The landscape of Brazilian Counter-Strike may undergo significant changes from what we're accustomed to. André Akkari, the CEO of Brazil's largest team, FURIA, recently shared his distinctive perspective on potential future successes during a livestream with prominent Brazilian streamer gAuLeS.

- Brazilian organizations, with Brazilian staff, Brazilian players, everything 100 percent Brazilian, will never win anything again. That is my opinion.

Before the start of Groups C and D at ESL Pro League Season 19, we asked Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo about the statement.

- What he is trying to say is if you look at the top 15 teams in the world right now, there are going to be a lot of international teams. That means that they have a lot bigger pool in terms of players and coaches that they can pick than you normally can’t if you only speak Portuguese. And I kind of stand by his point. If you look at the best football teams, like Manchester City and Real Madrid and all those guys, they are picking the best players from around the world to get the best players in each position. But when it comes to CS, when you speak a language like Portuguese and transition to English it is a little bit hard at first, so I don’t know if that is a transition that the team wants to do right now, the legendary two-time Major winner explained before giving his view on the future for a team like FURIA.

- When we look for FURIA in the future, five or ten years later, then it kind of makes sense, that if we want to have a different lineup where we might be able to pick players from different pools, so we can build something even better. From that regard, I stand by his point. But for the closer future with the core, we have and the language barrier and those things, we don’t think it is the right timing to do any big change like that. But we kind of see FURIA for the future go in this direction.

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FalleN, one of the few Brazilian players to establish a career beyond Brazilian Counter-Strike, emphasizes the importance of language skills for future Brazilian professionals. With only 1% of Brazilians fluent in English, he urges his compatriots to elevate their language proficiency.

- When I was 18 years old, when I told my mom, that I wanted to be a Counter-Strike player, and I told her I was going to join a Brazilian team, and we are going to travel abroad, the only advice she gave me was “make sure to learn another language”. That was 14 years ago.

- All the Brazilian players have to keep going to school and they have to make sure to learn another language. If Brazilian players can speak English, they are going to open themselves up to an international market. There will be so many bigger opportunities, and if you are able to live outside of Brazil, where you can make money in other currencies, you can literally change your family’s perspective and change your family’s reality just by playing a game, so yeah, definite advice to all Brazilian Counter-Strike players is to also focus on your English studies.  

Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and FURIA will have the chance to practice writing English in the chat tonight, when they face Team Liquid in the opening round of ESL Pro League Season 19.

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FalleN

FURIA

During Day 1 of the Copenhagen Major, FURIA's prospects seemed bleak, casting doubt on their longevity in the Danish capital. With a 0-2 record and lackluster performances against teams like Lynn Vision and Legacy, FURIA's supporters were left disheartened.

However, since then, FURIA has surged, not dropping a single map in their last three matches. Their opponents failed to reach double digits on any map during this streak. In their latest victory, the Portuguese lineup of SAW faltered on Vertigo and Ancient.

The renowned Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo delivered a stellar performance for FURIA, notably leading them to a 13-7 victory on Ancient, securing their placement among the top 16 teams in the world for the Elimination Stage of the PGL Major Copenhagen.

SAW, on the other hand, faced profound disappointment as they returned to Portugal after losing three consecutive best-of-three matches, dashing their hopes of advancing to the playoff stage in Copenhagen.

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Five spots for the first CS2 Major in history are up for grabs at the Americas qualification tournament that takes place from March 1st – March 4th.

16 teams are in the mix of rosters that will take part in a Swiss Group Format. Three wins are needed to secure qualification, but with only five spots open for the Major, only two defeats will send teams out in the dark.

The initial matches are played as bo1, while the bo3 format comes into play at the elimination or qualification matches.

Complexity (#14), FURIA (#18), MIBR (#20), Team Liquid (#26), M80 (#37), Imperial (#39), BESTIA (#43), Nouns (#49), Wildcard (#50), Elevate (#51), paiN (#53), RED Canids (#56), NRG (#58), BOSS (#59), Legacy (#60), ODDIK (#65)

: The new lineup with Casper 'cadiaN' Møller as the in-game leader will be tested to the limits in the RMR. The team has not yet been convincing in the few matches that we have seen the team in action. Team Liquid is obviously one of the favorites to go through, but we suspect that there could be a hiccup waiting for the legendary organization.

