Red-hot MiBR throttle Oxygen, advance to lower bracket quarterfinals

_{Image via Ubisoft/@joao_ferreria}

MiBR are the hottest team in the lower bracket, and it isn’t particularly close. 

The team that qualified for the tournament through the LATAM Qualifier has knocked off two former hammer-lifting squads: Ninjas in Pyjamas and Spacestation Gaming. Their next victim was Oxygen Esports, who they throttled 2-0 (7-2, 7-2) in order to qualify for the lower bracket quarterfinals and secure a top-six finish at SI 2022. 

MiBR are one of two teams that began in the lower bracket that remain in the tournament: the other is DarkZero, who are staring down a matchup with FaZe Clan, the Sweden Major champions. There's a strong possibility that MiBR are the only team to start in the lower bracket and remain in the tournament through Feb. 18.

To do this, MiBR took Oxygen to one of their strongest maps right from the start: Oregon. Before this match, Oxygen were 3-1 on Oregon at SI – with one of those wins coming against MiBR themselves. MiBR would go on to win the group stage match 2-1, however. 

Guilherme “Guille” Scalfi explained the choice, saying, “We can say we [were] ready [for Oregon],” he said. “... I think that they were not expecting that pick .. We chose the best map of Oxygen, and we did well.”

“Well” might be a colossal understatement. MiBR throttled Oxygen on Oregon with four attacking rounds and a perfect defense to win 7-2. 

On Coastline, MiBR’s attacks shone as well – the Brazilian side converted five attacking rounds to go up 5-1. They notched a pair of defensive rounds to close out the map 7-2. 

Luca “LuKid” Sereno’s 1.52 SiegeGG Rating will be hard to beat in the “highest playoffs series Ratings” category. Make no mistake, this was a dominant performance from a team that’s catching fire at the right time – right when they caught fire during the previous SI. At SI 2021, MiBR’s only map losses during the playoffs were to Team Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas. 

Also notable was Enzo "Rappz" Aziz's entry kill differential: he went a perfect 5-0 over the course of just 18 maps. In over 25 percent of the rounds played, Rappz took the first piece off the chess board, and was not eliminated first a single time. If you're looking for an impact statistic, look no further than that. 

How fitting, then, that next up for this young, talented squad is Team Liquid, who were just knocked to the lower bracket by TSM FTX. 

With the loss, Oxygen were eliminated from the tournament entirely. MiBR and Team Liquid will face off on Feb. 18 to keep their lower bracket hopes alive.