MIBR make Pro League alongside ATK
With ATK defeating MIBR in the upper round of ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference North America (what a mouthful) and taking a spot in EPL, it was just down to MIBR and Nouns for the final North American EPL slot. They dueled it out in the lower bracket final, with the winner qualifying to EPL and the loser getting nothing.
The first map took the teams to Nouns' pick of Inferno, where Nouns got off to an electric start despite beginning on the T-side. Three rounds went their way until MIBR fought back, but from then on out, it was a sea of orange rounds. Bomb plant after bomb plant came in with MIBR only securing a single round for the rest of the half, facing a 2-13 cliff coming into the second half. Nouns winning pistol all but put the nail in the coffin, with a MIBR force-buy putting the Brazilian side on the map with a glimmer of hope. A few rounds went their way, but eventually, the berth was too wide to overcome as Bobby "stamina" Eitrem's side finished with a 16-5 map win.
Vertigo was the next destination. MIBR's pick forced them onto the attacking side first, but the Brazilians made a more than decent half for themselves, pulling away 8 round wins despite losing the pistol. Their momentum propelled them into the three first rounds of their CT-side before Nouns struck back with four of their own. Nouns dominated on their T-side to take the lead to 15-13. The next two rounds were critical for MIBR if they did not want to kiss their EPL ticket goodbye, and a stellar defense pulled it across the line and forced overtime.
Nouns took two out of three of their T-side rounds, and with an all-important first T-round victory, placed the ball squarely in MIBR's court. Again, MIBR were facing match point two rounds down, and again, they pulled it across the line. A heroic Brazilian attack took Vertigo to a third overtime, and the tally of failed Nouns' series points to four.
Facing another overtime T-side, MIBR took two rounds again, but Nouns' first T-round tied up the score at 20 apiece. Not looking forward to another series point, MIBR took the 41st round of the game and succeeded where Nouns failed in converting a map point.
The third map brought the final battleground to Overpass, where Nouns looked to take revenge for the four lost series points. Nouns' T-side took pistol and converted rounds into a 4-1 advantage, but as soon as Breno "brnz4n" Poletto turned on, the tides of the half shifted. MIBR yanked five in a row to take the advantage back. However, in the waning rounds of the half, Nouns took four of the last five rounds, eeking out a small but significant 8-7 lead going into their CT-side. Nouns looked poised to finish off the map strong after collecting the pistol round, but MIBR would not let up. A second round victory from the Brazilians turned into a hot streak, taking five rounds in a row. Nouns won a round here and there, but were unable to create consecutive victories on their CT-side. MIBR's T-side just rolled over Nouns to take the final map of the series 16-11, securing a spot in EPL.
NounsMIBR| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
59 - 55 | +4 | 73.6 | 68.9% | 1.09 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
57 - 59 | -2 | 78.8 | 74.4% | 1.09 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
60 - 60 | +0 | 62.3 | 71.1% | 0.99 |
| Bobby 'stamina' Eitrem |
55 - 60 | -5 | 66.6 | 66.7% | 0.96 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
41 - 60 | -19 | 59.1 | 68.9% | 0.81 |
| MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Matheus 'Tuurtle' Anhaia |
63 - 53 | +10 | 78.9 | 77.8% | 1.21 |
| Raphael 'exit' Lacerda |
61 - 52 | +9 | 70.7 | 76.7% | 1.10 |
| Breno 'brnz4n' Poletto |
67 - 67 | +0 | 76.2 | 71.1% | 1.10 |
| Felipe 'insani' Yuji |
53 - 52 | +1 | 70.6 | 72.2% | 1.02 |
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
50 - 53 | -3 | 66.1 | 77.8% | 1.01 |
MIBR join ATK as two of North America's representatives at ESL Pro League along with partnered teams Liquid, Complexity, and Evil Geniuses.
