I'm still focusing on my studies, but I can still get time to play and once I get a better graphics card I want to get back into streaming.

How did your brief stint with Overwatch go?

It was the best gaming experience I had in terms of competitive gaming. I transfered to Overwatch along with my all-time-loved-TF2 team MONSTER and played with them for over a year. We had a good run together, maintaining our performance as the top 2-3 team in SA, but as more tournaments started showing up, we had to start putting ourselves into the game more and more and that meant putting more time into the game, something I could not afford at the time. I felt that I had to choose between studies and girlfriend or gaming, so I chose to continue studying and quit the "pro" life. I had a feeling that I wasn't able to perform as well as I knew I could because of my priorities, so I had to be fair with myself and the team. I definitely don't regret it since my gaming experience with them was awesome and it is definitely unforgettable to finally meet personally the nerds I've played TF2 with for 4-5 years.

What do you think of the current state of the South American TF2 scene?

As I said, the top teams are weaker than they've ever been, or at least since the last time I played here. There are some players that stand out, such as ninjax, legit, nas and akrom (Kappa). But it is nice to see that the community never gives up and there's always people that are dedicated to make tournaments and leagues happen, making the competitive community survive somehow. SA players have always been passionate about the game and that's one thing that never changed.

How does Chapelaria compare to LBTF2 back in its era?

I don't think I know Chapelaria well enough to say anything about them, since I really just open TF2 and play—I don't really get myself into the community—but they're responsible for the TF2 scene in SA to survive, and as I have seen they're dedicated to keep it going. FBTF was bigger because of the player pool that was bigger, so it isn't Chapelaria's fault or anything like that. Both are organizations that kept the scene going, FBTF had its job and now it’s Chapelaria's turn to take it over and they're doing well so far, so I'm glad for the scene. Back in FBTF's time we had a lot of players and I see that's the main reason to see why it could be more competitive than Chapelaria nowadays. The SA scene is renewed with Chapelaria and it's good to see the scene surviving.

What do you think of the current state of the TF2 scene as a whole?

I don't think I have much to say about it nowadays since I haven't kept an eye on it, I've only played the game every now and then. I saw the TF2PL announcement and I'm happy to see that the scene keeps in movement somehow. All I can say is that I miss budsquad and a bunch of other players that went to overwatch.

Do you think you’ll see yourself playing TF2 on North American servers more, whether through ESEA or just PUGs?

I'm sure I'll play some pugs from time to time, specially with this new TF2PL thing, but I'm done with my Invite-IM era. I'll rather cheer for my buds legit and ninjax to see how far they can go, since I know they're good and dedicated. I'm really grateful for all I've achieved and all the friends I made back when I played in the NA scene, but I don't see myself coming back to it, so no more 200 ping snipes to make people sad.

What are you looking to do in the future?

Graduatingggg! I pretend to keep my focus on my studies, but I really, really, really miss streaming. I always had lots of fun while doing it and pretend to stream while playing videojuegos once again. As far as I know I'll keep playing with SVIFT SA so hopefully you'll hear me from time to time.

Do you have any other comments you'd like to give?

I want to say that it's surprising to me to see the scene in movement. I'm also happy to see TFTV covering the SA finals, putting the spotlight in our scene and making our players be seen. I want to give a shoutout to my SVIFT SA buds, MONSTER, whiskerbiscuit and budsquad (rip) and Chapelaria for hosting the league. Also thanks to the community in general for not forgetting who I am BibleThump /