MIBR have announced that they have acquired Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo and Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado from Liquid, with Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip traded to the North American roster.

The move sees TACO and zews reunite with their former SK and Luminosity teammates, Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo, Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga, and Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David, who shared the same tag with the player from late 2015 to early 2018 and from late 2015 to mid 2016 with the coach.

Moving the other way is Stewie2K, who was transferred from Cloud9 to SK as a replacement for TACO in March before joining the MIBR organization with the rest of the team nearly three months later.

TACO and zews rejoin their former teammates

In almost nine months with the squad, the 20-year-old struggled to have the same level of impact as when he had been part of Cloud9, averaging a 1.04 rating across 18 LAN tournaments played.

The team as a whole was also unable to reach the same heights as in 2016 and 2017, as they only won a trio of smaller events while having mixed results at the biggest tournaments of 2018, which saw them stay out of the top-three of the rankings.

"I’m disappointed to see this journey come to an end because I don't feel that we received a sufficient amount of time to truly reach our potential. We had some hurdles we fought through, as it is expected that every individual on an International lineup need that extra time find their composure, synergy, and flow." Stewie2K said in a Twitlonger statement.

"However, it seems like we weren’t able to power through the psychological challenge we had. And despite the recent month of confidence and some convincing results, it's no secret that we still have our problems. I believe these guys have a championship mindset but they have won so much that they have forgotten how to lose. I wish we’ve received some more time after ending the year with decent results and tackling all the problems together instead of running away from it. I’m aware of what I signed up for and will be moving on with no hard feelings."

Although the announcement did not include a comment regarding the future of Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik, it is expected he will not be a part of the lineup for 2019. João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos, who played with the remaining quartet for the majority of 2017 and won five international tournaments with them, is currently the leading candidate for his replacement.

There is also no news about the future of Janko "⁠YNk⁠" Paunović, who coached the squad for nearly five months after what was initially supposed to be a deal only until the FACEIT Major.

MIBR currently have:

Meanwhile, after six runner-up finishes at big events and two titles from cs_summit 2 and SuperNova CS:GO Malta in 2018, Liquid will enter 2019 with the following roster:

In a video announcement, Liquid's founder and co-CEO, Victor "Nazgul" Goossens, stated that the organization is reviewing a number of options to fill the coaching role. The full video can be seen below: