Reports: IMPERIAL plans to acquire JOTA to replace fer

According to reports, Imperial and MIBR are in negotiations for Jhonatan “JOTA” Willian, who will take Fernando “fer” Alvarenga’s place in the active CS:GO roster.

According to reports from Dust.2, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga might leave the Brazilian roster as Imperial has already set its sights on Jhonatan “JOTA” Willian, who is presently a member of MIBR’s active CS:GO roster. The report follows months of speculations regarding fer’s commitment to esports, which appear to be coming to an end as the 31-year-old plans to retire from esports.

Having previously teamed with Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes and Ricardo “boltz” Prass on MIBR in 2021, JOTA won’t be a stranger to the Imperial lineup. While chelo and boltz moved to Imperial earlier this year, JOTA and MIBR continued their alliance, dominating the South American stage with their outstanding performances.

In addition to finishing second in the PGL Major Antwerp 2022: American RMR and the BLAST Premier: Fall American Showdown 2022, JOTA has won a number of B-Tier competitions with Imperial. The 24-year-old player maintained outstanding statistics throughout the season, finishing with an average rating of 1.18, the second-highest team in the team. while taking over Adriano “WOOD7” Cerato’s position as in-game leader. 

Henrique “t9rnay” Menacho is another possible player on Imperial’s radar, but no offers have been made as of yet. MIBR, on the other hand, will have to work quickly to close the void left by JOTA before their upcoming event. The Brazilian team’s next event will be the ESL Pro League Conference North America, which is set for January.

Another blow to the Major-winning stack

Fer has been a part of Imperial since the beginning of 2022 when the organization acquired three former Major-winning players of the illustrious SK and Luminosity teams to assemble the infamous last dance roster. They defied all odds to make it to the Legends Stage of the PGL Antwerp Major 2022, securing a decent 9th – 11th place finish. 

However, the highly anticipated Brazilian “final dance” lineup and the former Major-winning trio of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer,” and Lincoln “fnx” Lau fell apart in July when the organization chose to assign fnx the coaching duties. Despite the change, the organization made it to the second Major of the year, which was hosted in their home country Brazil. Imperial, however, suffered a disastrous end to their run in front of the home crowd as they were the first team to get eliminated from the competition. 

If the deal goes through, Imperial’s CS:GO roster will be:

• Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo (IGL)
• Jhonatan “JOTA” Willian
• Ricardo “boltz” Prass
• Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo
• Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes
• Lincoln “fnx” Lau (coach)
• Fernando “fer” Alvarenga (inactive)

Image Credit: Joao Ferreira/PGL