 Another legend of the game is present on the server for FURIA in the shape of Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo. The Brazilian Professor has a big job ahead of him to guide his team to another Major qualification. FURIA has had a troublesome start to 2024 with bad showings at the IEM Katowice, BLAST Qualifier, and the IEM Dallas qualifier.

 Marcelo "coldzera" David’s team went through the South American closed qualifier with three straight victories. They are the second lowest-ranked team in the mix, but perhaps the two-time Major MVP can shake things up? Their first match is against paiN Gaming, who they demolished 13-3 in the closed qualifier, so that would give coldzera and his men a great start to the event.

3-5th (Qualified): Complexity, paiN, Legacy

coldzera

cadiaN

Team Liquid

compLexity Gaming

Imperial

MIBR

FURIA announced the transfer of Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo last night with the words:

According to [link:{"url":"https://www.dust2.us/news/37697/fallen-signs-through-2025-acquired-for-more-than-half-a-million","isNewTab":true,"text":"Dust2.us"}], FURIA spent $700,000 to buy FalleN out of his contract with Imperial. 

FURIA also bought Marcelo "chelo" Cespedes from Imperial to complete its roster. André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu and Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa departs FURIA to join MIBR.

chelo

Last night on Twitter, Imperial announced the departure of Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo.

- From the moment you joined us, you brought with you the essence of competition, teamwork, camaraderie and the fun of playing with friends and for something you believe in. The "The Last Dance" project was truly unique and memorable for all of us. Your talent and skill have made you stand out as not only one of the best CS:GO players in the world, but also an inspiring leader in and out of the game. Our journey by his side was full of unforgettable moments, exciting victories, overcoming adversity, breaking records and we saw the passion of the Brazilian cross borders. Together, we wrote a beautiful story. Thank you for everything, teacher @FalleNCS. 

Never forget that you will always have a special place in our hearts and in the history of our organization. Keep influencing and inspiring generations to be better in and out of the game.

For weeks Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo has been rumored to be joining FURIA in a rebuild of the FURIA roster. The move is part of a bigger reshuffle in the Brazilian CS:GO scene, where teams such as MIBR, FURIA, paiN, and now Imperial are set to make changes.

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We are less than one week away from the start of the last ever Major in CS:GO history. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 18 Majors. Today we have reached ESL One: Cologne 2016.

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 Cache, Cobblestone, Dust2, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train.

ESL One: Cologne 2016 was the ninth CS:GO tournament in the history of the game and was held from July 5 – July 10, 2016 in the Lanxess-Arena in Cologne Germany. Like the previous Major, this one also featured 16 teams and a total prize pool of $1,000,000!

The previous two events in Cologne were all about the Swedish giants from fnatic and NiP. But by the time ESL One: Cologne 2016 came around, the Counter-Strike landscape had changed. The Ninjas had fallen off drastically, while fnatic were still among the world’s top four teams. The previous event marked the definite end of a dynasty. For the first time in CS:GO Major history, Ninjas in Pyjamas failed to get past the group stage and weren’t even able to qualify for the following two Majors.

New teams were on top, and none of them from Sweden.

2016 was the year of the Brazilian nation. While the team won their first Major as massive underdogs under the Luminosity banner, by the time of Cologne 2016 SK Gaming were undisputed best team in the world. The famous and proud Brazilian winners were FalleN, fer, coldzera, fnx, and TACO.

All the focus was on the Brazilians squad going into ESL One: Cologne 2016. The Brazilian godfather, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo literally took his team from the depths of irrelevancy to Counter-Strike world champions within one year.

If a professional CS:GO player gets his own graffiti on a map, he’s clearly done something extraordinary. Only few players received this special honor by Valve and one of them is Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, who achieved immortality at ESL One: Cologne 2016.

Those were the words from the renowned caster, James Bardolph when he witnessed s1mple’s outrageous play in the semi-final of ESL One: Cologne, where Liquid took upon the Swedish side from fnatic. The Ukrainian beast outdid himself by presenting a completely ridiculous double no-scope on the B-site of Cache. The iconic play perfectly illustrated his inhuman skills and mechanical capabilities, and the sequence will forever be a part of Counter-Strike history.

