IEM Rio day 2 summary: FURIA are in the playoffs

The second day of IEM Rio 2023 was just as dramatic as the first.

One of the potential dark horses, 9INE, got eliminated by Ninjas in Pyjamas while FaZe Clan got sent to the lower bracket by FURIA Esports, who seem to be playing a lot better on their own soil.

Day 2 results

A total of six matches were played on the second day of IEM Rio 2023.

In group A, NiP looked like they were going to get crushed by 9INE. They lost the first map (9-16) and were seven rounds behind their opponents on the second map after the first half. But 9INE’s lack of LAN experience became obvious at that point. The Swedes managed to send the map into overtime, where they won without losing a single round.

Then, on the third map, they won again. The match was practically over after the first half, which ended with a score of 12-3.

In the other match of the group, Heroic struggled against The MongolZ and needed three maps to get the job done.

In group B, FURIA looked amazing against FaZe Clan, beating them on Mirage (16-8) and Nuke (16-13). In the other upper bracket semifinal, Cloud9 won by the smallest of margins against OG: 16-14 on Mirage and 16-14 on Overpass. This match was an absolute thriller.

On the side of OG, Abdul “degster” Gasanov was the best player. But he got a lot of support from two other teammates. Meanwhile, Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov seemed to be playing alone. He finished with 56 kills and 37 deaths, while the second-best player on his team had 38 kills and 46 deaths. However, in a rather miraculous way, Cloud9 won.

In the lower bracket of group B, Fnatic defeated 9z Team (2-1) after being one map behind. Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson and his teammates showed great determination in this match and eliminated one of the last several South American competitors.

In the match between Team Vitality and MIBR, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut managed to play his usual game and was completely unstoppable. His 52-22 K-D record tells the whole story of this confrontation. With minimal support from his teammates, ZywOo defeated MIBR with ease. The scores were 16-11 on Anubis and 16-8 on Nuke.

Because of this victory but also because of FaZe Clan’s defeat against FURIA, the two teams will play an elimination match on the third day of the tournament. Needless to say, Vitality look much stronger at this point.

Header: ESL