Top 20 players of 2018: coldzera (10)

After being named the best player in the world two years in a row, Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David takes No.10 in our top 20 ranking of 2018, powered by EGB.com.

Top 20 Players of 2018: Introduction

coldzera took his first steps in the Counter-Strike franchise back in 1.6, but it was only after CS:GO was released that he decided to take the game seriously, with several friends of his telling him that they saw in him a lot of potential. The young Brazilian started to make his way into the top of the Brazilian scene in early 2013 with Afterall, in which he played alongside his current teammate Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo, but it was only in 2015 that he broke out as an exciting talent as he played for Brazil in the South American qualifiers for The World Championships 2015 alongside four other rising talents as well as veteran Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau.

That summer, when he was still plying his trade for Dexterity, coldzera was approached by the former Keyd team, who were looking for a new player after parting ways with Caio "⁠zqkS⁠" Fonseca. Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo already knew the young player from facing him in the grand final of r1secup and did not hesitate to give him a chance just weeks before a Big Event, ESL One Cologne 2015.

The rest, as they say, is history. A title would continue to elude the team, but coldzera instantly became one of the most talked-about players in the scene, ending 2015 with a 1.16 LAN rating and not a single below-rated event - huge achievements for someone still trying to learn the ins and outs of the trade.

"What I most remember from that tournament [ESL One Cologne 2015] was a round in which I played with my in-ears in reverse. I was very nervous because it was my first international competition. The event showed me that I was on the right track and that I had made the right choice in my life."

Luminosity began 2016 with a semi-final run at StarSeries XIV, and final appearances at DH Leipzig and IEM Katowice, peaking at just at the right time, the MLG Colombus Major, where they were crowned champions after taking down Natus Vincere 2-0, becoming the first non-European team to lift a Major trophy. That was where coldzera won his first MVP award, and there would be more to come as he scooped two more medals before the end of the year after helping the team, who switched organisations to SK in the summer, to win the ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals and the ESL One Cologne Major, earning the No.1 spot in the top 20 ranking for 2016, ahead of teammate FalleN.

coldzera would repeat that feat in 2017, this time fending off the challenge of Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač with five MVP medals, three of which at Big Events (IEM Sydney, EPICENTER and the ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals), and eight EVP nods. And even though SK would not be able to win a Major title, it was an incredibly productive year for the Brazilian talent, who finished all but one of the 20 tournaments he attended with a rating of over 1.10 and averaged a stunning 1.24 rating at Big Events (1.22 in the playoff stages).

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As the year came to an end, coldzera revealed his goals for 2018: "to win as many tournaments as possible, have the best team in the world, and once again be named the best player in the world." However, as we all know, things quickly went downhill for the hot-headed Brazilians.

For SK, the year began with ELEAGUE Major Boston, which the team had to attend with benched player João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos as Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass was ineligible after playing the qualifiers as a member of Immortals. Even without any practice whatsoever leading up to the event, the Brazilians managed to reach the semi-finals before falling at the hands of eventual champions Cloud9. coldzera had a 1.13 rating at the event - his worst at a Major since ESL One Cologne 2015 but still 10% above the team’s average, not enough for him to make the EVP list of the competition.

"Our goal in every tournament was always to win. Even playing with a stand-in, we had high hopes of winning the Major because of how long we had played with felps. Playing with him again was great, he is an excellent player, but there were things about him outside the game that I did not really like."

After the Major came a streak of good events for coldzera, who was an EVP at the medium-sized cs_summit 2 and at StarSeries Season 4 and IEM Katowice, two Big Events. At the latter two, the Brazilian’s rating was 15% higher than SK’s average, and he had 1.30+ratings in half of the 12 maps that the team played in Kiev, where he was also the top performer in the Swiss stage with a 1.38 rating.

Four events into 2018, SK had yet to reach a final, and cracks were beginning to show in the squad.

"From my perspective, our heads were still in 2017 because of the fact that we had been the best team in the world again. That made the team have a very wrong mentality at the start of the year, which really affected our performances."

Things then went from bad to worse as SK bombed out at the WESG Finals, an event coldzera had described as being of the highest importance to the team. The Brazilians were eliminated by BIG, who were trialing Niels "⁠luckeRRR⁠" Jasiek and mix team Russia, prompting FalleN to admit that he felt "embarrassed" by the "unacceptable" results.

coldzera left China with a 1.13 rating - 22% higher than SK’s average -, but for the 24-year-old there was no reason to celebrate as he waved goodbye to longtime friend and teammate TACO, who realised he was no longer happy playing with the team.

"Our first problems appeared after WESG, where we had a shameful performance, and that caused the team to fall apart due to some disagreements. We were really lost because we had a wrong mentality. That really affected our game, and we lost a lot of confidence during that process. When we got back home, in California, TACO decided to leave the team and seek a new challenge. At that time, I thought about leaving with him, but because my buyout was too high I decided to stay on the team."