Watch the iconic play from s1mple right here:

On their way to the Grand final, the Brazilians from SK Gaming had to overcome some of the biggest names at the time including FaZe Clan, G2, FlipSid3, and Virtus.pro, while Liquid took down teams such as Envy, MOUZ, NAVI, and fnatic to secure their spot in the final.

It is July 10, 2016, and the Lanxess Arena in Cologne Germany is filled to the brim. Nearly 14.000 spectators are ready to watch a nerve-racking Grand final at the tournament between SK Gaming and Team Liquid.

The action of the Grand final began on SK Gaming’s pick of Train, where the Brazilians started off things on the offensive side, storming to a 3-0 lead. It looked like the first gun round between the two teams would go SK’s way, but the Brazilians couldn’t hold down the site and Liquid grabbed their first round. However, the Brazilians would immediately hit back in the following round, resetting Liquid’s economy. SK Gaming were full of momentum, especially coldzera who went huge and delivered a clutch to give his team an even more substantial lead. Down 1-6, Liquid started to wake up and managed to climb back one the scoreboard, thanks to praiseworthy performances from Hiko and s1mple who helped their team add seven rounds to the scoreline, before the second half.

Liquid was on the verge of securing the second pistol round and turn the tide in their favor, but their hopes were crushed by fer, and instead, SK Gaming went on to win all the remaining rounds to draw the first blood to the series.

Map two was Cobblestone, on which both teams had incredible moments throughout the entire tournament. But the map was especially one of Liquid’s favorite picks and the North American squad with s1mple tried their best to live up to that billing as they got out to an early lead after securing the pistol round. coldzera and SK Gaming were able to steal away the third round against the odds, winning an eco and eventually running away with the lead. From there on, the Brazilians showed no signs of slowing down, with the scoreline blooming to a 10-5 advantage. In the second half, SK Gaming only allowed s1mple and company to grab one single round before locking down Cobblestone 16-6 and securing another Major title.

SK Gaming became the second team in CS:GO after fnatic to win back-to-back Majors. They proved their critics they can win no matter what.

Highest rated players at ESL One: Cologne 2016:

1. {cflag:BR} Marcelo “coldzera” David (SK Gaming) – 1.37 Rating 

2. {cflag:DK} Nicolai “device” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.28 Rating 

3. {cflag:BR} Epitacio “TACO” de Melo (SK Gaming) – 1.25 Rating 

4. {cflag:SE} Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson (fnatic) – 1.22 Rating 

5. {cflag:BR} Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo (SK Gaming) – 1.19 Rating 

6. {cflag:ES} Oscar ”mixwell” Canellas (OpTic) – 1.19 Rating 

7. {cflag:BR} Lincoln “fnx” Lau (SK Gaming) – 1.19 Rating 

8. {cflag:UA} Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (Liquid) – 1.18 Rating 

9. {cflag:RU} Georgi “WorldEdit” Yaskin (FlipSid3) – 1.17 Rating 

10. {cflag:UA} Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev (NAVI) – 1.16 Rating

Tomorrow we take a look at the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017

TACO

The Imperial squad, led by Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, has made it clear that they are ready for the upcoming BLAST Premier Spring Final event in Washington D.C. With their recent victory over paiN in the Grand Final of BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2023 Americas, they secured a Spring Final ticket and $20,000 in first prize earnings. 

In the Grand final against paiN, Imperial's Jhonatan "JOTA" Willian stood out as the series MVP, with an impressive performance that included a rating of 1.37, 90.7 ADR, and a 44-30 K/D. JOTA's outstanding individual performance, combined with the team's overall teamwork and gameplay, allowed Imperial to secure a hard-fought 2-0 victory over their fellow countrymen. 

With this victory, Imperial has now completed the list of qualified teams for the BLAST Premier Spring Final event, which will run from June 7-11 and offer a prize pool of $425,000. The teams that have qualified for the event include G2, Vitality, Heroic, Astralis, Cloud9, NAVI, FaZe, and Imperial. 

