Can the Brazilians Run It Back? – A Look at MIBR

Bio

The Brazilian experiment seems to be failing. Bringing back a lineup from the golden age of Brazilian CS was an interesting idea, resetting their newly multinational chemistry and moving back into using their natural language and using their natural tongues. But it seems as though it isn’t going to work.

While they’ve showed signs of life, like in their instant classic bout on Overpass against Astralis, they have yet to make a grand finals appearance with this lineup. I don’t know how much time their organization is going to give them to work out the kinks, but they need some better showings soon. If your new to CSGO betting then read our guide.

Map Pool

MIBR’s map pool is surprisingly bad for a team led by one of the better IGLs of the last three years. Their most played maps are Train and Overpass, a callback to their prime on LG and SK, which have a 63.6% and 45.5% win rate respectively. Train is their only map with a win rate over 50%, excluding Cache. (Cache actually has a win rate of 100%, on just three plays. So it may have some potential, but that isn’t nearly enough tape for me to be confident in it, especially since it’s their least played map.) They have four maps sitting in between 40% and 50%, Dust 2, Mirage, Overpass, and Nuke, which is not great.

MIBR need to restructure their map pool, and the Vertigo update might be just what they need. They can pick out their least favorite map and turn it into their permaban, as Cache was their least played, and then really focus on the 3-4 maps they like playing the best. Rework their Overpass, solidify their Inferno, add one more map, and they could really start looking like a real team that can threaten in a best of three.

Team Leaders

K/D: Coldzera 1.24

This is a good sign for MIBR, tentatively. Prime coldzera disappeared during MIBR’s international run, for the first time in his career. Coldzera has always been the win condition for these FalleN lineups, so to see him back and fragging is a big deal for this team. Last year coldzera wasn’t anywhere near the top three players in the world conversation, which is a pretty big drop off. He’s starting slow this year, and MIBR has yet to win any tournaments, which may again stunt his chances to appear in anyone’s top five list come December, but seeing him bring his K/D back up is encouraging.

The number two on this list is more exciting, for me at least. FalleN is back up to a respectable 1.12, which is encouraging for the Brazilians. Besides being their IGL, FalleN’s AWP was an integral part of this lineup, especially on maps like Train and Overpass. FalleN was legitimately in the conversation for best AWPer in the world, while also leading a top five team, for a long time. He was a human highlight reel, generating crazy flick shot frag videos at every tournament he attended.

Unfortunately, with the addition of Boltz, and then the American combo of Tarik and Stewie2k, FalleN took a pretty major step back as a fragger. He tried to defer, become a space creator, and enable the rest of his team to play at their best. That didn’t work, so now it looks as though he’s coming back to claim his throne as the stand out high fragging IGL in top tier CS.

Incidentally, there’s an argument to be made for FalleN as the first high fragging IGL. Some might argue Shox, but I don’t really count him as an IGL if I’m being honest.

Flashes: FalleN

FalleN is averaging exactly one flash thrown per round, which is a high number. He’s flashing opponents for 2.82 seconds per round, one of the best marks we’ve seen, and averaging .11 flash assists per round. This makes sense as FalleN is both the in-game leader, and one of MIBR’s best fraggers. He can dump his utility earlier to enable his teammates as he gets most of his work done in the mid round, looking for picks or defending bombsites. Flash bang stats like this aren’t uncommon among amongst in game leaders, but they certainly aren’t common when juxtaposed with FalleN’s counting stats. He manages to play incredibly well while also playing incredibly supportive, which is a key part of this team.

The rest of the team has relatively low flash numbers. Fer has been one of the most aggressive players in the world for a long time, and his playstyle is mirrored by felps. That likely contributes to their lack of flash assists, as they tend to be up close and personal with the enemy team rather quickly. What really surprises me is coldzera’s low numbers. He plays such a passive style, I would have assumed he’d end up supporting a bit more often than he does.

Clutches: TACO

This was a big surprise. TACO is the only player on MIBR with a positive clutch ratio in the last six months. he is 20 of 37, putting him at an abysmal 54% win rate. Coldzera, someone who has classically been considered a great clutch player, has won just 12 of his last 25, a 48% win rate. FalleN has gone 13 of 27, also a 48% win rate.

Winning 1v1s is a crucial part of having a functioning team in the top five. Especially when you have a player of coldzera’s caliber and reputation. Not being able to close out close rounds is a major contributor to MIBR’s dysfunction, which is one of the worst ways for a team to fail. There is no one way to fix a team wide inability to clutch. More practice, more demo review, those are really the only things that could revitalize this team’s ability to win 1v1 situations.

Opening Duels: Fer

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fer is the best on MIBR at taking opening duels. He sits at .13 KPR and .11 DPR, which nets him a 54.2% rate. What makes those stats really impressive is that he’s doing that on 24.5% of MIBR’s attempts. About 1/4th of the time, Fer is making first contact with the enemy, and he wins those engagements more than half of the time. That’s a big deal for a team like this, which can’t win clutches to save their lives.

Everyone on the team has at least average opening numbers, except TACO. Coldzera has by far the best success rate at 66.9%, albeit on just 14.2% of attempts, the lowest number we’ve seen on any team so far. Felps is their second most frequent entry fragger, with a 52.5% win rate.