Before the end of the month, SK' confirmed the addition of Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip from Cloud9, marking the beginning of a new era for the team. The change to a new language and the incorporation of a new player ended up taking their toll on coldzera, who had two of his lowest ratings of the year at DreamHack Masters Marseille (1.02) and IEM Sydney (1.08), with the team winning just one out of four matches at these two events.

After the Australian event, where SK lost to TYLOO and Grayhound, came another structural change as FalleN relinquished his in-game leader duties to coldzera, who had notably called for the team in overtime during the first map of the MLG Columbus Major final.

“When Stewie joined the team, it was very hard at the beginning, not because of communication but because of the way Americans perceive Counter-Strike. We thought about playing according to their style instead of having him adapt to a style we had already tested and that had worked. That forced all of us to adapt to a new game, and building chemistry takes a long time. We thought about skipping some tournaments to get the time that we needed, but, at the same time, we were eager to win and we tried to practice as much as possible wherever we went.

"Many people criticise or complain without knowing what happens inside a team. The decision [to lead] was made because FalleN was not happy with his individual game or with his calls. I tried to help by taking some of the weight/pressure off his shoulders in a way that he would be able to focus more on his game and to gain some confidence because he himself said that he was not feeling well and that he needed help. I did not want to call, but looking at my captain caught in such a crossfire, I reached out my hand and tried to help. We were never desperate, victories and defeats are the result of a team’s work and performance. We have experienced both sides, and we know how to win and how to lose. There will always be fights and moments of joy, that is what makes a team a champion. It is all about suffering together when it is necessary and celebrating together when you win."

coldzera's first events as in-game leader were the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals and StarSeries Season 5. In both tournaments, SK went out in the first round of the playoffs, and coldzera, despite his new role, remained the team's top performer (1.11 rating in Dallas, 1.15 in Kiev).

"Leading a team is very hard. Besides having an enormous amount of pressure on yourself, you stop focusing on your game because you need to think, you need to read your opponent and to command those around you. I had been an in-game leader before, when I started playing professionally in Brazil, and I already knew how to deal with some things. Because of that, the change was not that complicated for me, and I was able to stay focused during matches and to keep playing well."

Next up on the calendar was ESL One Belo Horizonte, Brazil's first Big Event since the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, where coldzera's SK had lost to Cloud9 in the final. This time around, MOUZ proved to be the Brazilians' doom, beating them in the semi-final stage, much to the dismay of the home crowd.

For coldzera, however, there were still positives to take as he put in a 1.22 rating, the fourth-highest overall and his personal best since IEM Katowice, and a 1.25 impact rating, and averaged 85.9 damage per round, only missing out on an EVP mention due to his lackluster performance in the playoffs (0.92 rating against the Europeans).

"It is always hard to not win a title at home. We had won plenty of titles, but we still wanted to win one in Brazil. In 2019, we will fight hard to win one at home.

"Playing in Belo Horizonte was my best memory of 2018. The heat, the passion and the affection that the Brazilians demonstrate cannot be described. Playing in that arena and feeling just how much your country loves you was amazing."

ESL One Belo Horizonte also ended up being the team's last event under SK's banner, with the players then jumping ship to be part of the new iteration of MIBR, controlled by North American organisation Immortals. The squad's first event under the legendary MIBR tag was ESL One Cologne, where coldzera put in a 1.21 rating, playing a key role in the squad's top-eight finish with an Inferno 30-bomb against North to send his team through to the last group stage round, in which they could come up short against the tournament's surprise package, BIG.

"The team was dealing with a lot of problems, like boltz's removal and also me wanting to leave due to being unhappy. We started thinking about tarik because boltz was not performing as normal and had kind of 'dropped CS'. tarik joined the team at Stewie's request as they were great friends and wanted to play together again."

Before the player break, MIBR still had one more event, ELEAGUE Premier, which marked Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik's debut for the side and a year-low for coldzera, who had his only below-average rated event at 0.99 and his lowest ADR (69.7) and impact rating (0.87) in the team’s 5th-6th place finish.

“I hate playing when the team is disorganized, both as CT and T, and the change from boltz to tarik happened right before ELEAGUE. Unfortunately, the team was really disorganized at the time, and I played poorly because I felt lost in the game.”

MIBR returned to action at the ZOTAC Cup Masters, where the team ended up winning the title, their third of the year, after Adrenaline Cyber League 2018 and Moche XL Esports (which were not considered for the ranking). At this small-sized event, the Brazilians lost just 6,2 rounds on average per game, so it was no surprise that coldzera registered some year-high numbers there: 1.44 rating, 92.0 ADR and 1.39 Impact rating, settling for an EVP mention as the MVP honour was claimed by FalleN.

coldzera built on his great ZOTAC Cup Masters performance with a 1.32 rating at DreamHack Masters Stockholm - his highest at a Big Event since ESL One New York 2017. He had three 1.40+ rated maps as MIBR topped their group by beating HellRaisers and MOUZ before meeting their demise against Astralis - a match in which coldzera was once again inconsequential (0.94 rating).

