Calabresos conquer South America

Calabresos and KaioDog start the year with a Monthly Final victory

Last Sunday, Calabresos won the March Monthly Finals after dominating everyone in the bracket. Once again, Edinho, KaioDog and FireCrow look in their prime performance, but will they be able to achieve consistency over their competition and long-term rivals Fofoletes F/A, among other challengers such as Team Queso and CVD F/A, throughout the year?

In the first match of the quarterfinals, we had a very interesting encounter between CVD F/A and Panchos, although it was played on the B Stream. On one hand there was VTzim, an old and experienced name, assisting Doritos and CaueBr, two aggressive but consistent players, and on the other hand, an old Spanish star and mechanical player, AleSSJ, complementing NoOne and Tano, two other well-rounded players. Despite Panchos' mechanical play, CVD's aggression was too overwhelming, leading them to a 3-0 victory without dropping a single round, putting them already as big contenders to win the whole tournament.

Meanwhile, in the A stream, Urubus Do Pix faced Fofoletes F/A. UDP was still able to take the first set on Brawl Ball with some great synergy between the players, but Fofoletes quickly adapted to win three sets in a row, putting them in the semifinals against CVD. Keep an eye on this match-up for the future - as Jubileu made the switch to Fofoletes, we may see a rivalry forming, especially as there might be a player going the other way too.

On the other side of the bracket, the new Team Queso - consisting of half of the old Reconic Esports SA, Jxcr, Rhz and Bryan, three good mechanical players - faced an underdog team, Adalmantas 357. TQ aggressed and made a quick run over Adalmantas, winning three sets in a row, and going to the semifinals, where they would face the winner of Calabresos and Marruecos.

The last and most expected quarterfinal was between Calabresos and Marruecos. Calabresos had a never-seen-before partnership of FireCrow and KaioDog, joined by their former teammate Edinho, while Marruecos had their 2023 spine of Loko and Alonso, but now with Kristian too. Despite the big name, Marruecos was destroyed by Calabresos, showing they might be the best South American team of the year. A clean 3-0 by the Brazilian squad led them to face Team Queso in the semifinals.

The first semifinal was between CVD F/A and Fofoletes, with Fofoletes being the historical favourites. CVD started the match with two clean sets, putting them on match point. Fofoletes were still able to delay CVD's victory, winning a very close Bounty set, but CVD finished them in Heist; their aggression and confidence led them to the Grand Finals.

In the next match, Team Queso overcame Calabresos' weaknesses in the first set but the Brazilian team adapted to the challenges once their delay was fixed, and won three consecutive clean sets, going to the Grand Finals with all the momentum to face CVD F/A, who also were in a good run of form.

Despite all CVD's momentum, KaioDog showed up with Worlds-level gameplay, putting Calabresos 2-0 up before the Brawl Ball set. With everything on the line in Center Stage, an outdraft combined with a mechanical masterclass led Calabresos to the first title of the year. After failing to qualify for the World Finals with QLASH last year, KaioDog and Edinho showed they have very adaptable gameplay, and overcame everyone's expectations to start the year on the top of the regional leaderboard.

Calabresos showed they might be the best South American team this year. However, draft and mentality have been lacking on the international stage last few years. We have a whole year ahead - can they finally improve their draft to be at a world class level? Can they help South America achieve the glory they have been searching for years?