win.gg
Win.gg Counter-Strike TACO speaks out about MIBR, leaving Team Liquid, and more

TACO speaks out about MIBR, leaving Team Liquid, and more

M Alzamora
M Alzamora Published 19/12/2020

Brazilian CSGO player Epitácio “TACO” de Melo opened up about his experiences over the last two years of Competitive CSGO on Brazilian YouTube show and podcast Cortes do Flow earlier this week. While the show covered all of TACO’s CSGO career, the interview’s most interesting points came after TACO was asked about his stint with North American organization Team Liquid and his subsequent release and transfer to MIBR.

The talk initially focused on his adjustment to communicating in English during his time with Team Liquid, something that TACO stated was difficult due to CSGO’s fast-paced encounters. TACO, who speaks near-perfect English, told interviewers that it wasn’t the translation that he needed to fix in order to communicate effectively, but how he quickly realized he would have to learn how to think in English as well.

Taco says that returning to MIBR was a mistake

As for his return to MIBR, TACO made it clear that his eventual benching from the team alongside MIBR’s Fernando “fer” Alvarenga and head coach Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia, one of 37 coaches implicated in CSGO’s historic cheating bans, left a sour taste in his mouth. While answering questions about why he and Liquid head coach Wilton “zews” Prado had decided to reunite with MIBR and its leader, Gabriel “FalleN” Toldeo, TACO didn’t mince words with his answer.

“Do you regret leaving Team Liquid for MIBR?” asked the show’s host.

“I didn’t regret it at the time. I was convinced that [that] I was going to be back and [MIBR was] going to be the best team in the world again. I trusted those guys [on MIBR] 100%. While I don’t regret coming back [to play for MIBR], but looking back over my long career it was a bad decision,” Taco replied.

After TACO’s return, MIBR imploded. That sudden drop in performance wasn’t TACO’s fault, but instead an utter collapse of a unit that had been at the top of CSGO just a few short years earlier. TACO also dished on Luminosity Gaming in the interview, claiming that the MIBR core had left Luminosity in favor of SK Gaming due to the organization not paying the team a salary. 

Players can catch the full interview surrounding TACO’s long and impressive CSGO career here or on Cortes do Flow’s official YouTube channel

M Alzamora M Alzamora
About M Alzamora

There are few things that writer M Alzamora loves more in life than Pokemon. And there are even fewer things that she loves more than her favorite Pokemon, Eevee. But M’s appreciation for gaming isn’t just limited to Nintendo’s famous pocket monsters. She’s interested in every type of game across every genre of gaming, and she has the credentials to prove it. M’s work has also been seen on Working Classicists and gaming sites.

View full profile
Read Also
The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 News
The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 Ben Boland The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...
MLBB is the most-watched game from the EWC, and it’s hard to see another game beating it Esports Betting
MLBB is the most-watched game from the EWC, and it’s hard to see another game beating it Michael Hassall The Esports World Cup 2026 has officially passed its midway point and viewership figures for the tournament have surpassed many expectations so far, as per Esports Charts. The viewership tracking site revealed new statistics for the event on Aug. 6, showcasing just how many games had set new records in viewership, including one name leading the way in views: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. MLBB leads the viewership charts with the ...
CS2 at the EWC 2026 Preview: Odds, Details, Predictions and More Counter-Strike
CS2 at the EWC 2026 Preview: Odds, Details, Predictions and More Owen Harsono Top-tier Counter-Strike action returns at the Esports World Cup, as 32 of the best teams will take the trip to Paris to compete for millions of dollars. If you’re looking to watch the event, here’s everything you need to know and which teams to keep an eye on. The Esports World Cup is one of the largest CS2 events if we’re looking at prize pools, as $2,000,000 will be distributed ...
Opinion: Is Esports Tracing the Same Evolutionary Path As Traditional Sports? News
Opinion: Is Esports Tracing the Same Evolutionary Path As Traditional Sports? Cecilia Ciocchetti What happens when an industry compresses centuries of sporting evolution into less than a decade or two? Communities become global audiences overnight, rivalries spread through social media within minutes, and tournaments turn into entertainment products faster than ever before. And so what took traditional sports centuries to build has taken esports a fraction of that. From local communities to sold out arenas, and from informal matches to Olympic-style events, the ...
BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-final predictions: who’s making it to the grand final? Counter-Strike
BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-final predictions: who’s making it to the grand final? Owen Harsono The top four teams we’re seeing at the BLAST Bounty 2026 semi-finals are far from what anyone would expect before the tournament began, but here we are. We’re only three matches from crowning a winner, so let’s take a look at the best BLAST Bounty semi-final predictions for both upcoming matchups. Starting the semi-finals off is a banger of a series between FaZe Clan and Team Spirit, which is one ...
We Ranked The Top 5 Most Hated CS2 Maps Counter-Strike
We Ranked The Top 5 Most Hated CS2 Maps Owen Harsono If you’re a Counter-Strike player, you probably have that one map you always ban first in every Premier game — and you're not alone as almost everyone has one too. Below, we’ll take a look at the most hated maps in Counter-Strike history and explain why they are disliked by the community at large. Anubis is one of the newer releases in the Counter-Strike 2 map pool, but it has ...
The Top 10 Best Clutches in Counter-Strike History Ranked Counter-Strike
The Top 10 Best Clutches in Counter-Strike History Ranked Owen Harsono Pulling off an impossible clutch is one of the greatest hits of dopamine any Counter-Strike 2 player can ever feel. However, pulling them off at the highest level can be a little tricky since everyone is so coordinated. That’s exactly why mind-blowing clutches are remembered forever. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at the 10 best clutches in Counter-Strike history. We’re opening the list with former mousesports ...