Imperial Sign Chelo

Brazilian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Imperial has officially signed Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes to its lineup. The 24-year-old joined the team on Monday, August 22, as the final missing piece of the new-look roster.

Chelo is one of the most recognizable names in the CS:GO scene, having been competing professionally since 2015. He started his esports career with Aemy5 Gaming, before playing for GATHERS eSports, Innova e-Sports, TEAMMATE, and Cycline, before landing in paiN Gaming in March 2017.

At paiN Gaming, chelo has spent just under four months before joining Luminosity Gaming, with who he has spent nine months competing in some of the world’s biggest events. Following his departure from Luminosity, chelo jumped around Brazilian teams in Nao Tem Como, No Tag, INTZ, and BOOM Esports, and in January 2021 joined MiBR.

At MiBR, chelo has not achieved his old heights but has reached some solid results. In his first year with MiBR, chelo won CBCS Elite League Season 1 and placed third in the second season before helping the team finish the South American RMR in second place.

Early into 2022, chelo also led MiBR to ESL Challenger League Season 40: North America title and helped the team finish second in PGL Major Antwerp 2022: American RMR, qualifying his team for the Major.

Unfortunately, MiBR have not achieved much in Antwerp, where the Brazilian squad placed 17th-19th, missing out on an opportunity to make a splash.

Since their failed run at the Major, MiBR have attended seven events and have failed to accomplish much. In June, MiBR placed ninth-12th at IEM Dallas, ninth-19th at ESL Challenger League Season 41: North America, and seventh-eighth at Pinnacle Cup Championship.

But after their streak of shaky showings, MiBR found their stride at ESL Pro League Conference Season 16, where they finished top-four and have qualified for the group stage. But the team soon returned to their old ways, placing fifth-sixth at ESL Challenger Valencia and 21st-24th at IEM Cologne.

Chelo’s 19-month journey with MiBR came to an end on August 9, when MiBR replaced him with Henrique “HEN1” Teles. But chelo didn’t need long to find a new home.

As of Monday, chelo is the newest member of Imperial, where he’ll team up with Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Ricardo “boltz” Prass, Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo, and coach Lincoln “fnx” Lau.

Chelo joins Imperial as a replacement for fnx, who recently stepped down from the active lineup and transitioned to a coaching and streaming role within the organization. As reported, chelo was signed from MiBR for approximately $200,000, with Imperial hoping that the addition of new firepower will help them turn their season around.

Imperial now enter the new season with a fresh of optimism, hoping they can bounce back from their poor performances over the last three months. Although Imperial had a strong start to the year, with a gold medal from OMEN WGR European Challenge 2022 and a third-place finish at PGL Major Antwerp 2022: American RMR, Imperial couldn’t make a splash in the CS:GO scene.

Besides their relatively solid performance at PGL Major Antwerp 2022, where Imperial placed ninth-11th, the Brazilian lineup struggled to achieve much. Across the last three months, they’ve suffered early exits from IEM Dallas (13th-16th), Pinnacle Cup Championship (fifth-sixth), REPUBLEAGUE Season 3 (13th-16th), Roobet Cup (13th-16th), an IEM Cologne (17th-20th).

Still, despite Imperial’s lack of success, the team can feel hopeful about their future, having replaced its wors-performing player. Fnx, who was moved to the coaching position, has averaged the team-lowest 0.90 rating over the last eight months. Conversely, chelo was MiBR’s second-best player, averaging a 1.16 rating in 2022.

Imperial will debut its new lineup on September 2 at ESL Challenger Melbourne.