MiBR will compete in ESL Pro League North America
MIBR announced they will be participating in the ESL Pro League Season 11 North American division, in a bid to try and qualify for the ESL One Cologne, while also keeping their spot in FLASHPOINT league.
The announcement surfaced this Saturday, March 21, on MIBR's official Twitter page, where the Brazilian esports organisation explained that they will look to gather points in the ESL Pro Tour rankings, hoping to qualify for the next Masters Championship event, the ESL One Cologne.
The prominent Brazilian CS:GO team also criticised the rankings, which they described as harmful to fans, the community and the ecosystem of competitive CS:GO, and called for an overhaul of the system which would give teams in all leagues an equal chance of qualifying for circuit events.
"We believe the EPT ranking is harmful to fans, the community & ecosystem at large, and should be revised so teams in all leagues have an equal chance of qualifying for the circuit events," read MIBR's post.
ESL Pro League Season 11: North America is slated to begin on March 26 and run until April 12. The tournament will be played entirely online, amid the COVID-19 spread and it will feature six teams in Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, FURIA Esports, MIBR and Swole Patrol.
Unlike how it is in ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe, where there are 18 teams divided into three groups of six, the North American league will only feature one group of six teams. Throughout the regular season, a single round-robin format will be used with all matches played as best-of-three (Bo3). Top two teams will then advance directly into the upper bracket playoffs, while third and fourth team get placed in the lower bracket.
Playoffs will be played in a double-elimination bracket, with all matches will be played as Bo3, except for the grand finals which are Bo5. The total prize pool has yet to be announced, however, teams will get awarded an additional US $5,000 for each group stage win, meaning a perfect run through the group stage would net a team an additional $20,000 in tournament winnings.
As it stands now, MIBR are placed 19th in the ESL Pro Tour rankings with 120 points, meaning they don't make the cut to be invited for the $1 million event and could even miss out on securing a spot at the LAN qualifier. The Brazilians had dropped out of Pro League after they finished Season 10, to join FLASHPOINT as one of the league's founding members.
In the FLASHPOINT Season 1, MIBR already played two games in Group A; lost to Chaos Esports Club and defeated Envy. MIBR are now set to lock horns with Gen.G in the lower bracket finals on Monday, March 23, where they will chase a ticket for the group finals and a direct bye into the upper bracket of playoffs. Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and co. announced they will be able to compete in both leagues because they moved to online settings amid the coronavirus outbreak.
MIBR CS:GO team is:
Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo
Fernando "fer" Alvarenga
Epitácio "TACO" de Melo
Vito "kNgV-"Giuseppe
Ignacio "meyern" Meyer
Wilton "zwes" Prado – coach
