MIBR vs Luminosity Gaming – ESL Pro League Season 9

One of the most cherished competitions in CS: GO is the ESL Pro League Season 9. The competition hosts the best teams in the world. Currently, 16 teams have been divided into four groups. The first-place team in each group will earn a spot for the Pro League Finals. While the second and third-placed teams of each group will play in round 2. The top two teams of the second round will join the rest in the Finals that will take place in France.

The reason we have picked this match for you is that it is a series of fire between MIBR and Luminosity Gaming. Two teams who hail from the same country, Brazil. MIBR is the most successful team of the region but has recently declined in form. Yet, it’s been a while, since Luminosity won a major competition. Therefore, it will be an exciting practice for us to see which Brazilian team will come out on top.

MIBR vs Luminosity Gaming (ESL Pro League Season 9, Best of Three, April 20th)

MIBR

One of the most decorated and prestigious names in the rich history of CS: GO is MIBR. The Brazilian side performed well in 2018, finishing at 7th place in the global rankings. They started 2019 with a 3rd-4th place finish at the IEM Katowice Major. This was a very decent result by their standards. Since it was the first tournament of the team with the all-Brazilian lineup. However, what happened in the coming weeks was a complete nightmare. After IEM Major, the team participated in the Blast Pro Series Sao Paulo. There were high expectations on the team to give a solid fight on the home soil. But, they failed miserably. In São Paulo, they finished with the worst record in the competition with 0-5, losing every game they played. The home team even lost the show-match 0-5 to ENCE. The Brazilians further declined in form after the competition.

In the World Electronic Sports Games 2018, they were eliminated by Windigo in the quarterfinals. It was shocking to see the team getting beaten this early. Since MIBR was the only team in the competition that ranked in the top 10 of the HLTV rankings. In the StarSeries Season 7 Invitational, the team was expected to pose a strong fight for the title with the absence of Liquid and Astralis. Yet they were amongst the few participants to be eliminated from the first phase of the tournament. The team lost to second-tier teams like NRG, Renegades, and North. After these series of poor performances in Sao Paulo, WESG 2018 and StarSeries, the team had accommodated nine defeats in their 10 games. This meant some changes needed to be made in MIBR.

It is no embarrassment to hit a downhill slope every now and then. But MIBR was truly down and out. The All-Brazilian lineup failed miserably. We do believe that changes were needed at the end of 2018. But, going All-Brazilian was not a wise choice. The team removed Stewie2K and coach YNK. The critics were not amused by these changes and predicted a tough time for the side. However, the team performed well a few days ago in the Blast Pro Series Miami.  They finished at the 3rd place after beating Cloud9 and Astralis. They even tied a series, 1-1 to the eventual champions of the competition FaZe Clan. Yet we and their former coach still believe that Fallen needs to reevaluate his strategy.

Old Tactics Not Working

In 2018, after the removal of Stewie2k and YNK from the team, the former coach of the side gave an interview. YNK said that it is not good for the team to resort to primitive strategies. He says that team should diversify its lineup, learn new strategies and should even try to learn English. Clearly, YNK is right, since the All-Brazilian roster of MiBR has failed and this performance Miami might just be “luck”.

We believe that Fallen should take a reality check and needs to stop pushing for the All-Brazilian team. Don’t take this in the wrong sense, since we have nothing against the impressive success of Luminosity and SK Gaming. However, those primitive days are long forgotten. Fallen won his last Major in 2016 and gave has changed a lot since then. eSports organizations like Astralis have come forward, maps have gone under major reworks, and lastly, the mechanics have been completely changed. Fallen should snap back to reality and start making some big moves. Maybe it’s time for some changes to MIBR. We are not emphasizing that the new name has to be someone from outside of Brazil. But, the side is in dire need of new guiding light to get back to its winning ways.

Gabriel “FalleN” and team compete for the Pro League with the aim to get out of the bad phase. The biggest Brazilian CS: GO team was eliminated early in the last three championships, including the BLAST Pro Series in São Paulo.

The team is competing group C and will play games against Cloud9 and Envy and Luminosity. As the opponents have just undergone major changes in their respective line-ups, MiBR should be able to qualify for the ESL Pro League Finals without major problem.

Luminosity Gaming

It should be said that Luminosity Gaming is just lucky to be here. Since the team got the ESL spot after Rogue forfeited the competition and Furia couldn’t make it. The reason why Rogue had to quit is that their CS: GO team has ceased to exist, as four out of the five players have joined other organizations. After Rogue left, ESL turned to Furia who finished first in the ESEA MDL Season 30 North America. But they couldn’t it make owing to the tight schedule. So, now we have Luminosity Gaming which was eliminated in the semifinals of the MDL. The side will surely have a tough meeting against their Brazilian compatriots, who won 16-2 against Astralis.

Final Verdict

MIBR 2-1 Luminosity Gaming

Odds on bookmakers

Bookmakers	MiBR Odds		Luminosity Gaming Odds
	European	American	European	American
GG.bet	1.19	-526.32	4.25	+325.00
1Xbet	1.21	-476.19	4.78	+378.00
Pinnacle	1.18	-555.56	4.83	+383.00
Betway	1.15	-666.67	4.75	+375.00