Brazil has established itself as one of the most passionate communities in esports over the past decades, and a lot of it comes down to players who have conquered the world or had a huge influence on the country’s own scene.
Though Brazil enjoyed a lot of success in Counter-Strike more than any other game, there are great names across a bunch of esports. Here are some of the best players in Brazil.
HerdsZ is undoubtely one of the best esports players in Brazil. Credit: Adela Sznajder | © Ubisoft
Rainbow Six has quite a significant Brazilian following, and part of it comes from Gustavo “HerdsZ” Herdina’s hard work. He’s without a question one of the best R6 players in the world, and played a significant part in W7M winning the Six Invitational 2024, as he was the MVP of the $3 million event.
aspas is the best Brazilian player in VALORANT esports. Credit: Colin Young-Wolff | © Riot Games
Erick “aspas” Santos quickly rose to prominence as one of the best VALORANT players in the world after joining LOUD in 2022. Thanks to his skillful Jett play, aspas played an instrumental role in LOUD’s VALORANT Champions 2022 title. Although aspas has yet to win a tournament as big as that one, he remains one of the top Duelists in the whole VALORANT Champions Tour.
TACO didn’t have the best stats, but he did everything that LG/SK needed. Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © BLAST
Epitácio “TACO” de Melo was part of Brazil’s golden era in CS:GO esports. The selfless entry-fragger won back-to-back Majors in 2016, first representing Luminosity Gaming and later SK Gaming, and carried on winning big championships in 2017.
Even though TACO wasn’t as flashy as the other names in that LG/SK era, his willingness to sacrifice himself to help the team proved to be crucial, especially because it enabled Marcelo “coldzera” David to thrive in late-round moments. To this day, many see TACO as that valuable glue player that every superteam needs.
fer was the best CS:GO player in Brazil at one point. Credit: © StarLadder
On top of all his titles during the LG/SK era, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga will forever be remembered as one of the most aggressive & effective CS:GO players ever. fer had a unique way of playing, which he developed because of an infection in his right ear.
This affected fer’s hearing and forced him to play aggressively on the CT side, which wasn’t really the meta back in the day. It was so unusual that it took a long time for teams to learn how to counter fer, even though they knew that he was going to rush. Without fer’s unpredictability, who knows if Brazil would have won eight big LANs between 2016 and 2017.
Nobru went from a Free Fire champion to one of the most popular streamers in Brazil. Credit: © YouTube
Bruno “Nobru” Goes is hands-down the most influential mobile gamer in Brazil. Nobru first rose to fame with his victory at the Free Fire World Series 2019, and cemented his legacy by co-founding Fluxo, now one of Brazil’s leading esports organizations.
In a country as unequal as Brazil, Nobru showed a generation of up-and-coming players that they don’t need a PC or console to succeed. All they need is a smartphone to compete and grow their social media presence.
Regardless of how many years pass, fnx will always be one of the best esports players in Brazil. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
Lincoln “fnx” Lau is one of the most storied figures in Brazilian esports. With a career spanning from Counter-Strike: 1.6 to CS:GO, he played an integral part in every major championship that Brazil won in Counter-Strike. So much so that there is a popular phrase in Brazil that literally says “no fnx, no Major.”
Aside from his stellar clutches and longevity, fnx’s lifestyle and good looks gave him fame beyond the gaming universe. In 2021, for example, he participated in the Brazilian edition of the famous “Ex on the Beach” reality show. He also co-owns a streetwear brand called Não Tem Como.
Sacy helped to make Brazil one of the best countries in VALORANT.Credit: Lance Skundrich | © Riot Games
Gustavo “Sacy” Rossi is one of the few Brazilian players to succeed in completely different games — first in League of Legends, and later in VALORANT. While Sacy only enjoyed domestic success in League of Legends, he went on to become Brazil’s No. 1 name in VALORANT, where he led LOUD to win VCT Champions 2022.
This trophy with LOUD made Sacy become one of the first VALORANT players in Brazil to play abroad, as Sentinels picked him up. He had success in Sentinels’ international project, and helped them win VCT Masters Madrid in 2024. Sacy retired after a top-four finish in Champions 2024 and hung up his mouse to become a full-time streamer.
While aspas is recognized as the most skillful Brazilian player, fans will always remember that Sacy as the leader who motivated everyone to be better.
During his peak, coldzera was one of the best esports players in Brazil. Credit: Adela Sznajder | © DreamHack
Out of all names of Brazil’s golden generation in CS:GO, coldzera was by far the most talented player. Luminosity really took off after picking coldzera in 2015, and thanks to his fragging and clutching capability, the LG/SK team won eight championships between 2016 and 2017.
Besides the titles and the fact that coldzera delivered one of the most iconic CS:GO highlights of all time, he was named the best CS:GO player of the year back-to-back in 2016 and 2017.
Though he never reached the same level in other teams such as FaZe, 00 Nation, and Legacy, he’ll go down as one of the best riflers in Counter-Strike’s history. In coldzera’s prime, not even the likes of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač could best him.
brTT’s influence go beyond the League of Legends tournaments he won. Credit: © Riot Games
Being a five-time Brazilian League of Legends Championship (CBLoL) champion, brTT is the undisputed face of League of Legends in Brazil. Due to his unique set of skills as an ADC and an unmatched aura, brTT carried Brazil on his shoulders in the first years of League of Legends.
Even though brTT has already retired from competition to focus on other things in life, like sports and mental health, his legacy will live forever. Like fnx, brTT also co-owns a popular streetwear brand, Rexpeita, which he founded with his brother and a close friend.
FalleN paved the way for Brazilian Counter-Strike. Credit: © PGL
Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo isn’t a mere pro player who won Counter-Strike tournaments; he’s the Godfather and Professor of Brazilian CS. In the past decade, FalleN envisioned that for him to compete at the highest level, he’d need to teach fellow Brazilians and show them the path from amateur to pro.
So, in the 2010s, FalleN created Games Academy to teach the principles of competitive Counter-Strike to new players. This hard work paid off, as Brazil nurtured many talented players, and some of them went on to play with FalleN later on.
Besides that, FalleN led the LG/SK teams and, at this peak, was the best AWPer in the world. He’s 34 years old and has been competing since 2005. When FalleN retires, the majority of CS fans in Brazil will have to pick someone else to cheer for, as nearly everyone cheers for FalleN and his teams.
Feature image credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL
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