insani puts on a show as MIBR eliminate Grayhound from IEM Katowice

The Brazilian youngster was firing on all cylinders for the entirety of the series to power his new side to a 2-1 victory over the Australians.

MIBR live to fight another day at IEM Katowice after getting the better of Grayhound, 2-1. The Brazilians eliminated the Australian roster in last place on the back of a late-map recovery on Inferno (16-13), a gut-wrenching loss on Anubis (14-16), and a commanding display on Vertigo (16-2) to wrap things up.

MIBR were initially sent down to the lower bracket following a 13-16 defeat to Ninjas in Pyjamas. The opening-round loss against Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and company was a particularly hard pill for Raphael "⁠exit⁠" Lacerda's troops to swallow. The in-game leader spoke to HLTV.org after the game, saying that he believed the result could have gone the other way had the Brazilians succeeded in maintaining their grip on the economy.

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Regardless, the team stabilised in their first hurdle in the lower bracket, triumphing over the Australians thanks to a sublime 1.45 rating performance from Felipe "⁠insani⁠" Yuji, who is notably participating at his first-ever LAN event. MIBR's quest to secure an IEM Katowice group stage berth now rests on completing the gauntlet run with a victory over fnatic, their do-or-die matchup versus the European ensemble being scheduled for Friday at 16:00 .

The defeat consigns Grayhound to another early exit in Katowice, and the Australian roster now head home from their last two outings at the Polish spectacle in joint-last place. Grayhound's only positive takeaway came in the form of Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter, who went above and beyond the call of duty with a server-high 31 kills on Inferno, eventually ending the best-of-three as the only member of the roster with a 1.00+ rating.

Grayhound opted to start the series on Inferno, a map where they had boasted an 80% win rate over the past three months to make it their most popular choice. The Brazilians sought to punish this pick early on, recovering from a hiccup in the second round by drumming up an early 4-1 lead on the CT-side. A hat-trick of round wins thanks to fortunate sprays through smoke brought Grayhound back to a 4-4 stalemate, but MIBR — fueled by world-class fragging from their new recruit of insani — doubled down, conceding just two more rounds by the half's end to race up to a 9-6 lead by the side swap.

Grayhound snatched control of the momentum on the back of a mishmash buy of Desert Eagles and P250s to start the second period, bankrupting the Brazilians and using the boost in economic freedom to take the lead for the first time in the series, 13-11. This buffer began to collapse once the map reached its crescendo, however, with INS' server-leading 31 kills not being enough to stop MIBR's well-executed site takes from suffocating the Australians round after round to walk up to a 16-13 victory on their foes' map choice.

MIBR chose a wildcard pick for their veto selection and sent the series to Anubis, a map that was the Brazilians' least-played map over the last three months and one they sported two back-to-back losses on since its introduction in November.

MIBR's gameplan had clear chinks in its armour once play started, an opening 4-1 T-side advantage in favour of the Brazilian quintet being whittled down to five rounds apiece once Grayhound had the funds to fully invest. MIBR rallied together and went on a spree of their own to close out proceedings, stringing together the final three rounds to sit ahead 8-7 at the interval.

Double kills from Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles and Matheus "⁠Tuurtle⁠" Anhaia in the 17th round kick-started a slew of victories to inch the squad ever closer to a 2-0 sweep. Grayhound were injected with an electric burst of energy once backed into a corner, though, a superb five-round streak courtesy of expert bombsite takes and fluid map control usage bringing the two squads level pegging, 14-14. In the end, it was Declan "⁠Vexite⁠" Portelli who came up clutch, a 1vs3 in round 29 being the rocket fuel in allowing Grayhound to close out the game just in time, 16-14.

MIBR got off to a blistering start on Vertigo, insani and Breno "⁠brnz4n⁠" Poletto combining for 16 kills by the time the Brazilians went 5-0 up on the defense. It took until the eighth round and a well-timed lurk from INS for Grayhound to get on the scoreboard, but this was one of few positives that the Australians had to write home about in the first half. MIBR steamrolled their opponents for the remainder of their CT-side, putting their dominance on full display to lead 13-2 at the switch. MIBR didn't relent when it was their turn to go on the attack, the Brazilian lineup picking up three rounds in quick succession to close the map out, 16-2, and send Grayhound packing in clean fashion.