If we told you two Brazilian teams would be facing off in a tier one semifinal in 2026, and neither of them was FURIA, would you believe us?

Probably not. Honestly, neither would we.

Yet, after a clean group stage at CAC 2026 that sent them straight into the semis, MIBR look like they’ve successfully tapped into the FURIA formula. They’ve quietly become one of the surprise stories of the last few months, now stacking back-to-back Playoff runs ahead of the Cologne Major.

Their run, however, came to an end at the hands of their Legacy countrymen, who have also been turning heads lately. They’d just survived a brutal scrap against The MongolZ in the quarters and looked intent on repeating their championship run from a year ago.

Since the addition of arT, Legacy have been playing some genuinely entertaining CS, and powered by their stars in dumau and latto, they proved too much for MIBR to handle.

Switching to the boring side of the bracket, MOUZ were dragged into deep waters by B8 in the quarters, needing triple OT on Ancient to seal the sweep. B8 looked overwhelmed by the stage pressure as mistakes pilled up, but MOUZ weren’t exactly convincing either. Even with the roster instability excuse, this level still feels below expectations… but then again, it’s MOUZ we’re talking about.

And then came the semifinal nobody in full possession of their mental faculties willingly set an alarm for: Falcons vs MOUZ - the Atlético x Arsenal of Counter-Strike.

Since it wasn’t a final, NiKo showed up in full force, carrying Falcons over the line despite MOUZ drawing first blood on Mirage. From there, MOUZ struggled to find any real impact on Dust2 and Nuke, with Spinx and xertioN nowhere to be seen.

If you’re a MOUZ fan, first and foremost, our condolences. Second, there is a sliver of hope to cling to, and his name is xelex. The kid looks surprisingly comfortable stepping into tier one competition for the first time, and with more time to settle, he’s shaping up to be another success story for the best academy pipeline out there.

See, we can also be nice every now and then - it’s just that there hasn’t been much to be nice about lately.

So, Legacy vs Falcons for the trophy, huh…

Surely they’re not about to find a way to botch the seventh in a row, right?