Interview With Arroz player Miguel “Bati” Batista
Carriço: How did you get into esports?
Bati: I was always a fan of the Esports world, and always had the ambition of entering the Esports world. But only after Valorant was released did I get a chance to really enter the Esports world as a player.
It was after Valorant was released that I entered the Esports world, as a player.
Carriço: Why did you choose to become a professional Valorant player?
Bati: I already had in mind becoming a professional player for quite some time. I think it was more the fact that I never got a chance to start a game since it was released and grind the game from the start.
Valorant gave me that chance, everyone was on equal footing, and I spent a lot of time at the beginning of the game, I spent a lot of hours watching VOD’s. I started to get more knowledgeable about the game and it started from that.
Carriço: How do you as a team prepare for opponents in general? Do you have a special preparation method?
Bati: It depends. Lately, I haven't prepared a lot for the games, we have watched VOD’s but I haven't prepared a lot. But before I would do a profound study on the teams, trying to anti-strat, and create some strategies to anti-strat the other teams.
Watching the tendencies of a player, what they do. Seeing graphics of the Valorant api, that I can download, and see where the Chamber or the Jett is going to pick, and where they have the tendency to pick from. Their attacking and defending tendencies, heat maps, and it was mostly this that I did to study the other teams.
Carriço: What does your daily routine look like?
Bati: It depends on the university semester. If it's at the beginning of the semester I have much more time to play, and I play ranked, I spend time in the practice range and watch some VOD’s.
Sometimes it's very hard to manage because I have to study, I have work assignments for the University, and sometimes I don't touch the game because I don't have time to play. For example this last weekend I didn't play at all because I had work assignments to deliver, but my team understands that and that’s good.
Even when I was playing at H20 I had four exams at the time and the league was going on and it wasn't easy. But I think that with a well-balanced and consistent schedule you can do everything.
Carriço: What is your warmup routine before the games?
Bati: I had a routine, then I stopped it, and then I started to have one again. It’s more mental that’s the truth. I normally play ranked before and after lunchtime, and before the game, it depends if we have practice or not. But we normally do one or two practices, then we have 30 minutes break and play deathmatch that's more or less my routine.
Carriço: Talk to me a little bit about this ARROZ project?
Bati: This project was created by a group of friends that came together. We are all friends, I already knew DaviH from my time at EGN, Zino and tomaszy played together at For The Win, and we talked and created a project with the goal to win the VCE.
I said to them at the time, “I only come to play the VCE if the goal is to win”. From the beginning, they understood that, and as of right now it’s going well.
Regarding the staff, we don't have one. We have one designer which I can't say his name, that does all the world related to design, and we have Rockefellerboss who has been helping us on a lot of things, not so much right now, but he would help us in some aspects of the game.
Carriço: How would you describe your playstyle?
Bati: I think our game style is methodical and well thought out. I think we can be very aggressive and explode into a site and just run, as we can stop the game, do a default, see the enemy tendencies, and see how they are playing so we can then make a decision of what to do.
So I think we can do both playstyles.
Carriço: How is it to work with these groups of players at Arroz?
Bati: Honestly it’s really nice. Of the Portuguese teams I played in it’s clearly the best one. All of them are experienced enough for me not to be having to say the same things over and over again, and that really good.
I also think they have a lot of game knowledge just like I do, and are always providing some input and ideas so we can win.
Carriço: What are some of the things/intangibles each player brings that are very important to the team's success?
Bati: I’m going to stat with rlz. rlz brings a lot of experience, he comes from CS;GO, and having someone from CS:GO is great because having someone that can give mid-round calls is super important, especially when you are doing a default. So I think rlz brings a lot of experience and input when it comes to mid-round calls.
DaviH has a great aim. He brings great aim, and experience because his decision-making is great most of the time, but above all, he brings firepower to the team.
What Zino brings is similar to what DaviH. He doesn't have as much experience as DaviH, me, or rlz, but Zino works very hard, he sees a lot of VOD’s and is always open to feedback, and wants to learn, which is super important.
We had tomaszy who left but he was similar to DaviH, he also had CS:GO experience and has a great aim.
We had genetic who was the most inexperienced player on the team, and compared to the other players could maybe bring less than them but was a great fifth element for the team, and he played the most annoying roles to play, and someone has to do it.
Now we have f3n1x who entered the team recently. He is yet another person with experience, he has been playing Valorant since the start and has represented Saw in the past. He already played with me, he has played in Spain, Portugal and in other countries. He has a lot of experience and I think he is very versatile, just like DaviH. If I need to change the composition or play another Agent they have no problem taking on that task, and they also have some incredible aim.
Carriço: Recently tomaszy left ARROZ and joined Rebels Gaming, how is it to lose such an important player in a very advanced phase of the season?
