Are FURIA the future of Brazilian Counter-Strike?

If you squint hard enough, the young savages of FURIA might just remind you of FalleN’s men from the Luminosity days. Young and hungry players with undeniable talent playing exciting and aggressive Counter-Strike, not quite able to take out the big boys but definitely capable of giving them a good game. With MIBR’s ever-lengthening trek in the wilderness, it would clearly make a lot of sense for them to tap into that pool of talent. The real question is whether it’s worth it for any of the FURIA boys to jump ship at this juncture.

Not since the prime days of Immortals have we seen a Brazilian CS:GO team able to threaten the position of FalleN’s men in the rankings – and, of course, the two are one and the same now, at least on an organizational level. As much as the legendary in-game leader has done for the domestic scene, he’s never loosened his stranglehold on the top spot, and this is perhaps the first time that you can realistically question his magical powers. The MiBR project has not lived up to expectations so far with any of its rosters, and one has to assume that the current lineup would have already been blown to smithereens if he still had the same sort of free reign he used to in the past. The “April’s Fools” joke posted by fer about his departure could be read as a sign of something like this going on behind the scenes.

Perhaps the biggest indictment of the current MiBR side is that they looked the best at their first event – the Katowice major – and progressively showed less and less going forward. Right now, FURIA are the little engine that could, still in their ascendancy, with down-to-earth owners taking Twitter bets about tattoos. From a cynical perspective, one has to assume that the abundance of resources available to the bigger org should be tempting enough and putting FalleN in charge of hungry youngsters tends to deliver pretty incredible results.

We’ve seen before that most up-and-coming sides fall by the wayside the moment others begin to take them seriously and figure out their unique quirks. There are always going to be more Renegades-like stories than the ENCEs of the world. Paradoxically, the lack of big roster moves after Katowice also make a move like this more likely as most orgs opted to sit on their resources instead of breaking the bank. Paying above market price for talented Brazilians is kind of part of your brand identity if you’re called Made in Brazil, no?

Do you think FalleN should stick with his current crop of players or should MiBR take a gamble on Furia? Let us know at @RivalryGLHF!