In Part 1 of our journey in the life and times of Marcelo "coldzera" David, we were mostly focused on his early career, personal life and social media profiles. We believe that such a big name in CS:GO industry deserves to be called as “one of the best”. This is why we want to share his personal and team awards with you, so do not miss out.
*In order to make things as interesting as possible, we will share this piece into three parts in order to discuss his time with Luminosity Gaming, SK Gaming & FaZe Clan.
How it all began – Luminosity Gaming
Back in 2015, CS:GO was not that popular and there were barely any events being played. However, due to the skin gambling industry, things kickstarted and teams such as TSM, EnVyUs and Virtus.pro started to climb the ranks.
Out of nowhere, a Brazilian-based CS:GO team appeared led by Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo. Truth be told, no one expected a lot from the Brazilians, but they were on a mission. Throughout 2015, the entire roster underperformed and things were not looking that good for coldzera and company.
However, 2016 marked an era. After a couple of solid showing at DreamHack Open Leipzig 2016 and Intel Extreme Masters X – World Championship, it was time for the first Major of the year.
After back and forth action, Luminosity came out on top as they bested Natus Vincere in order to secure MLG Major Championship Columbus. It is also important to mention that coldzera earned himself a graffiti from a nasty play against Liquid where he got 4 kills while holding B apps on Mirage. Three of those kills were jumping no-scopes, just to add insult to injury.
It is also important to mention that coldzera was crowned as MVP for the entire Major. This was his first big accolade and it turned out to be just the beginning.
On top of that, Luminosity Gaming won a couple more events in their run to fame. The full list of every event coldzera won with Luminosity can be found below.
- ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals
- DreamHack Austin 2016
- MLG Columbus 2016
- MAX5 Invitational
Coldzera's legacy continues to grow – SK Gaming
Luminosity Gaming received a lot of backlash because of how they treated Major champions. From the start, coldzera and co. talked about how hard it was to compete at such a high level, especially when there were 5 of them playing cooped up in a small room.
Players literally had no room for mousepads and they could barely move anywhere. Luminosity as an organization stated that they had no funds to invest in the team (despite winning MLG Columbus and $500,000 in prize money).
This did not sit down well with the community and SK Gaming seized the moment. Back in the day, SK Gaming was by far the most popular esports franchise in the world. In late 2016, coldzera made his first appearance under the SK Gaming banner.
Guess what, they won the Major in their first try.
ESL One: Cologne 2016 was filled with excellent teams such as Liquid, Virtus.pro, Fnatic, Astralis. Still, the entire event looked way too easy for coldzera and it felt like he was playing against Silvers. Insane showings throughout the entire event won him another Major MVP award. Back-to-back Major trophies are very rare, and alongside coldzera, Astralis is the only team that was able to repeat that success.
- READ MORE: The story of Astralis – Part 1
Alongside ESL One: Cologne 2016 Major, SK Gaming won several other tournaments with coldzera such as:
- ECS Season 2 North America
- ESL Pro League Season 5 North America
- cs_summit Spring 2017
- IEM Sydney 2017
- DreamHack Open Summer 2017
- ECS Season 3 Finals
- ESL One: Cologne 2017
- EPICENTER 2017
- BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2017
- ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
- Adrenaline Cyber League 2018
- Moche XL Esports
How it all fell apart – MiBR
Then, out of nowhere, SK Gaming decided to retire from the esports scene. This left coldzera and his squad hanging. However, their own answered the call and the entire roster was signed by MiBR (Made in Brazil).
Truth be told, this was a period of time that coldzera would like to forget. The org stretched this team way too far and numerous roster changes did not help their cause. Eventually, coldzera decided to cut things short and demand a transfer. However, the organization did not want to let him go for free, so he benched himself and waited for his contract to run out.
Only after a couple of months of inactivity, FaZe Clan decided to buy him out for the biggest fee ever recorded in CS:GO – the stunning $1 million.
Topping the charts again – FaZe Clan
Truth be told, coldzera had a solid start with FaZe Clan. However, after winning BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019, the entire roster simply went into sleep mode.
According to HLTV, out of the 18 tournaments that coldzera played for FaZe, he was rated with 1.00+ rating in 15 of those events. This information says a lot about Marcelo and how good he really is.
- READ MORE: The Story of FaZe Clan – Part 1
From our perspective, the future is definitely bright for coldzera. If FaZe can get a permanent fifth player that can fit in with the team, only the sky will be the limit for them.
Personal Accolades
So far in his career, Marcelo won a total of 8 MVP awards (including 2 Major MVP accolades). Below, you can find a list of his personal achievements:
- MLG Columbus 2016
- ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals
- ESL One: Cologne 2016
- cs_summit Spring 2017
- IEM Sydney 2017
- DreamHack Open Summer 2017
- EPICENTER 2017
- ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals
There is no denying that coldzera was the best player in any team he played so far. However, things at FaZe Clan are a bit different since this is a team filled with talent and insane individual skill. But his career is far from over.
What about other amazing CS:GO players? Who are the best and brightest of all time? Check out our Hall of Fame here:
READ MORE:
- CS:GO Hall of Fame – Top 10 players of all times – Part 1
- CS:GO Hall of Fame – Top 10 players of all times – Part 2
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