Who are they?: RED Canids

The VRS system has made it much harder for completely unknown teams to make it all the way to the Major as it rewards consistency over one-off runs, but RED Canids are something of a harkening back to the old days of not really knowing anything about a team before their first game.

Of course, you might know drop. You’ve probably heard of history and kauez and watched them a handful of times, if you’re a hardcore fan - but we highly doubt you’ve watched much RED Canids, so we’re here to teach you a thing or two about them.

How did they get here?

RED Canids had quite a few top four finishes in Brazil, including at Circuit X, ESL Challenger League S50 Cup 3 and CCT Season 3. They are by no means the best team in Brazil, but they’re also no mugs domestically. They did, however, qualify from a very unlikely position, having under a 2% chance at one point.

They’ve not really played any games internationally in the entire year, unless one counts NA and Argentina, so they’re completely untested at this sort of level, but they’re solid enough in their own region.

Who does what?

RED are a weird team in that drop, their IGL, takes some decent roles, and their two stars seem to intermingle quite a bit. Most teams have a defined aggro star and passive star, but RED’s stars share those roles a bit more - and one of them is used more as bait than a star anyway to set up drop.

drop is the IGL, but he’s often paired with kauez who is sort of in ‘second star’ type roles and ends up using him as a soldier. He is a more selfish IGL than most, opting to take gunfights and put himself in good positions, but in fairness, he is one of the better players on the team rating wise. He’s not a terrible player, but one feels like he may be unable to carry against a better standard of opposition.

kauez, as mentioned, is more of a sacrificial lamb than an actual star player, but technically he has some pretty good roles. You’d never know, though.

history is the AWPer, and technically is a stand-in for HEN1, but it’s very much only on a technicality. It’s a shame, because HEN1 is a really exciting player at his peak, and history is far less impressive.

chayJESUS is loosely described as a star player, but it’s not entirely true. He plays some small site anchor spots, some star roles, some in between. If you’re coping, you could call him versatile, but in truth it’s just that Brazilian teams are just a bit crazy.

That leaves venomzera, who is the most impressive player on this team. He largely plays anchor and lurk spots but is the highest rated player on the team. He isn’t set up to be the star, but still looks like the best player on the team.

Who to look out for

venomzera. Don’t bother watching anyone else, it’ll just give you a headache trying to figure out what their job is supposed to be.

This guy does a couple of things and generally does them well, and is not only a very good player for his team, but a great one to watch in order to learn. That said, he’s not really played against better opposition, so he might get abused once he levels up.

What do they do well?

Every great team has a soldier, and RED have that. kauez is someone every IGL would love to have because he does not fear death if it means making space for someone else, and their pack is all the better for it.

They’re very good at Nuke, at least domestically, and drop and chay (who for some reason plays B anchor and A lurk?) are great at Mirage, even if it’s venomzera’s weakest map.

On the maps they struggle on, venomzera is still great. He has a 1.33 CT rating on Ancient playing B anchor, which is unheard of, and he’s phenomenal on Overpass T side. He’s their best Inferno player in limited sample size, too.

Oh, and they ban Dust 2, so we don’t have to watch it. Much appreciated.

How do you beat them?

RED’s biggest flaw is that history is their weakest player. You can’t live with a poor AWPer in a big tournament, and history is going to get eaten alive. He’s got a 0.98 rating in the last three months, and he’s not really playing anyone above tier 2 or 3.

They’re structured very weirdly, and their best players on each map are not in the star roles. If you just go into the hotly contested areas of the map, they probably can’t live with you. Especially as their AWPer, again, isn’t very good.

They’re solid at Nuke, but pretty mediocre at everything else. They play plenty of Mirage, but it’s venom’s worst map especially on CT side. They’re all negative bar venomzera on Inferno, and history is, according to one source, “one of the worst AWPers [he’s] ever seen on Overpass”.

Encouraging.

Their lack of a true star rifler is also an issue, and it seems unlikely they will have anything near enough firepower against top tier teams.

Expectations

We really want to big RED Canids up, and there’s still a chance they’re actually decent enough. venomzera looks fantastic domestically, and maybe he can maintain that level and chayJESUS and drop can level up against the better competition.

It doesn’t seem likely, though, and we’re a data company after all. We would not be betting on them to be good, if it were our money.

Our expectation is, unfortunately, an 0-3 or 1-3 exit in the first stage - but you truly do never know. We’ve never seen them play internationally, and maybe they’re just built for it.

Maybe.