MIBR sweep past Kinguin to lift ZOTAC Cup Masters trophy

MIBR have won the 2018 edition of the ZOTAC Cup Masters after defeating Kinguin 3-0 in the grand final.

The opening map of this best-of-five series was Dust2. Kinguin had been the team picking it, but those watching the first half without knowing the veto certainly thought otherwise. The Polish side were completely outplayed by MIBR for most of the first half and only managed to break through the Brazilians' brick wall defence 13 rounds into the game, courtesy of a 1v2 clutch by Mikołaj "⁠mouz⁠" Karolewski.

Kinguin followed that up with another round, courtesy of a triple-kill by Jacek "⁠MINISE⁠" Jeziak, but MIBR ended the half with a flawless round to take a commanding 13-2 lead.

The second half started with Kinguin keeping their hopes alive after retaking the B site in impressive fashion, turning a tricky situation around. The Polish side went on to add three more rounds to their tally, but Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga finally broke their resistance in the 20th round with a key triple kill.

That round immediately left Kinguin's economy in shambles, and the Polish players were helpless to keep MIBR from running away with the game.

Cache, the map that followed, was much more contested than Dust2. After losing the opening three rounds of the game, Kinguin fought back with full buys and quickly restored parity. MIBR then took control of proceedings, but a series of aggressive moves by Kinguin made this a competitive 9-6 half.

Brazilians win first title under MIBR

A quad-kill by mouz in a B execution earned Kinguin the second pistol of the round and set them up for a three-round streak. After buying up, MIBR kept a water-tight defence, bringing the scoreline to 14-10.

It looked like the Brazilians had the game under control, but Kinguin upped the pace and starting making a climb back into the map. However, two massive blunders from Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas's side, one of them in a 5v2 situation, saw MIBR get a hard-fought victory and take a 2-0 lead in the series.

fer opened up the action on Train with a stunning 1v4 clutch in the pistol round, giving MIBR an early lead on the Terrorist side. That round marked the beginning of a near-flawless half from the Brazilians, who cruised to a 14-1 lead as Kinguin could not keep up with the hight intensity implemented by the Brazilians.

More misery was to come for Kinguin as they could not hold the B site in a post-plant situation in the pistol round, with MIBR following that up with a successful anti-eco to seal a comprehensive 16-1 victory and a clean 3-0 series win.

ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 Grand FinalsBest of 5 KinguinMatchpage 0 3 26th August 2018 MIBR 6Dust2 16 14Cache 16 1Train 16

Kinguin	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Karol 'rallen' Rodowiczrallen	38 - 52	-14	80.2	0.91
Mikołaj 'mouz' Karolewskimouz	38 - 50	-12	54.9	0.80
Jacek 'MINISE' JeziakMINISE	40 - 61	-21	77.8	0.78
Paweł 'reatz' Jańczakreatz	34 - 46	-12	46.5	0.74
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	28 - 58	-30	53.7	0.54

MIBR	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	59 - 33	+26	103.1	1.61
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	56 - 37	+19	90.9	1.34
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	53 - 29	+24	69.4	1.32
Fernando 'fer' Alvarengafer	53 - 42	+11	76.5	1.23
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	46 - 37	+9	71.9	1.18

ZOTAC Cup Masters final standings:

1. MIBR - $200,000
2. Kinguin - $60,000
3-4. MVP PK - $20,000
3-4. Ghost - $20,000
5-8. TYLOO
5-8. Virtus.pro
5-8. OpTic
5-8. Flash

MIBR #7 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoTarik 'tarik' CelikFernando 'fer' AlvarengaJake 'Stewie2K' YipMarcelo 'coldzera' David Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 32 Team: Kinguin Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1498 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 Kinguin #34 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasJacek 'MINISE' JeziakKarol 'rallen' RodowiczPaweł 'reatz' JańczakMikołaj 'mouz' Karolewski Mikołaj 'mouz' Karolewski Age: 22 Team: Kinguin Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 990 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga Age: 26 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 880 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68 Flash #65 YuLun 'Summer' CaiYuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengWeiJie 'zhokiNg' ZhongKunHua 'LOVEYY' BaiWingHei 'Freeman' Cheung OpTic #15 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferRené 'cajunb' BorgJakob 'JUGi' HansenNicklas 'gade' GadeKristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Ghost #37 Kevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendJoshua 'steel' NissanKenneth 'koosta' SuenYassine 'Subroza' TaoufikMatthew 'WARDELL' Yu Jacek 'MINISE' Jeziak Age: 24 Team: Kinguin Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1110 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Virtus.pro #20 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiPaweł 'byali' BielińskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerMichał 'snatchie' Rudzki MVP PK #52 Keun-Chul 'solo' KangMin-Soo 'glow' KimMin-Seok 'zeff' ParkHyun-Pyo 'XigN' LeeSeon-Ho 'xeta' Son TYLOO #12 Ke 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandHaoWen 'somebody' XuKevin 'xccurate' Susanto