As one of the qualified teams, Imperial will have to bring their A-game to Washington D.C. to compete against some of the best teams in the world. However, with FalleN's leadership and the team's recent performance, there is no doubt that they will be ready for the challenge. 

The BLAST Premier Spring Final promises to be an exciting event for fans of CS:GO. With Imperial and other top teams set to compete on the big stage, fans can expect to see some of the best CS:GO action of the year. 

After three straight losses, Imperial is done and dusted at ESL Pro League Season 17. The South American team lost in the Last Chance Stage to Complexity.

It started horribly wrong for Complexity though. The NA team went behind 12-0 on Inferno before finally answering back. The map was over almost before it had begun. Complexity’s star player, Michael 'Grim' Wince had a nightmare map clocking in a 0.26 rating during the 17 rounds it took Imperial to win 16-1.

Ancient was up next, and luckily, we got to see another side of the Complexity squad. The current no. 11 in the world was able to lock in their own map with a 16-14 win despite a valiant effort from the Brazilian professor Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo. The experienced Brazilian had played lights out on both Inferno and Ancient.

On Overpass that didn’t change. In a very evenly fought match the two teams had to settle the score in triple overtime before a winner was found. Here Complexity can thank in-game leader Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou for staying alive in the match. The South African won a 1vs4 situation to give his team the opportunity to win the match, which was finally done at 25-23!

Complexity face the loser of FURIA vs BIG in the next stage tomorrow, where the winner gets the chance to advance to the 4th place decider match Sunday evening.

Complexity – Imperial 2-1 | ESL Pro League Group B

MVP: {cflag:BR} Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo - 1.34 Rating / 80-53 K-D / 86-4 ADR

A true legend of the game that we all love could reach retirement at the end of the 2023 season. However, there is some concern about whether or not he will end his career playing for a North American team. 

- Today, particularly, I think the following: if I'm going to play next year, if that world exists, it's going to be in a world where I live in the United States because of all these things in my life that were directed there. My girlfriend's job will be there, besides I like living there. If I'm going to play next year it will have to be based in the United States, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo told [link:{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUxs18t1xTM","isNewTab":true,"text":"Flow podcast"}].

During the podcast, the 31-year-old also talked about how he would use his retirement to develop other things in his life. FalleN did not rule out that he could help in Esports later on in his carer or even become a coach someday. But first, FalleN wants to spend more time with his family and close once before moving on in his Esports career. 

FalleN and Imperial have had some success in recent qualifiers as the Brazilian team went right through the BLAST.tv Pairs Major 2023 South American RMR Closed Qualifier with a 3-0 record. Imperial fight against 15 teams in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 RMR for a chance to qualify for the main event, among these 15 teams is FURIA, Liquid, paiN, Complexity, and MIBR. The Americans RMR will take place from April 5th - April 9th, 2023, and only five out of the 16 teams will make it through to the Major event in Paris later this year.

In a world of competitive Counter-Strike where there’s a new and up-and-coming pool of promising talents emerging onto the scene every year, you may end up forgetting about the more experienced figures and the ones who h laid out the foundation for our beloved game.

This article focuses on these particular individuals - Players who are beyond their peak, but players who clearly still have a lot to bring to the table when talking about individual firepower.

By looking at all the 28+ year-olds, we’ve found the ten highest-ranked veterans in CS:GO right now, which ended up showcasing a  hard-hitting Scandinavian trio at the very top.

Highest-rated 28+ players in 2022 | Against Top 30 

1. {cflag:DK} Fredrik “roeJ” Jørgensen (Fnatic) | 1.13 Rating / 83.5 ADR - 28 years

2. {cflag:NO} Joakim ”jkaem” Myrbostad (Apeks) | 1.12 Rating / 81.7 ADR – 28 years

3. {cflag:NO} Håvard “rain” Nygaard (FaZe) | 1.09 Rating / 79.9 ADR – 28 years

4. {cflag:BR} Fernando “fer” Alvarenga (Imperial) | 1.08 Rating / 78.7 ADR – 30 years

5. {cflag:DK} Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen (Vitality) | 1.04 Rating / 71.2 ADR – 29 years

