IEM Rio Major 2022: Day 4 Recap

The fourth day of the IEM Rio Majors in Brazil was hot again: FURIA kept the pride of the Brazilians alive and snagged a ticket to the Legends Stage. Cloud9 prevailed against Evil Geniuses, and Outsiders dominated the match against Fnatic. Also, Vitality eliminated Grayhound and OG knocked IHC out.

FURIA defeat GamerLegion

Brazilian team FURIA made it to the Legends Stage of the IEM Rio Major after beating GamerLegion. They defeated the European team 16-9 on Vertigo and 16-11 on Inferno to advance to the Top 16 Stage with a 3-1 record. This win is especially important because FURIA is now the only all-Brazilian team remaining in the Major. Imperial and 00NATION were eliminated on Tuesday.

FURIA’s Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato and Yuri “yuurih” Santos gave their team an early lead, as GamerLegion were unable to win rounds on the CT side. It was 11-4 at halftime for FURIA and the gap was already too big to catch up for GamerLegion. The game ended 16-9. The following game on Inferno went down in a similar fashion, with GamerLegion 4-11 behind. They won six rounds in a row to reduce the gap to 10-11, but FURIA held on, regained control, and later sealed the game 16-11.

Cloud9 defeat Evil Geniuses

Instrumental in Cloud9’s first win against Imperial on Tuesday was 21-year-old Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, as his team proved dominant against EG with a 2-0 win. Currently, Cloud9 is just one win away from entering the Legends Stage.

Cloud9 got off to a good start on Dust2 before Evil Geniuses countered. The North American-European team fought back and equalized to make it 4-4, but Cloud9 were able to regain the lead, while EG only managed to add one more round before halftime ended. After switching sides, Cloud9 established dominance with a 16-5 scoreline.

Cloud9 continued to dominate on Overpass, building a 11-4 lead for the rest of the game. After the pistol round in the second half, things went quickly for Cloud9 and they were able to close the game 16-11 without much fuss.

Outsiders beat Fnatic

Outsiders qualified for the Legends Stage after defeating Fnatic 2-0, owing their success above all to Pyotr “fame” Bolyshev.

The first map was Overpass and Outsiders quickly moved into an early 6-0 lead on the CT side. However, there was plenty of chaos as three Fnatic players’ PCs crashed in a 3v3 post plant in the sixth round. The round was replayed and Outsiders won. Outsiders were able to take an 11-0 lead thanks to fame and despite Fnatic trying, the score was 15-0 at half time. Not much changed in the second half, as Outsiders won quickly with Fnatic taking only one round.

The second map was Mirage and Outsiders started 4-1 on the T-side. It was 9-6 at half-time. Fnatic caught up and tried to fight their way up, eventually equalizing at 14-14. However, Outsiders won a 2v1 in Round 30, and went on to win 16-14.

Vitality upset Grayhound

Vitality defeated Australian team Grayhound Gaming on Inferno 16-6 and Mirage 16-12 to move up to the 2-2 pool in the Challengers Stage. Vitality is now one victory away from the Legends Stage.

The match started on Inferno with Grayhound getting off to a good start with the pistol round. However, Vitality quickly countered and took a 6-2 lead. Things looked even better for them after the break, leading 11-4. The game went on and Vitality were still going strong, extending their lead to 14-4. The Australians did win a few individual rounds in the final stages of the map, but Vitality were too strong and eventually closed the game 16-6.

On Mirage, Grayhound fared better but still not as well as Vitality, who was in a 9-4 lead on the T-side. Grayhound continued to gain ground and were just a point behind, at 11-12. However, Vitality backed it off a bit and won Mirage 16-12 and the series 2-0.

The match of BIG vs. 9z

9z’s match against Fatih “Gob B” Dayik’s squad started on Nuke. BIG had a dominant start and took the first pistol. From then on, BIG were in control of the game and took a 12-1 lead. 9z were left behind and had a hard time catching up on the big lead. They still managed to take two rounds and at halftime, it was 12-3. However, things didn’t look any better for 9z after the change of sides. BIG blasted away with a double kill from Elias “s1n” Stein and continued to dominate the match. s1n did another 4K in the last lap and finished the map 16-4.

On Dust2, 9z had a bit more luck and they were able to catch up a bit again. Maximiliano “max” Gonzalez’s team managed to get six straight laps on the CT side, but unfortunately, things went downhill after that and BIG took the wheel again. Florian “syrsoN” Rische gave everything for his team and gave BIG a 9-6 lead. BIG picked up a fourth straight round of pistols and an 11-6 lead before 9z hit the gas again and forced overtime. But then the Germans took control and ended the series with a 19-15 scoreline. 

OG eliminate IHC from the Major

OG defeated IHC 2-0. The Europeans are now in the 2-2 pool and have one last chance to advance to the legend stage.

IHC won the first pistol of the game, but OG quickly took a 9-3 lead. After halftime, OG won four straight games and IHC responded by winning five of the next six rounds. Still, OG prevailed and got a 1-0 series lead.

On Ancient, OG took a 4-0 lead but IHC didn’t give up and were able to go into the change with a 8-7 lead. They continued pushing after halftime, reaching a 14-9 lead before OG gave it their all again, firing back and making a phenomenal comeback to defeat IHC 16-14 and win the game.

Header: Adela Sznajder / ESL