IEM Rio Major Legends Stage day one results

IEM Rio Major has entered the Legends Stage and the first day of this stage was quite spectacular. We’ve seen a lot of upsets and right now, the top four teams are not the ones we expected.

Because of the schedule, everyone played two matches instead of one, so we have a bigger sample of results to work with. It’s been very interesting to see how seemingly unbeatable teams got defeated two times, while underdogs won both of their matches.

The big winners

The big winners of the first day of IEM Rio Major Legends Stage were Heroic, FURIA Esports, BIG, and Cloud9. In a million years, nobody would have put these four teams at the top of the rankings table.

In particular, Cloud9 had to defeat both FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere, and it’s quite astounding that they managed to do it. In both cases, they were around seven rounds behind and had to make a spectacular comeback. Even one time would have been a memorable achievement, let alone twice in a day!

In the previous stage of IEM Rio Major, C9 were 0 W – 2 L and barely qualified. This is a team that has changed a lot over the last year. They used to underperform under pressure, but now they thrive. On the big stage, they are a terrifying team to play against.

The other three winners had easier opponents. Heroic defeated Outsiders and Fnatic, FURIA defeated ENCE and Team Spirit, and BIG defeated Sprout and MOUZ.

The big losers

The teams that lost both matches on day one were FaZe Clan, Sprout, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Bad News Eagles. In the case of Sprout and BNE, the situation is a bit surprising but not entirely shocking. But in the case of FaZe and NiP, it is truly strange to see them here.

In the case of FaZe, they lost against C9 in a very unfortunate way (14-16) and then ran into Team Vitality, which was another unlucky incident. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and his team were in great shape and determined to not lose the second match after getting defeated by Na’Vi (21-25). The score was 16-6.

In the case of NiP, the situation looks rough. The team lost versus Fnatic (13-16) and Outsiders (12-16). Both matches were close, but the Swedes weren’t good enough to secure at least one victory.

It remains to be seen what the second day will bring. Based on the seeding, either FURIA or BIG will play in the Champions Stage, while BNE and Sprout will most likely get eliminated. Or maybe it will be FaZe and NiP. We’ll find out later today.

Header: ESL