MIBR beat Gen.G to secure group final spot

MIBR are through to the Group C final in Phase 2 of Flashpoint after picking up a close three-map win against Gen.G.

The Brazilian team came back from behind to beat Gen.G and reach their second consecutive group final in Flashpoint, repeating the victory from Phase 1's consolidation match. Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's troops got off to a shaky start as they gave a disappointing account of themselves on Dust2, but even without their comfort pick of Overpass they were able to pull off the reverse sweep, with Ignacio "⁠meyern⁠" Meyer and Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe leading the charge on the last two maps.

A trio of kills from Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga in a convincing pistol round set MIBR up for an early lead on Gen.G's map pick, Dust2. The North Americans improved once they had guns in hand, but every time they threatened to run away with proceedings, MIBR fought back to close the distance, with only one round separating the two teams at the break.

But things quickly fell apart for MIBR after they switched to the Terrorist side. A disastrous pistol round in which they weren't able to even take a single health point off Gen.G's players was the beginning of a nightmarish offensive display as FalleN's troops scraped just one round before losing the map.

After having on Dust2 one of his worst performances since joining MIBR, meyern woke up on Vertigo and helped MIBR to take seven rounds on the Terrorist side in a back-and-forth first half that could have been much different had the Brazilians not let Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen pull off a 1v3 clutch early on in the game.

A quad-kill from the young Argentine wasn't enough for MIBR to win the second-half pistol as Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele successfully defended the bomb after being left alone against three opponents. The landscape of the game changed dramatically once it hit the guns stages as MIBR enjoyed a spell of dominance and began to build a solid lead. Gen.G capitalised on a massive blunder from FalleN, who fell off the map in a 5v5 situation, and put together a string of rounds to equalise the score at 13-13, but they wouldn't be able to go all the way. The Brazilians brought that streak to an end on a very weak buy and ran away with the game, with kNgV- dealing the finishing blow with a quad-kill.

MIBR came out the livelier of the two teams on Train and raced to an 8-1 lead, but Gen.G tightened up their defense and went on a spectacular run to bring the gap to a solitary round before the break. After switching sides, the Brazilians kept their defense tight and quickly hit 14 rounds. daps's troops picked up the pace after that and pinned MIBR's players against the ropes, only to collapse in the 28th round against little more than a Scout and a couple of pistols.

Gen.G will continue their run in the group's lower bracket, returning to action on Saturday to face Dignitas in the consolidation final.