The first event of the DreamHack Open circuit in 2019 will break new ground by taking place in Rio de Janeiro, and a combination of withdrawals and a natural outcome of the regional qualifiers means that the majority of the teams will feature all-Brazilian rosters. The depth of the country’s domestic scene is evident, especially after the Americas minor in Katowice – and with MiBR’s well-documented struggles, one has to wonder whether this event will double as an audition for these sides, potentially giving them a boost to go above and beyond Valiance and AVANGAR, the two favorites of the competition.

It’s no secret that the MiBR project is struggling, with their impressive showing at the major proving to be the exception rather than the rule so far. The team finished in the top eight at WESG and completely collapsed at the event with the most skill-testing format they’ve attended so far with an awful showing at StarSeries i-League Season 7. For those who would like to offer up the BLAST Pro Miami bronze medal as a counterpoint, how about looking at the dead last finish on home turf in the same competition less than a month prior? With whispers of the old FalleN-coldzera disagreements flaring up again and fer’s odd non-April Fools non-joke about leaving the team, it truly feels like it’s a matter of time until this experiment is also cancelled. There’s a reason why we compared them to VP a little while ago, and it truly feels like that path is their destiny if they remain unwilling to make a roster change.