Introduction / Team Overview
Luminosity Gaming is a North American team, originally, having been founded in 2015 in Canada by Steve ‘Buyaka’ Maida. The organisation fields teams in a full range of esports, as well as CSGO, and has a central ethos of enabling esports gamers to feel fully supported while pursuing a professional gaming career. The roster of the current Luminosity CSGO team consists entirely of Brazilian players, and they are led by a Brazilian coach, in the shape of Felippe ‘felippe1’ Martins. Consistently ranking in the top 15 of the world standings, they have a ranking high of fourth place in the America region.
Highlights / Strengths
Luminosity performed strongly in several tournaments in 2016, capturing first places at the ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals, the DreamHack Austin 2016, and the MLG Major Championship: Columbus. They also managed second placed finishes at three tournaments: Esports Championship Series Season 1 – Finals, Intel Extreme Masters X – World Championship and the DreamHack Leipzig 2016.
In 2016, Luminosity signed up the Brazilian CSGO team WinOut. This added real strength to their organisation, with players like Gustavo ‘yeL’ Knittle, Vinicios ‘PKL’ Coelho, Bruno ‘bit’ Lima, Renato ‘nak’ Nakano and Lucas Bullo de ‘destiny’ Lima joining their ranks. Having such talent on board is sure to add to the team’s total winnings of more than $1.1 million.
Branding / Sponsorship / Logo
Luminosity’s logo is a stylized letter ‘L’, positioned in what looks like a globe of liquid. The team has an impressive range of partners when it comes to sponsorship, with streaming service Twitch and eSports bookmaker GGBet on board with the team. Other sponsors include DX Racer, who manufacture gaming furniture, SCUF Gaming, HyperX, Zowie and Space Jam. Meta Threads, who produce specialist gaming apparel, are their official in house clothing partner. Fans can buy a Luminosity Gaming jersey from the official website, along with other items of licensed apparel and gaming equipment. Fans can also download an official Luminosity CSGO wallpaper from the team’s website.
Luminosity have even moved into the world of mainstream American sport, with Trevor May of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise partnering with the team. May is an Overwatch player who has attracted something of a following at Twitch already.
Team Roles / Expertise / Divisions
The current Brazilian players at the Luminosity CSGO team have a solid range of skills, covering all the necessary roles. Vinicios ‘PKL’ Coelho is the team’s in-game leader, ably backed up by Bruno ‘bit’ Lima, who is a fine supporting player. Renato ‘nak’ Nakano is a former world champion rifler who is looking to recapture his form from previous years, and he plays the role of lurker for the team. Youngster Lucas Bullo de ‘destiny’ Lima fulfils the role of the team’s entry killer.
Roster & Achievements
The team’s current active roster consists of the players detailed above. Former players include Canadian Keith Markovic, and Americans Todd Williams and Peter Gurney, amongst many others. The decision to replace these players with a new roster of Brazilians caused much discussion on Reddit.
Triumphs in 2017, featuring the new Brazilian roster, include a first place at the DreamHack Austin 2017 – NA Closed Qualifier, and a third/fourth finish at the iBUYPOWER Invitational 2017 – Spring.
