9z are now ready to prove their worth against the world's best in Rio after taking down two of Brazil's finest at the Americas RMR.
The story of South American Counter-Strike has been mainly written by Brazilian teams and this is especially the case when it comes to Major events. Even before Luminosity's victory at MLG Columbus 2016, Brazil was the region's center as it produced the best players and claimed better placings at international events compared to the likes of Argentina and Chile. While the winds are a long way from changing direction, 9z have already started the process of putting other Latin American countries on the map by reaching their second-ever Valve-sponsored event.
9z made history at the PGL Antwerp Major earlier this year as Maximiliano "max" Gonzalez and Franco "dgt" Garcia became the first Uruguayan players to ever attend a Major event, Luca "Luken" Nadotti and Martin "rox" Molina the the first Argentinians, and David "dav1deuS" Tapia Maldonado the first Chilean. These milestones were the result of an incredible run at the Americas RMR in April in which they came back from a 0-2 deficit by winning five best-of-three matches in a row to clinch sixth place and the last qualification spot.
Now Luken and rox are no longer part of the squad, replaced by youngsters Lucas "nqz" Soares and Nicolás "buda" Kramer in the summer. This new iteration of 9z is a different beast from the one that took the stage in Antwerp. max's men qualified through the Road to Rio Americas RMR in Stockholm comfortably in third place, showing resilience unexpected from such a young roster against opposition significantly more experienced than them.
An unusual mix of nationalities
9z is composed of players from four of the largest Counter-Strike nations in South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. Mixed teams from the region are rare at international events, and they have never competed for high placings in tournaments, so a major appearance in itself is already an incredible achievement.
max and dgt form the squad's Uruguayan contingent and are the two longest-standing members, joining the organization in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Despite their relatively youth, the two riflers have far more experience than it might first appear as they have been competing in the South American scene for more than five years. To complement the duo, 9z signed Chilean entry-fragger dav1deuS in January 2022, securing a solid core that brought the organization two separate Major appearances.
It's not the first time max is tasked with leading a South American mix, as he previously took the captaincy of various Isurus and Coscu Army lineups with both Uruguayan and Argentinian players. The 23-year-old is also an integral part of the team's defensive setups, joining dav1deuS in aggressive CT pushes when necessary.
dgt is the heavy-hitter of the team and plays a more passive rifler role, tasked with closing out rounds. The 21-year-old has a 1.22 LAN rating this year — the highest in the squad by a significant margin over second-placed nqz. The Uruguayan was a consistent performer and the main driving force behind 9z's Major qualification run in Stockholm.
The trio, alongside rox and Luken, secured the organization's first appearance at a Major, barely scraping through the Americas RMR in April to qualify for the PGL Major Antwerp. 9z recovered from an initial 0-2 start, taking home five consecutive best-of-three victories over the likes of 00NATION, Evil Geniuses, and paiN. Despite their miracle run at the RMR, 9z failed to deliver at the Major and left without a single map to their name.
Read more 9z clinch last Major spot for the Americas after defeating EG and paiN Luken decided to step down from 9z after the Antwerp Major and was replaced in the lineup by nqz while rox was sidelined to make space for buda in the summer.
The new arrivals have no Major experience at all, meaning that the squad must turn to coach Rafael "zakk" Fernandes for guidance more than ever. The 30-year-old is a veteran figure of the Brazilian scene that previously worked with Immortals and Luminosity between 2016-2019, reaching the final of the PGL Major Krakow in 2017. zakk has three Major appearances by himself, half of the squad's total, and his extensive knowledge as both a coach and a player will prove invaluable for such a young lineup.
Investing in young talent
nqz and buda brought the average age of the squad to just 20.9, making them the youngest lineup in the Challengers Stage and the third-youngest at the whole event just behind Spirit (20.5) and Sprout (20.6), but their youth must not take away from the ability and composure on the server they showed at the RMR.
9z demonstrated incredible resilience at IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMR, grinding out matches against 00NATION and Imperial from losing positions to force overtime and eventually take victories. They successfully pulled off comebacks against two established Brazilian teams, composed of some of the most recognizable veteran names from the scene such as Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and Marcelo "coldzera" David, making their victories even more impressive.
The star of the show for 9z in the first match was nqz, a young and exciting AWPer from Brazil. The marksman was key in the comeback against 00NATION, powering his team to the win with a fantastic performance on the defensive side of Overpass. At only 17 years old, nqz has an incredible amount of room to grow, and has already shown that potential against some of the highest-ranked teams in South America.
Read more 9z complete roster with nqz nqz was acquired from B4 in June and quickly became an integral part of the squad, averaging a 1.17 rating under max's leadership across three offline tournaments. The decision to add the Brazilian was a no-brainer for the Uruguayan captain who stated that nqz brings more than just fragging to the squad: "He's not only a very good player, but he's also a great person and a really calm one," explained max in Stockholm. "He transmits that energy to the rest of the squad."
The 17-year-old only showed a rating below 1.00 once at the RMR in the match against Imperial before putting up a solid performance against Evil Geniuses and against ATK to power his team to the Major.
nqz is not an overly aggressive sniper and only takes 14.4% of 9z's opening duels on the T side while the number rises to 20.2% on the defense. His 69.2% success rate in those opening duels is what impressed the most, a comparable return to more experienced AWPers. The catch here is that nqz does not have a large sample size against top-rated opponents, and thus needs to prove that he can translate these numbers into tier-one events.
