Who and what to watch for in cs_summit 8: Brazil vs. North America

While Europe and the CIS regions have their own Regional Major Ranking tournaments, North America has cs_summit 8 to reward Counter-Strike Global Offensive teams a maximum of 1600 RMR points. These points are used to determine which teams from each region will attend Valve’s next major: PGL Stockholm.

Who’s playing

Group A of cs_summit 8 is the battle of the Brazilian teams along with Evil Geniuses. The four teams in the group are Evil Genuises, paiN, Furia and O Plano. In Group B, the teams present are Liquid, Extremum, Bad News Bears and Extra Salt. While all of these teams are North American, most of them have recently been competing in Europe, as that is where the top tournaments have been. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some key storylines to follow throughout the tournament.

Evil Geniuses’ Michu to be tested

Michał “Michu” Müller recently signed to EG, following the benching of Tarik “Tarik” Celik. His first and only tournament for EG was Funspark Ulti but the team bombed out of the tournament. In cs_summit 8, EG and Michu will be looking to establish their strength. In his time on Envy, Michu showed off his potential and established himself as a player to look out for. However, he hasn’t had many chances to prove it. Now, he can do just that with EG.

Extremum against top teams

Last year, 100 Thieves’ Counter-Strike roster established themselves as a contender for a top NA team. But, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and teams being restricted to their region, 100 Thieves dropped their Counter-Strike roster. The core of the roster stayed together and eventually signed to the organization Extremum.

However, the team has been relatively quiet since the organization changed and hasn’t shown off the skill level they did under 100 Thieves. In cs_summit 8, the former 100 Thieves players, along with Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand, will be looking to once again establish themselves as a top team and showcase just how good they are.

It's time for a new adventure in Europe! I'm EXTREMly happy to join @extremumgg & more motivated than ever to achieve the goals I set for myself & rock 2021 with the boys #OURWAY😉

Thank you to my team & @GenG for giving me the opportunity to play in my first international team! https://t.co/q0nCxeu11n

— Hansel Ferdinand (@BnTeTCSGO) January 24, 2021

O Plano debut in cs_summit 8

After MiBR essentially dropped their roster, including long-time players Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo and Epitácio “TACO” de Melo, they needed a new team to compete at their next event. They obtained four new players on trial for the event but, despite playing very well, the organization decided to drop the lineup and sign Boom’s roster. However, the MiBR players wanted to stay together, so they searched for an organization before eventually becoming an independent project.

On their journey to the main event of cs_summit, O Plano beat Triumph, Team One and Party Astronauts to make it to their first official tournament as a team. As this is their debut tournament, the team will be fighting to establish themselves as a top Brazilian team.

The final team to make it to the next phase, @oficialoplano with a 2-1 win in their decider#cssummit 8 pic.twitter.com/bfA5630uGQ

— BTS CS:GO (@BTScsgo) May 19, 2021

Cs_summit 8 starts Thursday, May 20 and will continue through May 30. In group stages, each team will play one another and the top three teams will move on to the playoffs. Each match is a best-of-three — apart from the grand final, which is a best-of-five. While each team in attendance will receive RMR points, cs_summit 8 will give a preview into which teams will be representing North America at PGL Stockholm later this year.