6. {cflag:BR} Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo (Imperial) | 1.02 Rating / 67.5 ADR – 31 years

7. {cflag:SE} Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson (Fnatic) | 1.02 Rating / 73.5 ADR – 28 years

8. {cflag:SE} Patrick “f0rest” Lindberg (No team) | 1.00 Rating / 72.2 ADR – 34 years

9. {cflag:SE} Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson (No team) | 0.99 Rating / 73.0 ADR – 29 years

10. {cflag:DK} Thomas “birdfromsky” Due-Frederiksen | 0.97 Rating / 73.7 ADR – 29 years

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/roej_Adela-Sznajder__tku6g1","originalWidth":4622,"originalHeight":2599,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg"}]

roeJ has been Fnatic's highest-rated player since his arrival back in June this year

At first sight, it may come as a surprise that the list only features players from Brazil (FalleN, fer) and Scandinavian countries such as Norway (rain, jkaem), Sweden (f0rest, KRIMZ, Lekr0), and Denmark (roeJ, dupreeh, birdfromsky).

However, these two region/countries are also some of the cornerstones of Counter-Strike having both played a huge role throughout the entire history of the game - also before the birth of CS:GO, with many of the above-mentioned players being former Counter-Strike 1.6 superstars. 

You can also check out our article on the best teenagers in CS:GO right now. Find it down below. 

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roeJ

jkaem

rain

f0rest

dupreeh

Lekr0

birdfromsky

KRIMZ

The IEM Rio Major is up and running with the Challengers Stage already concluded and the Legends Stage only having three matches left to be played until the playoffs begin. 

Many impressive plays have been made throughout the Challengers Stage. Clutches, no scopes, wall bangs, and smoke kills are some of the remarkable kills that took place at the Challengers Stage at this year's IEM Rio Major. The legendary AWPer as well as the fan favorite Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo took down four players of 9z who were planning on a B rush in the pistol round on Mirage. Despite being alone on the site, the old Major winner showed why it's worth bringing out the dualies in pistol rounds when standing at close range.

Check out this fragmovie from the first stage of the Major made by the Youtuber Virre.

During 9z and fnatic’s elimination match at the IEM Rio Major, one of Brazil’s biggest CS:GO stars attended the game as a spectator.

It started with the cameras spotting a man wearing a Hulk mask in the crowd at one point during the match. Later, at the end of the game, the man took off his mask to reveal himself. It turned out to be none other than the El professor, godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo himself. When the crowd recognized him amongst them, everybody got hyped up and went completely crazy.

[twitchClip:SoftLovelyWoodpeckerDuDudu-GO7h7ViXvcJz8oUo]

Unfortunately, FalleN and the rest of his squad from Imperial didn't manage to advance to the Legends Stage after going 0-3 in the Challengers Stage. There were some rumors going around that El professor would leave the pro CS:GO scene after this Major, but the 31-year-old AWPer denied those rumors in an [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/news/34961/fallen-im-planning-to-play-one-more-year-but-personally-i-feel-like-i-have-to-do-other-stuff-in-my-life-too","isNewTab":true,"text":"interview with HLTV"}], in which he revealed that he's planning to play one more year. 

Hometown heroes Imperial didn’t get the best start to the Major and especially not in the game against 9z on Mirage in their second matchup. Here, FalleN’s troops got dominated from the start to finish in the first half, as Maximiliano “max” Gonzalez and company stormed to a 13-2 lead by halftime.

However, the Brazilian crowd stayed supportive throughout the entire first half, and their chants finally paid off when the biggest Brazilian star, FalleN, delivered an ace with the Dualies, inspiring his team for a comeback.

From there on, it seemed like the momentum was on Imperial’s side as they grabbed another five rounds to their tally before 9z managed to stop their streak with two rounds of their own to hit match point. Another amazing play from FalleN which resulted in a quad kill helped to keep Imperial alive for a moment longer in the match, but unfortunately for the Brazilians, 9z went on to close the action not long after.

