A large portion of Counter Strike’s history has been dominated by teams of European ancestry. However at times other regions have risen up in order to challenge that dominance, and in the past, during the reign of Counter Strike 1.6 as the predominant game, Brazil was one of those regions. Up until late 2015 however, Brazil had struggled to send teams to international events that truly came close to challenging the top of the food chain.

All this changed when the newest iteration of Luminosity Gaming burst onto the scene. Boasting the new additions of Fnx and Taco to the core trio of Coldzera, Fallen, and Fer, Luminosity Gaming quickly climbed through the ranks of the scene en route to becoming one of the greatest teams of all time.

Despite all of Luminosity’s success on the international stage it quickly became clear that the Brazilian scene was not satisfied with simply having one internationally relevant team, as the second best Brazilian team, now known as Immortals, managed to rise up through the ranks and become not only a top 10 team in world but also a tournament winning side.

As a scene, the Brazilian region managed to accumulate six trophies at various international LANs in 2016, and accentuated that resume with numerous top placings at other LAN’s. Now however the Brazilian scene finds itself in a period of uncertainty, as the future of the top teams currently remains mired by the mist of roster changes.

Struggles at the Top

When 2016 ultimately comes to an end, all the books of Counter Strike will have this year pegged as the year of SK. SK managed to establish themselves as the top dog in the scene for a good portion of the year and even managed to win two majors over that same time period.

However, all good times must come to an end, and in the case of SK, the last few months have not been a rosy affair. Over the last few months, not only have SK have failed to add a single championship to their resume, but they have also seemingly lost their team chemistry that had made them so fearsome in the first place.

While at first it seemed that the injury break that Fer had taken was to be held responsible for their struggles, it quickly became clear that there were more sinister forces at play behind the failings of SK.

Thanks to public interviews from SK members and pieces from journalists with insider knowledge of the scene, it became clear to the general public that internal conflicts within the team itself had been playing a large part in the failings of the team.

Quickly speculation turned towards who exactly SK could acquire in order to change things up within the team. Screenshots quickly leaked that made it quite clear that SK was interested in acquiring Felps from Immortals, and possibly a European player if the prior option didn’t pan out. On the surface, it appears that the deadline for this roster has passed, and sooner or later some sort of change within the roster will be taking place.

Time still remains for this roster to extend its lifespan however, as SK is playing at IEM Oakland this weekend and a victory at said event would go a long way towards extending the lifespan of the team. SK no longer lives in a continuum where they overcome any adversary, no matter how daunting. Instead over these past few months the members of SK have found themselves struggling both in and out of the server, a state that has been alien to them for a large portion of 2016.

Immortals Revitalized

Brazil’s success over the entirety of 2016 has not been concentrated entirely in the clutches of SK. The de facto second best Brazilian team, Immortals, managed to generate a fair bit of accomplishments on their own as well, laying claim to three championships in 2016 so far.

Their third championship came at their most recent event, IBUYPOWER Masters, where they managed to overcome Cloud 9 en route to finishing first and claiming a spot at IEM Oakland this weekend. The most interesting part of this recent championship run was that it came immediately after a roster change, as the team found themselves under new leadership after switching out Zews for former Luminosity Gaming member Steel.

Under this new regime, the Immortals roster have looked like men reborn; the same players who struggled to find their footing on the server just the weekend before at ESL Pro League looked extremely dominant versus a decent level of competition at IBUYPOWER Masters.

To make matters even more interesting at IEM Oakland, which is still currently in progress, the new look Immortals managed to finish the group stage with a four to one record. This record becomes even more impressive when you consider some of the teams that they managed to overcome at the event itself, including the ever deadly Natus Vincere.

Despite the newfound success of the Immortals roster there still remains an axe lying upon their heads at all times. As has been made clear through leaked screenshots SK are interested in acquiring Felps as a replacement for Fnx, and such an offer might be irresistible for Felps, despite all the newfound success of the immortals team.

If such a trade were to go down, or if Felps were to leave without any recompensation, the identity of the entire Immortals team would be altered at a fundamental level; after all, Felps is the primary star of the team. As is custom, the second tier team in any Counter Strike scene always finds itself subject to the whims of their big brother teams, and in the case of Immortals, their big brother in SK finds itself eyeing their piece of the pie.

What the Future Holds

The Brazilian team has been a paragon of success in 2016 so far. However, now those fortunes that set the Brazilians down that path of success have revoked their favor, and now the Brazilian scene enters a period of uncertainty. Down this path of uncertainty lies an outcome, one which no one in the scene truly knows whether it will be a positive outcome for the Brazilians or a negative one. All that can be said definitively is that the era which the scene had become accustomed to has ended. How the Brazilian scene responds to that is something ultimately only the passage of time can help show.