MIBR take down EG to advance to Group A winners' match in Shanghai

MIBR have assured themselves of a playoff appearance at the CS:GO Asia Championships after beating Evil Geniuses in two maps.

The Brazilian team will move on to Group A's winners' match after putting up an efficient all-round display against Evil Geniuses, who will fight for their tournament lives against G2 on Thursday. It was perhaps one of the best performances in recent memory from MIBR, who ended a seven-map losing streak against the North Americans, after a series in which they took the upper hand early on.

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's side even showed tremendous improvements on Inferno - a map that has often proved to be the Achilles heel for them - and are looking like a serious candidate in Shanghai, while Evil Geniuses continue to struggle on Chinese soil after going out 5th-6th at IEM Beijing earlier in the month.

The North Americans came out the brighter of the two sides as they picked up an early lead on the T side of Vertigo. With guns in hand, the Brazilians successfully used a double AWP setup and quickly overcame the deficit, but EG were in control during the final stages of the half and went into the break up by three rounds.

MIBR came out of the break with a vengeance and ran all over the EG defense, with Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga quickly hitting the 30-frag mark. Down 11-13, the North Americans finally managed to string rounds together, but their hopes of a comeback were short-lived as FalleN and Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe came to MIBR's rescue to seal a hard-fought 16-13 success.

The Brazilians carried their momentum into the following map, Inferno, and dictated proceedings early on thanks to some key rounds by Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles, who wreaked havoc on the B site. Evil Geniuses looked bereft of ideas and had to rely on a quad kill by Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte to end MIBR's eight-round winning streak, but they continued to struggle to break through the Brazilian defense and were limited to just three rounds in the half.

After switching over to the defense, Evil Geniuses bought some breathing room after winning the early rounds, but they were pressed against the ropes once MIBR had guns in hand. With their economy severely damaged, the North Americans had to rely on the MAG-7 to shut down the Brazilians and then enjoyed their best period of the game as they brought the deficit to 10-14 with a tight defense. But a comeback was not to be as MIBR upped the pace and won the final two rounds they needed to come out on top and set up a winners' clash against hometown favourites TYLOO for a spot in the semi-finals.