{cflag:BR} Fernando ”fer” Alvarenga - 1.15 rating in 2022

{cflag:BR} Marcelo ”chelo” Cespedes - 1.15 rating in 2022

{cflag:BR} Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo  - 1.09 rating in 2022

{cflag:BR} Ricardo ”boltz” Prass - 1.08 rating in 2022

{cflag:BR} Vinicius ”VINI” Figueiredo - 0.97 rating in 2022

The hometown favourites. It’s no understatement to say that Imperial will be by far the most popular team at the upcoming Major tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Brazilian “Last Dance” squad, led by the legendary AWPer Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, have had massive backing and support from the Brazilian fans ever since the creation of the team in early 2022.

The huge fan support is an aspect which could help and elevate FalleN and company massively at the Major, especially now when all matches are set to be played in front of a crowd. Something that plays in when you are to consider the favourites of each match – the same can be said about their countrymen from FURIA, although they don’t hold the same popularity as Imperial.

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The signing of the 24-year-old Brazilian Marcelo ”chelo” Cespedes looks to be a very good pickup for the veteran team. By replacing Lincoln “fnx” Lau with chelo, Imperial has received a very potent rifler who offers a lot more firepower to the server than the ageing fnx.

His arrival + the support and help from the Brazilian crowd could make Imperial a real underdog at IEM Rio Major – maybe not to take the overall title in the end – but as a team that could upset a lot of profiled teams.

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VINI

boltz

The much-awaited CS:GO championship IEM Rio Major is right around the corner, with the Brazilian metropole of Rio de Janeiro being the host city. The $1.25 Million tournament will make history as it’s set to be the first Major held outside of Europe and the United States.

One of the biggest CS:GO stars, and arguably the most famous Brazilian player in history, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo also has huge expectations for the upcoming tournament later this month. In a [link:{"url":"https://www.dust2.us/news/31477/fallen-im-aiming-to-stop-at-the-end-of-next-year-but-there-are-times-when-i-want-to-stop-now","isNewTab":true,"text":"recent interview with Dust2.us"}], FalleN states that it will be “the biggest esports tournament we have ever seen”.

- The Major in Rio, it's a celebration for Brazilian Counter-Strike. We have been doing so many good things for the past 23 years I would say, that's more time than I have been playing, there are older people than me there. Brazilians have been passionate about CS for a long time. Since the Cyber Cup days when we are playing against neighborhoods and all those things, now there's a chance for everyone to cheer for the Brazilian players and celebrate the best players in the world going there. It's going to be the biggest esports tournament we have ever seen, I'm sure about that.

Earlier this year, FalleN also said that he believed that the Rio Major could attract at least 75.000 fans to a stadium due to the massive support from the Brazilian community.

- You can easily fill a stadium with 75.000 people to watch the Rio Major. I can guarantee you that a 75.000 Major event in Brazil will be completely doable. Which is insane – I don’t think there is any country that could do that this way. I think this will be the best Major ever. For every Brazilian player, this is the moment to peak, this is where you have to be. You got to find a way to be there because I think that would be a dream come true for all Brazilians to be able to play in front of a crowd like that.

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You can read the entire interview by Liam "slevo" Slevin and Dust2.us down below. 

IEM Rio Major is set to run from October 31 - November 13 and will feature 24 teams in total. 

The Brazilian squad Imperial played an important match yesterday against a well-playing Complexity, where the winner was set to qualify for the IEM Rio Major 2022, while the losing team was eliminated. In the thriller match with everything at stake, it was Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo who was the man who pressed the speeder for his team on the last map "Overpass", presenting impressive and crucial plays. 

Watch the legendary AWPer and his important plays from yesterday's match down below. 

FalleN ended the match with some impressive stats - 71-52 K-D / +19 +/- / 1.23 Rating.

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Teams like Vitality, Cloud9, FaZe, NAVI, and Liquid all made it to the Major in Rio. The three last mentioned managed to make it to the legends stage, and the first two need to compete in the challenger stage to make it through to the legends stage. The home crowd will be loving this major as the legendary duo Epitácio "TACO" de Melo and Marcelo "coldzera" David will be playing at this year's last Major. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Imperial is also one of the Brazilian roasters who will be playing in the challenger stage after they took a win in a thriller match against Complexity.

Watch these special moments doing the qualifier here made by the YouTuber "NosleepCSGO".

