Team Liquid are the winners of the IEM Rio Major NA RMR

After a tough series of matches and a tiebreaker, Team Liquid emerged as the winners of North American RMR for IEM Rio Major. This victory is very important because only one competitor in the region was offered the Legend Status, which allows a team to skip the first stage of the tournament.

Because Liquid won the race, they will avoid fighting against the likes of Team Vitality in The Challengers Stage for the eight qualification spots. Apart from them, five other American teams have secured tickets for the Major. And the good news for Brazilian fans is that four of the six teams that have qualified from this region are Brazilian.

CS:GO fans from Rio and the rest of Brazil will be able to watch Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Marcelo “coldzera” David, Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, Andrei “arT” Piovezan, and other legends from the region competing in the tournament.

Under normal circumstances, the fans would have little chance of actually seeing the players live because with so many strong teams in the race, it will be hard for the Brazilian ones to qualify for The Champions Stage or the playoffs. But thanks to ESL’s decision to hold the entire tournament in front of a live audience, they will have that opportunity.

Liquid’s triumph

Liquid had to defeat four teams to win this qualifier: Team oNe eSports, MIBR, Complexity Gaming, and Evil Geniuses. The last of these opponents had finished the regular tournament with a record of 3 W – 0 L. And since there was only one Legend Status ticket available, a tiebreaker had to be played.

Liquid struggled against every single team except oNe, whom they defeated with a score of 16-6. The rest of their matches were brutal: 19-16 versus MIBR, 2-1 versus Complexity, and 2-0 against Evil Geniuses, but the map scores in this last match were 25-23 (on Ancient) and 19-17 (on Overpass).

As usual, everyone on Liquid’s side contributed significantly to the team’s success. We often see competitors relying on one or two players to carry them to victory. But Liquid have a different way of playing the game.

The other qualified teams

Apart from Team Liquid, five other North American teams will play at the next CS:GO Major:

• Evil Geniuses
• 9z Team
• 00NATION
• FURIA Esports
• Imperial Esports

IEM Rio Major marks the return of some of the biggest names in Brazilian Counter-Strike. It also marks the return of Evil Geniuses, who looked completely lost just a few months ago. Because of that, the event will be very exciting to watch as an American fan of this esport.

Header: Team Liquid