Marsborne place second at Circuit X Pantanal Cuiabá 2026, boost IEM Cologne 2026 Major hopes
Marsborne were impressive in Brazil at Circuit X Pantanal Cuiabá. Not only did they place second at the tournament, but they also rose 51 places in the global VRS rankings.
The American side were perfect in the tournament up until the grand final, winning all four of their matches. Their run ended in the grand final, where they faced a strong 9z side in the final match.
The series started on 9z's first choice of Overpass. Marsborne began on the CT side, but it was 9z who would have been the happier side, despite giving up a 7-5 lead at the half to the Americans. 9z came back with a near-perfect defensive half of their own, losing a single round in the second half to win 13-8 on Overpass.
Marsborne's pick was Inferno, but it was 9z who took the initiative in their CT half. The South Americans sprinted out to a 10-2 lead at haltime, a lead which would be insurmountable for Marsborne. 9z easily took the second map 13-5, putting themselves one map away from the championship.
The third map, 9z's second pick, was Nuke. Marsborne needed to have a strong CT side to give themselves a chance, but they weren't able to put the performance together. 9z took a 9-3 lead after their attacking half, which they easily converted to a 13-3 victory to take the title at Circuit X Pantanal Cuiabá 2026.
Luciano "luchov" Herrera was the man of the match, posting match-highs in frags with 47 and rating with a 1.6.
Marsborne9z| Marsborne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danny 'Cxzi' Strzelczyk |
31 - 44 | -13 | 79.4 | 65.5% | 0.97 |
| Adam 'Grizz' Golden |
36 - 44 | -8 | 72.0 | 67.3% | 0.83 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
29 - 37 | -8 | 62.0 | 72.7% | 0.81 |
| Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
23 - 35 | -12 | 45.7 | 52.7% | 0.67 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
18 - 43 | -25 | 31.0 | 49.1% | 0.48 |
| 9z |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Luciano 'luchov' Herrera |
47 - 29 | +18 | 97.9 | 78.2% | 1.60 |
 Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez |
46 - 29 | +17 | 90.5 | 87.3% | 1.50 |
 Franco 'dgt' Garcia |
42 - 27 | +15 | 75.7 | 85.5% | 1.30 |
| Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer |
36 - 22 | +14 | 58.0 | 83.6% | 1.11 |
| Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez |
32 - 31 | +1 | 63.1 | 76.4% | 1.01 |
Thanks to their impressive performance in the Brazilian LAN, Marsborne have currently played themselves into the Major places, as they are projected to be the 9th Americas team invited to IEM Cologne 2026.
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