Throughout the RMR qualifier, mixed emotions were shown as many upsets managed to push out big organizations such as G2, Astralis, and Complexity. The biggest surprise of them all must have been that G2 is not going to Rio, The star-studded roster was eliminated by GamerLegion after three maps.

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Yesterday evening Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and the rest of Imperial secured themselves a spot at the upcoming CS:GO Major on their home soil of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. To seal the ticket, the Brazilians had to go through a nail-biter of a match against Complexity, which ended with an overtime thriller on Overpass.

Right after the match, a very emotional Imperial captain in FalleN took his time to speak ESL, expressing how much it means for him and the team to attend the Rio Major.

- It’s impossible to describe. You can just see it and feel it. The energy that everyone from the entire world was bringing hoping for our qualification – all the stress, all the preparation, it was very, very difficult. This has been the most emotional tournament I’ve ever played. It has been the hardest journey of my career in my 18 years of playing CS. I’m just so happy.

FalleN were extremely impressed with the Imperial newcomer Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes, who put up a stellar performance in the crucial matchup yesterday by averaging a 1.26 Rating and getting 79 kills in total.

- He [chelo] took us to Rio. He was playing so well. He really reminds me of coldzera in the past – I have told chelo that he has a lot of qualities like coldzera. You know the energy that he brings to the game and the way he plays, and today he was fantastic. He saved us so much.

You can watch the full interview with FalleN here.

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With over 400.000 people watching simultaneously on Twitch, Imperial stood the distance and eliminated Complexity in the last match at the Americas Road to Rio event in Sweden.

The tension was high for the experienced Imperial roster where two times Major winners, Fernando "fer" Alvarenga and Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo were fighting for a long-time dream to come true. To take part in a Major in Brazil.

It started very well for Imperial, who controlled the match on their own map pick, Inferno. With 11 rounds won on their T-side, it was a question of time before the first map was done and dusted in favor of the Brazilians.

Next up was Nuke. Again Imperial got the best start leading 9-6 at the break. Here the newest member of the roster, Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes showed his worth with several multi-kill rounds defending the A-site. But on their CT side, Complexity found themselves again, and through an almost miraculous clutch from Ricky "floppy" Kemery, Complexity took it all the way and won the map.

The last map was Overpass. On paper a dream scenario for Complexity, who had taken down FaZe and Team Liquid recently here. But it was Imperial, who showed some excellent T rounds to start with. Again it was Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes in command, as the Brazilian dominated the first half. But then it was Complexity's turn. From 6-9 down to 13-11 up, it suddenly looked like the ticket to Rio was going the way of the North Americans. But FalleN wanted it otherwise! 

First, he produced a magical ace from the A-site, and then in a critical round at 14-14, the Imperial captain took out two Complexity players in a collateral kill with his AWP, which essentially swung the round in favor of Imperial. 

With map and match points, and an unhealthy Complexity economy everybody thought, that it was over. But of course, this game needed to be decided in overtime, and so it went. Maybe it was the experience from Imperial or the nerves from Complexity playing in, but in the overtime, it was Imperial in command and Complexity trailing after. And while tension reached an all-time high, Imperial kept their heads cool and secured the map and match in one of the most intense games of the year.

Imperial follow their countrymen from FURIA and 00NATION to participate in the 18th Major CS:GO Championship on their home soil in Rio in November.

Imperial - Complexity 2-1 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Americas)

16-13 (Inferno) | {cflag:BR} FalleN – 1.44 Rating / 23–14 K-D / 76.2 ADR

11-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:US} Grim – 1.24 Rating / 20–17 K-D / 83.0 ADR

22-20 (Overpass) | {cflag:BR} chelo – 1.40 Rating / 40–30 K-D / 97.7 ADR

Player of the match: {cflag:BR} Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes

Friday could be the end of many Brazilians dream about watching one of the all-time greatest Brazilian CS:GO player, Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo on home turf. His team Imperial is on the verge of elimination, and will have to dig deep against his countrymen from TeamOne, when the two teams go head to head Friday night.

You can watch the full schedule from the Americas RMR here. (CEST)

16.30: Nouns - O PLANO (Elimination match)

20.00: Imperial - TeamOne (Elimination match)

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FalleN

Player stats

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