Some incredible news has hit the CS:GO scene in the past couple of months regarding Brazilian Counter-Strike, but what has been revealed in the past few days has been the most incredible. A Ukrainian and a Russian player are to join a Brazilian team that has been reported to be departing from their organization. As TACO has now left SK, these reports are all but a reality. Paying a massive buyout from Na’Vi in what will be a very experimental move makes no sense, until you consider the fact that they’re owned by the same people.

12/5/17 - Immortals acquires the MiBR brand

1/26/18 - SK to depart to Immortals’ MiBR

3/22/17 - s1mple and flamie to possibly join the SK core, replacing boltz and TACO

3/23/17 - SK core to join Na’Vi rumors surface on reddit

Above is a timeline of reports that specifically concerns the SK core. Although there is much happening with other Brazilian teams, their changes are not particularly relevant to tier 1 Counter-Strike at this time or the SK core.

The first move to occur was the Immortals’ acquisition of the Made in Brazil (MiBR) trademark from Paulo Veloso—father of a former Counter-Strike player, successful Brazilian businessman, and owner of the most successful Brazilian team until SK. MiBR, eight years after dissolution, remains one of the most recognizable Counter-Strike franchises. Winning five big international tournaments and having some of the best Counter-Strike players to come through its ranks, MiBR is worthy of being one of the most respected names in Counter-Strike and is a brand worth reviving.

After releasing their Counter-Strike team but acquiring the MiBR name, everyone assumed that SK would join MiBR; it just made sense. It would be only fitting for a team as prestigious as the SK team to play under the prestigious MiBR name. However, reports of the Brazilian team’s dissatisfaction with the SK management granted a level of formality to the speculation.

Earlier this week, neL reported that s1mple and flamie were in talks with the SK core. The point about talks happening is nearly certain, but both DeKay and neL have stated that nothing is a done deal yet. Even so, the departure of TACO all but indicates that a move will occur by the start of DreamHack Masters Marseilles.

The issue with the speculation surrounding this roster change is that the SK players are set to depart from the organization by July. If SK is pursuing a buyout for their team as much as they are, which is only logical, then it makes no sense for them to buy out two very expensive players from another team. BUT it makes sense if SK and Na’Vi are owned by the same people, which they are. Na’Vi’s management states that they no longer have any ties to ESForce, but DeKay reports otherwise, which I am far more inclined to believe. Just like RFRSH’s ability to move dennis into Astralis as a substitute with ease, ESForce may move s1mple and flamie onto SK with similar ease. On Friday, neL stated that the SK core were open to examining other players than s1mple, but chose s1mple because he is the best. I postulate that it simply isn’t s1mple being the best, but that he is also by far the most convenient superstar to recruit.

I’d like to address the criticism from Richard Lewis and Thorin regarding the possibility of two CIS players joining a team called Made in Brazil. Yes, it sounds strange, but there is precedent. Two Norwegians (bsl and elemeNt) and a Swede (vesslan) have already played under the MiBR banner with bsl being particularly instrumental in the success of the Brazilian team.

Even though Brazilian Counter-Strike was able to reach new heights under the direction of bsl, this move is not at all like that. bsl’s presence in Brazil gave top Brazilian players an understanding of the European meta and how to practice. He wasn’t simply an in-game leader, he was a teacher. Due to this move being the opposite of that, I am beginning to feel concerned about the future of Brazilian Counter-Strike.

If Brazilian Counter-Strike is to survive, it will survive because players like coldzera and felps are given opportunities to prove their worth and gain valuable experience in exchange. When choosing a foreign player over a Brazillian player, FalleN steps away from his role as godfather to Brazilian Counter-Strike. With FalleN's leadership being as crucial as it is to Brazilian success, I begin to fear for the future of Brazilian CS as Brazilian up-and-comers no longer have the opportunity to study under the best. FalleN, like bsl, was an incredible leader in and out of game. He funded and managed Games Academy, and barely after getting to his feet in NA, he brought the Brazilian B team over to the US. cogu may have been the best AWPer in any CS franchise, but FalleN has not only been a great AWPer, but a leader whose presence was absolutely required for the success Brazil now enjoys. Instead of zqk continuing with the Keyd Stars line-up, FalleN chose coldzera to be their fifth man as they joined Luminosity. Before this point, coldzera won a grand total of $64.04 from LAN competition. He was nobody, but immediately after joining Luminosity, he played his first ever real LAN and made it to the quarterfinals. He wasn’t just on a much bigger stage than before, but he was on the biggest stage of Counter-Strike, the Major stage. At ESL One Cologne 2015, coldzera held his own, earning a 1.08 HLTV rating.

Besides the long-term implications on Brazilian CS when it comes to this move, I predict issues to occur when it comes to communication. s1mple isn’t exactly the best English speaker, nor is he the best speaker in general, although he has improved greatly in that department. What also concerns me when it comes to this move, as mentioned on By the Numbers, is that s1mple had issues of homesickness while in NA. Devoid of context, what is to say that this won’t happen again? But with the context of s1mple’s development and SK’s close knit, family-like vibe of living under one roof, I have less of a fear. Additionally, from the investigative reports, s1mple is said to be nearly signed to SK while flamie is 50/50. To me, this would indicate that s1mple believes himself to have gotten over the hump of homesickness and is eager to play with SK. All in all, I believe these secondary factors to s1mple’s success in SK to be mostly taken care of.

In terms of the primary factors relating to SK’s ability to function as a winning team, I believe SK to be well-equipped. s1mple bum rushes the opponent, FalleN zones the opponent with AWP presence, cold is an unstoppable turret, and before the opponent has a chance to react, fer has killed the rest of them from behind. This sounds like a great dynamic for the team in theory, but it may not work out. That’s because SK would lack support players in a line-up. Nevertheless, FaZe was able to make it work with their last two to three line-ups. A team of star players would require an incredibly capable in-game leader, which FaZe has, and if this change were to go through, then SK has a leader suited for the task.

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SK is by no means guaranteed success, especially since they aren’t experienced with playing as an international mix team. This change will be able to put SK back on top if successful, but that is far from guaranteed and much is risked in the attempt.

The core of SK has determined that they will be playing with s1mple and possibly flamie. That’s what Immortals will get when they sign the team, even if it does compromise the Made in Brazil concept. While everyone is saying that Immortals will just wait for the contracts to run out and that’s that, the reports of s1mple and flamie joining in the immediate future, exacerbated by the departure of TACO, may point to SK having other plans in mind. Since Immortals is unwilling to buy SK’s CS:GO team right now, maybe, the recruitment of s1mple and flamie is just something extra to sweeten and hasten the deal. Instead of having to wait for the contracts to expire and still have to pay for s1mple and flamie, Immortals can get all five players right now, and ESForce can get a deal that is more appealing than what’s on the table right now.

Image credit: Movistar eSports, Dot Esports

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