Heroic and Team Vitality advance to IEM Rio 2023 semifinals

We are very close to knowing the first champion of Intel Grand Slam season 5 and, obviously, of IEM Rio 2023. Unfortunately, only four teams are still alive and will fight in an intense series in the semifinals for a place in the Grand Final.

However, we enjoyed two exciting matches in the quarterfinals before knowing these four teams that would play in the semifinals. Heroic and Team Vitality managed to advance to the semifinals after defeating FURIA and BIG, respectively, and thus being much closer to glory.

In the next few hours, we will know the two finalists of IEM Rio 2023, which will come out of the following matches:

• NaVi vs. Heroic – 20:30 CEST
• Cloud9 vs. Team Vitality – 17:00 CEST

Team Vitality crushes BIG to reach the semifinals

The first match of the quarterfinals of IEM Rio 2023 was between Team Vitality and BIG, and although it ended with a score of 2-0, we can say that we had emotions in each of the rounds played. However, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut carried their team to this victory and thus sealed their ticket to the semifinals.

The maps played in this series were Nuke (Team Vitality) and Mirage (BIG).

Nuke

The series started extremely well for the German team, as they showed great defensive power in the first half on the CT side. Then, with a spectacular collective game, BIG took a 9-6 partial victory to put Team Vitality in trouble.

However, the reaction of the bees was not long in coming, and, with a spectacular Lotan “Spinx” Giladi (98.3 ADR and 1.65 Rating) and dupreeh (90.2 ADR and 1.54 Rating), they managed to turn the score around quickly. Finally, with six consecutive rounds won, Team Vitality scored 16-12.

Mirage

We moved to Mirage, BIG’s map picks, to enjoy great play from both sides. As in Nuke, the Germans started with everything and were ahead on the scoreboard by 4-1. However, this time, Emil “Magisk” Reif closed each of BIG’s chances when attacking. Finally, the first half ended with a close score of 8-7 in favor of Team Vitality.

BIG struck first in the second half, but their performance declined progressively. In addition, ZywOo was phenomenal on the T side, as with 110 ADR and a 1.79 Rating, he managed to lead Vitality to the 16-12 victory.

Heroic eliminates FURIA at home again

Heroic becomes the executioner of FURIA Esports at home, in Rio de Janeiro again, as they did in the IEM Rio Major 2022. FURIA put up a bit more of a fight this time, as the final score was 1-2, and each map was hotly contested. However, Casper “cadiaN” Møller and his boys again managed to eliminate the home team.

Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato’s efforts were not enough to lead his team to victory, even though he was the best player in the series.

The series between FURIA and Heroic was played on Inferno (Heroic), Mirage (FURIA), and Ancient (decider).

Inferno

It all started at Inferno, Heroic’s map pick, where FURIA, with an impressive KSCERATO (133.6 ADR and 2.25 Rating) on the CT side, took a 10-5 partial victory in the first half.

At the change of sides, Heroic tried to react by winning the first five rounds. However, KSCERATO continued teaching in this series and led FURIA to victory with a score of 16-12.

Mirage

In Mirage, Heroic began to show how well it suited him to play in Brazil and, above all, with the crowd against him. Rasmus “sjuush” Beck, cadiaN, and Martin “stavn” Lund dressed as heroes to give FURIA a big blow in the first half on the CT side and took a 12-3 partial victory.

In the second half, FURIA, with Yuri “yuurih” Santos as the leading scorer, attempted a historic comeback against the Danes. However, the Brazilians fell short and could not win over 12 rounds. As a result, Heroic evened the series 1-1, and everything was to be defined in Ancient.

Ancient

Ultimately, the Danes and the Brazilians gave us a spectacular match on the decisive map. However, Heroic had more determination to take the victory by 16-13.

It all started with a very aggressive FURIA (as usual) on the T-side. KSCERATO was again in charge of carrying his team in the first half, and they ended with a 9-6 partial victory. After that, however, the Brazilians could not put up a defense that could decipher the Danish approaches, and the Danes, with Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard inspired, turned the score around and took the victory 16-13.

Header: ESL