MIBR looked promising at SI 2021 as the team finished in third place just behind Team Liquid and eventual champions, Ninjas in Pyjamas.

But what started out as an exciting and optimistic year ended up being a nightmare. The team finished in third place in Stage 1 of the Brasileirão, followed by a hopeful second place at the Copa Elite Six. Everything was according to plan.

Until the second stage. There, everything started to go wrong. Felipe “FelipoX” De Lucia suffered a shoulder injury which left MIBR in a very difficult situation, as the team did not have a sixth player. Out of nine matches, the Brazilians have only won one, missing out on the second Copa Elite Six of the year.

MIBR director Guilherme “Guille” Scalfi spoke about it in a written interview with SiegeGG.

According to Guille: “Our main problem was the injury of FelipoX, because we were coming from a fashionable and incredible SI 2021 season, then we ‘stopped’ in time. Our work was put aside and we started to He is very important for our roster and we missed his presence during the second division.

Following FelipoX’s injury, the team signed Luiz “SKaDinha” Salgado, who played for that same roster in his Team oNe days. Guille revealed that “the team had tried to create a MIBR Academy, but the project could not start”. The organization wanted to have a “young roster with experience”, so he was the perfect man. Plus, it’s also comforting to have a player in the lineup who can step up to situations like an unexpected injury.

With FelipoX back on the team for Stage 3, the team finished third in the Third Division. However, the team missed out on the final round of the Copa Elite Six as their loss to Atheris Esports proved decisive.

Later, Kaique “Faallz” Moreira will undergo surgery. And as if that weren’t enough, internal issues prompted coach Matheus “Budega” Figueiredo to make the decision to leave the team.

Despite the problems encountered throughout 2021, it would be unfair to say that the MIBR arrives at this weekend’s event in poor condition. The Brazilians recently defeated Mexican Major Champions Team oNe and lost by a slim margin to eventual BR6 2021 Champions Team Liquid.

“We had a great year 2021, but it was with a lot of close results. We’re trying to focus on consistency and improving our gameplay to be better than last year. It’s been a tough year. learning for our team,” he said.

In order to qualify for the Sweden Six Invitational, MIBR will need to defeat two of the other five teams in the competition, including four from Argentina or South America. Both of these regions have improved recently, especially the latter. It will be interesting to see how these regions behave, Guille saying that “they [SA and MX] better and that we are very careful in our preparation.

“I like blk’s aggressiveness and precision. He is new to Malvinas and he was great in the 3º Elite Six,” he concluded.

The Paraguayan player was in the spotlight at the last Copa Elite Six as he eclipsed Brazilian sides, including eventual Swedish Major champions FaZe Clan. Richard “blk” Rodríguez finished the event with a SiegeGG rating of 1.31, the highest in the competition.

MIBR will not play on Saturday, as the team will start from the final bracket on Sunday. If everything works out well for them, the team could book their flights to Sweden.