Just One year ago the North American Counter-Strike scene welcomed new faces for competition as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s growth was breaking new records each week. Coming to North America formally known as Keyd Stars, the Brazilian’s Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Lucas “steel” Lopes, Ricardo “Boltz” Prass and Caio “zqk” Fonseca brought European style-of-play into the region, forcing teams to adapt and overcome. With the movement brought an uprising for Brazilian CS:GO players as their stars made an impressive run in the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 finishing 2nd along with Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming and Luminosity Gaming advancing to the finals.
On July 28, 2015 Keyd Stars were bought out by the Canadian based organisation Luminosity Gaming, who ventured into the scene in late February, catered the players to stay in North America as well as to compete in various tournaments around the world. After Season 1 of the ESL ESEA Pro League, Luminosity had some issues with their starting five as the team decided to make a roster change, a change that would amplify the growth of Counter-Strike in Brazil. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and his team came to the conclusion that Lucas “steel” Lopes and Ricardo “Boltz” Prass will be sent back to Brazil to play in the CS:GO minors of Games Academy and CNB eSports Club along with their experience.
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- FalleN’s long term success brings a third Brazilian team to NA
Games Academy, who is founded and owned by Luminosity’s Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, broke grounds the team won various tournaments such as WinOut.net CS:GO Championship and CS:GO $5k open since sending Lopes and Prass back to Brazil’s CS:GO Minors, . With Game Academy’s success came a great reward as yet another promising team from Brazil was picked up by Tempo Storm right before MLG Columbus, who later defeated WinterFox to qualify for the major.
With the recent booming CS:GO growth in Brazil, it was only a matter of time before a third Brazilian team would venture into North America in the hopes of gaining further prominence and competitive experience much like their top ten counter-parts Luminosity and Tempo Storm. Two teams who have been standing out in Brazil were Keyd Stars, featuring former Luminosity coach Renato “nak” Nakano, and g3x. Unfortunately both teams fell short in one of the most important online tournaments in South America, the MLG Regional Minor South American qualifier. Big Gods, who won the MLG Regional Minor South American qualifier, however were unable to acquire visa clearance to attend the Minor in Columbus, practically shaking the Brazilian scene to form a new line-up featuring three members from Keyd Stars and two member from g3x.
WinOut.net, who have been seen to compete in premier-level tournaments as well as host a couple of tournaments of their own, stepped up to the plate to sign the newly Brazilian mix. WinOut will move the players to a gaming house in North America and will also attend the MLG Americas Regional Minor next weekend as a replacement South American team.
WinOut released a statement on the recent signing:
Renato “nak” Nakano. Collectively these dedicated players boast decades of experience and have won numerous events, both domestic and international. We are working together to bring these talents to the United States to represent Brazil and the fans proudly on the world stage.
WinOut will be attending MLG Regional Minor Championship Americas as their first of many tournament appearances next weekend. After the event, WinOut looks forward to participating in the online seasons of ESEA & CEVO. Please show your support to keep this dedicated team in ESEA-Premier!”
WinOut’s line-up completes as follows:
Renato “nak” Nakano
Bruno “bit” Lima
Lucas “destiny” Bullo
Vinicios “PKL” Coelho
Gustavo “yeL” Knittel
Alessandro “apoka” Marcucci (coach)
