The first British team at a major tournament – Into The Breach

The British region in Counter-Strike hasn’t always been known for strong teams that could compete for the title of the best team in the world. However, there have been notable individuals such as “smooya”, whose successful career came during his time with BIG. However, he never managed to establish himself as a full-fledged player in any team. Today, the most successful representative of Great Britain is “mezii”, who plays for “fnatic”. But finally, fans from the UK have a whole team to watch at the Paris Major.

A New Hope

The main roster began in February 2023, when the organization assembled a new team after a brief break at the end of last year, removing “Adam9130”, “draken”. In their place, they brought back “Thomas” and recruited new players for themselves – “volt”, “CRUC1AL”, and “rallen”.

With this roster, ITB participated in the closed qualifiers for the 7th season of the “European Development Championship”, where they took 1-2nd place jointly with Forward Gaming, allowing them to compete in the main stage. In their group, ITB lost to Illuminar and Let us cook, but managed to defeat Tricked. This was enough for them to advance to the playoffs, where they faced MOUZ NXT. The “mice” academy turned out to be stronger and eliminated the British team with a score of 0-2. The tournament ended with a 9-16th place finish for ITB.

The first pancake is not always a lumpy one

On February 13th, the organization participated in the first qualifying tournament for the BLAST Paris Major 2023, successfully placing 1-2 with EYEBALLERS. During the HLTV stage, the team faced off against PGE Turow, B8, and Masonic. This result allowed them to advance to the closed qualifiers.

The team was seeded in Group A with such favorites as G2 and Astralis. Their opening match was against IKLA, which they won 16-9. The next seed sent them against familiar opponents Viperio, whom they defeated 16-12. Their third opponent in the Swiss system was 9INE, who proved to be stronger and won the match 0-2. The fourth match was against Eternal Fire, who also proved to be a challenge and won 1-2. The team then played their last match for a chance to advance to the RMR stage against HAVU. Although this match was not particularly popular with viewers, they were still able to win 2-1 and advance to the RMR stage.

Surprise at RMR

On April 6th, the team traveled to Copenhagen to compete for a spot in the upcoming Major. However, their RMR group was not an easy one. In their first match, they played against favorites Na`Vi and lost in a close match with a score of 19:22. In their second game, they played against Sprout, whom they defeated with a score of 16:7. With a 1-1 record, the team faced off against Virtus.Pro. Despite expert predictions, ITB surprised everyone by defeating them 16:13. In the final match of the RMR, they played against B8 and emerged victorious with a 2-1 score, earning them a direct spot in the Legend Stage of the Paris Major.

What’s Next?

After the RMR games, the team wasn’t seen much by the wider public, only participating in the 2023 Brazy Party with a very strong lineup. But we all held our breath in anticipation for their main event – ITB’s performance in the upcoming Major tournament for our beloved game, CS:GO.