Analyzing MiBR's CS:S Success

Posted by: Karpov

Article by General Manager Paulo "pvell" Velloso


What made MiBR succeed without practicing?

It would be easy to talk about MiBR if the game was Counter-Strike :1.6. There is no way to deny MiBR turned into one of the best teams in the history of Counter-Strike after conquering two well respected international tournaments -- ESWC 2006 and shgOpen 2007 -- in less than a year, and placing in the top four in most of the tournaments they participated in.

But what if we talk about the team playing CS: Source? After participating in the Intel Challenge Cup in Russia, MiBR’s five players had a long journey back home and realized that in only two days they would have to play a game in one of the most ambitious Latin American events of all time, with little practice. This is MiBR’s story while competing at the CGS Latin American live qualifier.

After announcing on that they were invited to participate in a competition to play Counter-Strike: Source, MiBR received heavy criticism from the fans, and to the fans credit they had a point. The team risked their name by playing Source at The CGS, one small slip up could discredit their abilities to perform. To make things worse, the team couldn’t travel with their complete roster as Bruno "bit" Lima (17) did not meet the leagues age requirements (18). Thinking fast, the team invited their ex-coach and experienced player Jorginho from team REVOLTZ to join after Kiko declined the request in order to pursue his medical school studies.

Entering Mexican soil, MiBR had no time to get organized, since they would already be playing the next day. The CS:S event consisted of two other Brazilian teams (g3x and Yeah), two Mexican teams (Art of War and InRage), one Argentinean team (Army), a Chilean team (PuntoCL) and one Venezuelan team (XiX), all of which focused on over throwing MiBR at the live qualifier.

In their first match, MiBR confronted the Brazilian Source team Yeah. Playing on Nuke, MiBR won with an easy score of 10-4, and showed the most dominate performance of the first round, hardly illustrating that they were trying out a new game. No strategy got them through the win, just pure skill and experience.

From that, a big expectation from the public was created. Everybody already new what the players cold do, but was the team experience beginners luck or perhaps needed to be put to a harder test?

In their second match, MiBR confronted their Argentinean rivals from ARMY, another team already prepared for Source. Army won their first round match against Venezuelan team XIX in overtime, by 10-9. On Inferno, the team showed that they were very efficient, and closed that match with a break, at 10-5 and earned a spot at the Grand Final. No one doubted their talent any more.

The two Mexican teams Art of War and InRange butted heads in the other semi final, which meant that MiBR would have a hometown team for the championship. Art of war cruised to victory with a 10-6 win in the match. This set the stage for the Grand Final.

MiBR finished the first half with a solid 7-2 advantage, but it was only sufficient enough to push the match into overtime as Art of War managed to rack up 7 second half rounds of their own. At 9-9 the difference between the players of the two teams became transparent. When you play overtime in Source, you have just one round to decide the match, therefore experience and skill counts more so than practice and knowledge of the game. MiBR took that round and ended up top dog in the live qualifier.

So how did MiBR adjust to CS:S after only two days and win the live qualifier? Simple, they know how to play under pressure. I have no doubts that MiBR will go on to become one of the top Counter-Strike: Source teams after a few months of practice.