Brazilian team MIBR announced that Breno «brnz4n» Poletto will remain on the main team roster and for the duration of the IEM Katowice play-in. MIBR management decided to continue using the young player despite the fact that Marcelo «chelo» Cespedes, whom he was replacing, had already recovered from a coronavirus and could have participated in the tournament.
The team's strategic coach Renato «nak» Nakano explained that MIBR decided to keep brnz4n in the roster for the duration of the competition because the players did not want «to get off the» rhythm on the eve of such a significant event as the championship in Katowice after they had trained a lot with this particular squad and had already played in several official matches.
Previously brnz4n had already appeared as a substitute player in 2021 when Ricardo «boltz» Prass tested positive for a coronavirus, and later substituted for chelo at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups for the same reason. The cyber athlete, who previously played for MIBR's youth squad, had an impressive performance. It was largely due to his skills that the Brazilians were able to defeat Natus Vincere and then Complexity. Despite this, MIBR failed to qualify for the final round of the tournament, losing to Vitality and G2. At IEM Katowice, the Brazilian squad will also face serious competition: of the 16 teams that will take part in the play-in, most are higher in the world rankings.