The aggression in the squad instead comes from max and dav1deuS as the duo is tasked with initiating the fights in order to create space and gather information, looking to enable the likes of dgt and nqz to close out rounds late.
Just a few weeks after nqz's arrival, buda was promoted from their academy side to bring new life into the lineup. The Argentinian went from playing with the junior side of the organization to being a key component of the team's Major qualification in less than a month. While he is yet to fully adapt to the squad and a new level of competition — only displaying a 0.91 rating in his time with the team — his qualities as an individual go beyond just fragging.
Read more 9z promote buda to main lineup His most important characteristic is his communication, something that impressed max from the get-go: "He's an active player that communicates a lot, and that's a positive trait that the team really needed." Communication is often one of the least developed trait in a young player, but buda's quality was more than visible in Stockholm, with the 19-year-old often speaking in crucial mid and late-round situations. The highlight of the Argentinian's qualification journey came against Imperial as he topped the scoreboard against FalleN's men on Nuke, one of his best performances since joining 9z.
Their journey in Stockholm was far from perfect, but 9z still managed to improve on their previous RMR appearance, advancing to the Challengers Stage in third place with a 3-1 record. Their only hiccup came against Evil Geniuses in the 2-0 qualification match, a series in which both dgt and nqz failed to find their best form against the North Americans while buda struggled to find any impact at all.
It's an uphill battle at the Major for 9z
9z finished the RMR on a high note with a victory over ATK, but the South American mix must show significant improvement to their overall game if they want to advance to the Legends Stage of the Rio Major. Their most recent appearance at Flow FiReLEAGUE Global Finals was cut short after a 0-2 loss against Spirit in the semi-finals, a sign that the South American mix still has a long way to go before they are able to consistently compete against established opposition.
When asked about their expectations for the Major, nqz was confident about their chances of advancing: "We have the highest expectations after coming from a good run of form," the AWPer told HLTV. "We are improving a lot as a team with the new signing buda, and we are hoping to play good cs, but most importantly, our own brand of cs."
"The preparation was long and extensive. We have been practicing for almost 12 hours a day for a month now and alongside that, we have played at FiReLEAGUE which helped find the small details we could improve on," he continued.
The odds are stacked against 9z in the Challengers Stage, meaning every factor has to line up perfectly for them to get a chance at qualification for the second stage of the Major: "It won't be easy, but we already proved that we are capable of playing against the best teams," the Brazilian concluded.
The opening match at the Major for the South Americans will be against GamerLegion, a team that had a surprising RMR journey of their own. 9z are more than capable of taking down the European mix, but for that, both dgt and nqz must be on point, and that's a condition that must remain constant not just for the opening draw, but for the whole Swiss stage.
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Check out HLTV.org's IEM Rio Major hub
B4 
Marcelo 'coldzera' David 
Age: 27 Team: 00NATION Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1434 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 
Imperial #20 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo 
Martin 'rox' Molina 
Age: 20 Team: 9zB Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 306 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.66 
Coscu Army Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezGuillermo 'guishorro' ArecoAlejandro 'alexze' MarinelliAndrés 'Andrew' ClavijoJuan 'DILLION1' Reyes 
paiN #21 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoWesley 'hardzao' LopesGabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoGabriel 'nython' LinoRodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt 
Luminosity Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidLincoln 'fnx' LauGabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo 
9z #28 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' Garcia
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer 
Sprout #26 Ismail 'refrezh' AliFritz 'slaxz-' DietrichRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossVictor 'Staehr' Staehr
Laurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea Franco 'dgt' Garcia 
Age: 21 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 466 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.61 Rafael 'zakk' Fernandes 
Age: 30 Team: 9zC 00NATION Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidVinicius 'vsm' MoreiraLeonardo 'leo_drk' Oliveira
Mario 'malbsMd' SamayoaSantino 'try' Rigal 
Isurus #43 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezNicolás 'Noktse' DávilaRoberto 'reversive' ThemthamGabriel '1962' SinopoliIgnacio 'meyern' Meyer Luminosity Gabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoHenrique 'HEN1' TelesRicardo 'boltz' PrassLucas 'steel' LopesLucas 'LUCAS1' Teles Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo 
Age: 31 Team: Imperial Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1608 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.60 Luca 'Luken' Nadotti 
Age: 25 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 294 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 00NATION #25 Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloSantino 'try' RigalEduardo 'dumau' WolkmerBruno 'latto' Rebelatto 
Spirit #12 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovBoris 'magixx' VorobievPavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovIhor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov Lucas 'nqz' Soares 
Age: 17 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 220 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.59 
Evil Geniuses #22 Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteTimothy 'autimatic' Ta
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Sanzhar 'neaLaN' Iskhakov
Jadan 'HexT' Postma David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado 
Age: 22 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 360 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67 Evil Geniuses #22 Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteTimothy 'autimatic' TaWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaJake 'Stewie2K' YipTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov 
ATK #41 
Rhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongIan 'motm' HardyJonathan 'b0denmaster' BodenmalmMichael 'Swisher' SchmidGareth 'MisteM' Ries 
GamerLegion #29 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' Ivan
Nicolas 'Keoz' Dgus
Kamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekIsak 'isak' Fahlén Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez 
Age: 23 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 601 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 
Immortals Henrique 'HEN1' TelesRicardo 'boltz' PrassLucas 'steel' LopesLucas 'LUCAS1' TelesVito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe Nicolás 'buda' Kramer 
Age: 19 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 77 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.70