MIBR move past EG to advance to BLAST Premier Spring Finals title decider

The Brazilians came back from a map down to beat Evil Geniuses and book a spot in Sunday's grand final.

MIBR are through to the grand final of the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in North America after a hard-fought victory against Evil Geniuses. The Brazilians stuttered, then moved into high gear, recovering from a defeat on Inferno with a masterclass performance on Train, where they picked up their first victory on the map in over two months.

Things looked bleak during the early stages of Dust2 as MIBR were being completely outclassed, but then Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga came to the team's rescue with 34 frags to carry them through to the finish line after an overtime game.

This will be MIBR's second final in the last two months, and the team's fans will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the Flashpoint meltdown, which ended up costing Ignacio "⁠meyern⁠" Meyer his spot in the starting lineup. The Argentine's replacement, Alencar "⁠trk⁠" Rossato, put in yet another strong performance, and team captain Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo was full of praise for the team's newest recruit after the match. "It is great to have him on the team, we are loving it", the veteran said.

Evil Geniuses were sharp out of the gate, shutting out the MIBR offense for the vast majority of the first half on Inferno. The rounds that the Brazilians edged out were few and far between as they struggled for ideas and kept losing aim duels, with the North Americans enjoying a commanding 12-3 lead before switching to the T side.

EG picked up where they left off and took the pistol round, only to be caught off-guard in the next round by MIBR’s pistols on arch side. The Brazilian team began to chip away at the deficit before two consecutive slip-ups in the banana put the North Americans on map point. They refused to throw in the towel and continued to put rounds together, but a failed B stack proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

MIBR entered Train hoping to end a five-game winless streak on the map that had begun with the grueling loss to MAD Lions in the Flashpoint 1 final. Doubts about their map choice were quickly dispelled as they were full of intent right from the off and raced to an 11-4 lead — a scoreline that could have been even more one-sided had it not been for impressive individual rounds from Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold and Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov.

There was more misery for Evil Geniuses as they were shut out in the following pistol round, picking up just one frag. FalleN's troops were firmly in control of the game and they held easily, stringing five rounds together in a quick second half to set up a decider game on Dust2.

Evil Geniuses made a bright start to the final map, strolling to a 6-0 lead, but everything changed after MIBR won an eco round. The Brazilians tightened up and took the upper hand, ending the half with a narrow 8-7 lead thanks to a vintage performance by fer, who had 20 kills to his name and a 140 ADR.

trk kicked MIBR further into the lead with a trio of key frags in the pistol round, with the team following that up with the next three rounds to take their lead to 12-7. With things starting to get out of control, EG needed a moment of inspiration if they were to challenge their opponents and it arrived from Ethan, who picked up four frags with the Desert Eagle to halt the Brazilians' momentum. The 20-year-old provided the spark that initiated the team's comeback, but they were unable to close out the game as MIBR forced overtime with a mid-B split in the final round.

fer had proved decisive in regulation in a 1v1 scenario in the final round, and he carried that form into overtime with a trio of kills in the first round. That was the start of a dominant period from the Brazilian side, who won two rounds in either half to wrap up the series.