What we learned from the Americas RMR

The Americas RMR has now finished and after leaving the dust to settle on what was an action-packed event, in this article we will explore a few of the key talking points and takeaways from the Major qualifier.

Liquid doesn't need to rely on YEKINDAR

After his massive performances at ESL Pro League, the Latvian star was expected to tear up the competition at the RMR and spearhead an easy 3-0 run for Liquid. Those expectations didn't quite come to fruition, YEKINDAR still posted a 1.16 rating for the event which granted is far from a bad showing but he was the second worst-rated player for the North American side at the event.

In particular, YEKINDAR went missing in the team's final match, against Evil Genuises where he posted a negative 0.98 rating. This is not something for Liquid fans to worry about though, in fact, quite the opposite, proving that they don't need to lean on the star Entry fragger to win games is a sign of the team's overall strength.

malbsMd's LAN struggles continue

Without a doubt one of the most talented players coming out of the South American region over the past years, Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa got his first big break with a move to 00NATION at the tail end of last year. While the lineup was one of the most underwhelming rosters in recent history, malbsMd was the stand-out member of the squad alongside AWPer Santino "try" Rigal. The Guatemalan rifler looked to prove his chops at his first international LAN at the Antwerp Americas RMR, but failed to deliver with a 0.98 rating in what would be his final tournament with the 00NATION team.

After re-joining oNe, the side he exploded onto the scene with it was hoped that he would be able to prove his skill at the Rio RMR. Disappointingly, he once again failed to find form at a big LAN posting a 0.96 rating. Going positive in only one match, against perennial Advanced and former team Infinity. At 19 there is still plenty of time for malbsMd to find his feet at the big tournaments, but all fans will be hoping he finds them sooner rather than later or Guatemala risk losing a generational talent for the small South American nation.

Evil Geniuses are good?

One of the shocks of the tournament was the form of the Canadian, American, and EU mix. After their hopeless project revolving around Jake "Stewie2k" Yip fell apart, the legendary brand decided to go a different route. Their 'Blueprint' project has been questioned and mocked by some fans, but at the RMR they proved that they, at least the main team, are heading in the right direction. After showing signs of improvement at ESL Pro League managing wins over top 30 teams Movistar Riders and Eternal Fire, the team came into the RMR on form.

Picking up a surprise 16-14 win over FURIA to send them to the 2-0 bracket and managing to fight off comeback kings 9z in their qualification match-up, Evil Geniuses even put up a decent fight against Liquid for the sole Legends spot. Whilst there may be questions still over the form of Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte and it is yet to be seen whether former star AWPer Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov can continue his resurgence (posting a 1.12 rating across this event), there is no doubt light at the end of the tunnel for the troubled organization.

Complexity aren't there...yet

Another staple brand of the Counter-Strike scene, Complexity have endured a rough time over the past few years and their Top Eight finish at the FACEIT London Major feels like a long, long time ago. Since then COL has gone through a number of changes, they built the 'Juggernaut' roster spearheaded by Benjamin "blameF" Bremer which after initial promise failed to deliver during the online era.

Then they picked up the former Extra Salt team who had posted some eye-catching results but just lost their star AWPer Josh "oSee" Ohm. This proved pivotal as his replacement Paytyn "Junior" Johnson failed to show that he could have any impact at the Tier one level. At Pro League it seemed like Complexity had found their AWPer, Norwegian Håkon "hallzerk" Fjærli may have only posted a 1.04 rating but his real impact came from his addition freeing up his team.

Now not having to worry about whether their AWPer is going to take initiative and win fights, Michael "Grim" Whince flourished posting a 1.19 rating for the side. At the RMR it was even more obvious the newfound confidence that the team had, with both Ricky "floppy" Kemery and Justin "FaNg" Coakley demonstrating signs of their potential ceilings as riflers. FaNg especially, demonstrated skill in some incredibly clutch, high-pressure moments an incredibly valuable asset for such a young roster.

Complexity showed their inexperience against 00NATION, it was obvious that the pressure of qualifying for the Major was influencing some poor decisions. Their mistakes against 00NATION ultimately led to their elimination as, despite playing much better vs Imperial, there was nothing they could do to stop FalleN from reaching Rio. Despite their failure to make Rio, it's just a question of when rather than if this Complexity line-up can start putting up consistent results in big tournaments.

Devine intervention or temporary inspiration helps Imperial.

Whilst 9z and Evil Genuises may have made shock runs, none were more fairytale-esque than that of Imperials. Having seen legendary former teammate coldzera and Epitacio "TACO" de Melo put up numbers to pull their 00NATION team over the qualification line against Complexity, it was FalleN's turn to do the same.

In the fight for the final qualification spot, it came down to experience vs inexperience and Brazil vs North America. FalleN and Fernando "fer" Alvarenga rolled back the years to help the team in their final stand, but it was new addition Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes' god-like form on the final map that sealed the deal. Complexity fought hard against the Brazilian side but there was a feeling that nothing could deny the legends one final ride at a Major, especially on home soil.

Now whether you believe in destiny or not, Imperial's sudden inspired form meant that all the members of the legendary SK team would be in attendance at the Major that without their existence probably would never have arrived in Brazil. For Complexity it was heartbreaking, but even they would admit that a Brazilian Major without FalleN just wouldn't be right...and maybe the Counter-Strike gods did too.

Final thoughts

Maybe the biggest of all the takeaways from this event was just how much the Americas scene has improved over the past year, gone are the days where minnows would get stomped out. With ECL teams like ATK and Nouns putting up respectable fights against higher-tier opposition it showed the beauty of the open circuit format.

The passion, emotion and intensity of the match-ups also showed that CS:GO is more than just a game, for some it is their life and what a pleasure it is that we get to watch it.