Bati: Obviously it's a little bit annoying, and it was somewhat of a surprise for us, we didn't know anything and was something that happened very fast, and a prosal like that one you obviously have to accept it.
On one side it's a little bit annoying, but on the other side, I think we were able to find a good replacement. He was by far the best player in the league. He is an excellent duelist, has a lot of experience, he is really good.
So we had to bring in another player that could do his job, not in the same way because that’s very hard to do, but that would do a good job.
It’s a pity because I’m sure he would have loved to finish the season with us, but we received a better proposal, went to a better team, and had the opportunity of making his name outside of Portugal, and that's what I want in my team.
I already said to all of them, If you have a proposal to play outside of Portugal I want you guys to accept it because the Portuguese scene is not in a great state, and it's outside of the country where you've got more chances.
Carriço: How important is it to have a great team environment, do you think in order to find success a good team environment outside the game is necessary?
Bati: Yes. I think that’s a very important point to touch on because I think this is the team where I feel the best outside of the game. We are always on Discord, Team Speak, just talking and playing. We wake up and go to Team Speak and everyone is just there Chilling, and that’s super important.
I think having a great relationship outside of the game can have its positives and negative points, but if you are a calm person inside and outside of the game I think you have a great relationship with your team outside of the game is very important in order to have a great environment.
Carriço: In the last six months, more or less, we didn't have a competitive scene in Portugal, in your opinion what led to a “ death” of a competitive scene that was having good results, with Portuguese teams performing well in Europe against some of the biggest organizations in Europe?
Bati: It was the closure, the fact we didn't have access to a VRL, and we were forced to leave Portugal and search for opportunities outside of the country because there wasn't anything in Portugal for us to play in, so we were forced to leave.
The Portuguese organizations wouldn't be sustainable because there weren't going to be any tournaments. The chance you had of entering the LVP was really low. For a team like EGN at the time, we knew that entering LVP was going to be very hard, there was a chase obviously, just like SAW had a chance, and I think Saw was the team with the best chances of making it into the LVP.
But the reality is that it was a risk, if you don't qualify for a VRL your Split is over. I think it was mainly because of that that the scene died a bit.
I also understand the side of Valorant Portugal, but not having said anything makes the organizations question themselves. Then there wasn't any information, and the teams had to retreat from the scene.
Carriço: How important was this VCE league for the Portuguese scene?
Bati: I think it’s important, especially because I think it’s a stepping stone for a good path. If we want to have a VRL, we need to show that there is competition, there is a level to have a VRL as it exists in League of Legends.
So because of that, I think this is necessary for us to have a VRL in 2023. So yeah I think it’s important, I think it's good to have competition in Portugal, we needed to have competition in Portugal for quite some time already, so I think it’s great to have this VCE.
Carriço: Are you confident about the playoffs, do you think you will leave this Split with the trophy?
Bati: Yes. I hope so, and we are working to achieve that. I think we have a team capable of going all the way. So yes, the short answer is yes I think we are more than ready for this playoffs.
Carriço: Is it harder for you to play against more structured teams or teams that adapt more on the fly?
Bati: The reality is that a very well-structured team will also adapt very quickly. But I think it’s harder to play against more random/adaptative teams. Because you are just thinking “ what is this guy doing?”, there are some plays that they do that make no sense, and when you play a more structured game, despite having some unexpected plays, they always come from set plays, and it’s much harder to play against a mix type of team.
Because playing as a team against a mix, the mix normally doesn't have anything to lose, and when that happens they become a dangerous team to play against. So I think it is harder to play against more adaptative teams.
Carriço: What are the main goals for ARROZ for the remaining of this year?
Bati: It’s a good question. The first one is winning this Split. If we don't have a proposal from an organization, or someone has any offers to play outside of Portugal, our main goal is to finish this Split, and look for offers outside of Portugal and see if someone gets a good offer.
If no one receives a good offer, and we stay together it’s continuing to play in Portugal, trying to get an organization that makes sense for us, winning Split 2, and playing whatever tournaments we have to play.
Carriço: What are your goals as a player for the remaining of this year?
Bati: Mainly leaving Portugal to join a professional team where I can create a good team win a VRL and enter the tier 1 scene. Obviously, it's very hard to do that this year but the long-term goal is to enter the tier 1 scene.
Carriço: Is there anything else you want to say to the ARROZ fans or to your own fans?
Bati: It’s to thank everyone. We have been getting a lot of support, it’s been good to see the interactions that have existed with me and the rest of the team. Just say thank you, and I hope they continue to support us, cheer for us and we are going to show them who are the real AROOZ now in the playoffs.
Carriço: Bati thanks a lot for agreeing to do this interview, it was a pleasure talking with you, I wish you the best of luck in the VCE playoffs, and the remaining tournaments of this year, and I hope in the future I can interview you again.
If you want to check the full interview you can do it here: