MIBR is the sixth team invited to ESL One: Cologne 2019. The announcement was made by the ESL Twitter account on Wednesday (24). Brazilians join Astralis, Natus Vincere (Na’Vi), Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), FaZe Clan and BIG. It is the second time that Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s team contests the championship as MIBR. In the 2018 edition, the team finished at eighth place. The 2019 edition will take place at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, between July 2 and 7. Some of the best sides in the world will compete for the lion’s share of US $ 300,000.
We should remind you that the MIBR team won ESL One Cologne in 2016 and 2017, when competing as SK Gaming The ESL One: Cologne 2019 is part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 2, a tournament circuit organized by ESL and DreamHack which will give $ 1 million to the first team to win four titles this season. An interesting twist to 2019 is the $ 100,000 bonus for the team that prevents the opponent from winning the fourth trophy.
??⛪️ @natusvincere, @BIGCLANgg, @astralisgg, @FaZeClan, @NiPGaming and @mibr are confirmed for #ESLOne Cologne! Who will be the next team to accept the challenge?
? https://t.co/aoB4fdAbTm pic.twitter.com/FypknwhmzF
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 25, 2019
The MIBR lineup is composed by Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Marcelo “coldzera” David, Epitácio “TACO” by Melo and João “felps” Vasconcellos. Recently the team ended the participation in the regular season of the ESL Pro League Americas with a 2-1 record. This result was enough to secure qualification to the finals of the competition that will take place in June. The team also beat Astralis at the BLAST Pro Series Miami and finished the tournament in third place. The result helped the team climb to sixth place in the HLTV ranking.
Rough Start To 2019
MIBR has had its fair share of troubles in the past months. After finishing as the semifinalists in the FACEIT Major, the Brazilians hit rock bottom. They were demolished by almost every team they faced, as they were beaten in nine out of the ten games played.
The most embarrassing performance of the team was in Sao Paulo, in front of their fans. Since the team lost all the matches they played in the competition. After that, they were knocked out in the group stage of the StarSeries Season 7 where they lost three out of the four games played. The team finally got back to its winning ways in Miami. In the competition they not only beat Astralis 16-2 but managed to win the against C9 and also tied a series, 1-1 with the champions FaZe.
??⛪️ The Brazilian dynasty that already tamed the Cathedral of #CSGO twice is coming back for more! Can @mibr pull off the three-peat at #ESLOne Cologne?
? https://t.co/aoB4fdiB1O pic.twitter.com/MhQt9MRIpl
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) April 24, 2019
Apart from MIBR and other announced teams, ESL is yet to reveal five other invited candidates. A total of 16 teams will participate in the competition out which 12 are invited. While the remaining four will prevail from the qualifiers.
Last year Na’Vi won the title after beating the German side BIG. It will be intriguing to see which team will shine this year. Since Astralis will surely come out all guns blazing after a disappointing result in Miami. Meanwhile, MIBR can be rated as dark horses of the competition after their slippery slope of defeats in recent months.