After Stockholm came the FACEIT Major, where MIBR were able to repeat their top-four finish from Boston, albeit not without some nervous moments as they had to go to all five rounds of the New Legends Stage after losing to TYLOO in their opening match, and battered by Astralis. coldzera top fragged in the crunch game against Ninjas in Pyjamas and also acquitted himself well in the quarter-final encounter against Complexity before the Brazilians were thrashed by Natus Vincere in the last-four stage.

"I think we played poorly that Major because of pressure. It was the first big tournament we had had a big break for, and instead of playing to have fun, we ended up putting a lot of pressure on ourselves and we played not to lose."

BLAST Pro Series Istanbul marked coldzera's return to the EVP list of a Big Event, seven months after his last appearance. The 24-year-old helped MIBR to reach the final with a team-leading 1.29 rating in the Swiss stage, his next closest teammate being Stewie2K at 1.11. He also proved to be a nuisance to Astralis in the final, taking the third map all the way to the 30th round with a 1.33 rating before the Danes wrapped things up. coldzera, who was the only non-Astralis player to get an EVP nod, led the tournament for rating in map wins that led to victories (1.37).

Many hoped that the Istanbul run would be the start of a new MIBR, but the team then endured another dip in form, finishing rock-bottom at BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, where coldzera was the only player in the team with an above-average rating, 1.10, after putting in good performances against the top two teams in the world, Astralis and Natus Vincere, and 9th-12th at IEM Chicago.

"Our team with the Americans was really momentum-based. If we were playing well in a tournament we could go through easily, but when things got tough and the pressure was on, we could not perform. I do not know what happened at events, but our mental game was still shaken by all the defeats that we had had, and every time we had a solid lead the feeling was that we could always lose because we did not have any confidence.

"My worst memory was playing at IEM Chicago. I was really feverish and made a lot of mistakes in a decisive game because of that, and it ended up sending us out of the tournament in the groups."

After those two events came what was undoubtedly the team's best run all year. It started at the ECS Season 6 Finals, where coldzera made up for a slow start with a 1.24 rating in the playoffs, helping MIBR to a runner-up finish. For his contribution (1.17 rating, 80.2 ADR, 75.0% KAST), he was second on the EVP list, only behind Astralis captain Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander. From Arlington, the team travelled to Odense for the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, where they finished in third-fourth place after losing to Liquid in the semi-finals. For coldzera, this was a particularly disappointing tournament as he had just 50% of maps with above-average ratings and one 1.30+ rated map apart from the 16-2 thrashing of Sharks.

The year came to an end in Lisbon, where the team had won Moche XL Esports earlier in the year. This time with Braxton "⁠swag⁠" Pierce as a stand-in, MIBR finished in fourth place in the Swiss stage, with coldzera making the EVP list as he averaged a 1.31 rating, his second best of the year at a Big Event, after putting in solid numbers in all matches except the 7-16 defeat to Astralis.

After the event, it was confirmed that MIBR would go back to a full Brazilian line-up, a decision that caught many by surprise given the team's upswing in form in recent months.

"In life you sometimes have to take chances. I can say that it was very good to have played with the Americans in 2018, we learned a lot from them even though we failed many times. 2018 was a learning year that could have been different if we had won some tournaments, but I can say that it was a year in which we learned a lot and reinvented ourselves.

"The decision to go back to a Brazilian roster was because we thought that our communication and game style were not as good as they should be, our progress was good but very slow if you consider the time we had spent practicing. We did not want to miss out on the chance to bring in TACO, zews and the other player again to give it another try with a team that had been really good and that ended up falling apart for silly things. We believe that, with a 100% Brazilian line-up, we will be at 100% again."

Why was coldzera the 10th best player of 2018?

One of the biggest factors behind coldzera's selection is his remarkable consistency all year long. He was rated higher than the team's average in all 21 events that were considered and had just one below-average rating (0.99, at ELEAGUE Premier).

He had seven EVPs, five of which at Big Events, while also being the highest-rated player in the team at both Majors (1.13 in Boston and 1.18 in London). He made his presence felt with incredible round-to-round consistency, averaging 0.77 kills per round at Big Events (#5), and had a KAST in 73% of the rounds that he played in tournaments of this stature (#10).

The Brazilian's 1.16 Big Event rating ranked him eighth, but it is important to note the huge discrepancy between his group stage form (1.19 rating) and his playoff form (1.06). That tendency to run out of steam in the knockout stages of tournaments and his unimpressive peaks throughout the year are what prevented him from getting any closer to the spot he occupied in the previous two years.

"My goals remain the same! I want us to be the best team in the world and to make my country respected again. Every year is different, and in 2019 we will show everyone the strength of the Brazilian Squad!"

Bold prediction:

Surprisingly enough, coldzera did not go for any of the rising Brazilian talents, instead picking Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo as a player to watch in 2019 after helping ENCE to establish themselves as a top side last year:

Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo:

"Many new faces surprised me in 2018, but a player who really caught my eye was sergej! He has a great future ahead, he is still young but what he showed in 2018 was a big step towards becoming a great player in the future."

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2018 ranking powered by EGB.com and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected.