The Team Brazil versus Team World IEM Rio Showmatch will serve as an opportunity to see how Counter-Strike 2 is played on the Main stage. Today, the team’s list for both sides was announced via Twitter and the British interviewer and host, who started his career years ago in the halls of the Birmingham NEC, will feature as Team World’s coach.
James “BanKs” Banks has become staple for tier one events over the last two years. The Brit was present at all post-COVID Majors and has established a name for himself as one of the go-to hosts in CS:GO. In recent times he expanded his responsibilities becoming the team manager for Bad News Eagles and has enjoyed success in the role, including the squad clinching a Legends spot for the BLAST.tv Paris Major.
The jack-of-all-trades has now decided to add another notch to his belt. He might not be becoming a full-time coach, but he will stand behind Team World at IEM Rio as fans get the first taste of CS:2 on the big stage.
Alongside BanKs will be:
Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi
Nils “k1to” Gruhne
Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov
Whilst Team Brazil will feature:
Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo
Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo
Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato
Felipe “insani” Yuji
Epitacio “TACO” de Melo
No team is complete without a coach – @BanKsEsports will be backing Team World! https://t.co/8lwCsx7IY9 pic.twitter.com/HpSLVZrEEp
— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) April 23, 2023
