MiBR is in a tricky spot with the reported benching of the team’s star player.
According to a report by HLTV, Marcelo “coldzera” David has requested his deactivation from the team following BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles and Intel Extreme Masters XIV Chicago. If true, that would include his withdrawal from the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major.
Per HLTV, the reasoning behind the request is frustration over MiBR’s unideal results in recent months. Rumors of strife within the team have also lingered for months.
Though the squad has been competitive with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive elites, MiBR has not reached a live tournament grand finals since the Esports Championship Series Season 6 Finals when it was still fielding a mixed Brazilian-American roster. The team has posted strong performances at prestigious events including a third-place finish at the IEM Katowice Major, but hasn’t performed at a level similar to their heyday with Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming from 2016 to 2017.
Coldzera hasn’t been alone in his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance of late. In June, the organization performed a trade with Luminosity Gaming, exchanging JoĂŁo “felps” Vasconcellos for Lucas “LUCAS1” Teles.
The move was designed to inject some freshness into the team but the first taste of the new lineup wound up being a bitter one. At ESL One Cologne, MiBR was among the first eliminations from the tournament. The Brazilian squad dropped a best-of-one to Fnatic before getting booted from the event by BIG. That was seemingly the final straw for Coldzera.
If Coldzera does decide to take a break following IEM Chicago, that would leave the team with a blank spot on its roster heading into the StarLadder Major. Due to roster restrictions for the team, that would force the side to field coach Wilton “zews” Prado in his place and would seriously hamper their hopes of qualifying for the Champions Stage.
It is not clear how committed Coldzera is to sitting out at this time. He has not yet issued a statement on the matter and it is possible strong showings at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles or Intel Extreme Masters XIV Chicago might be enough to inspire him to stick around. Regardless, this is a story worth watching over the coming months.
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