Team Vitality crowned champions of IEM Rio 2023

IEM Rio 2023 is history, and Team Vitality defeated Heroic 2-0 to become tournament champions. Emil “Magisk” Reif deployed his offensive arsenal to lead the team to victory.

On the other hand, the Danes once again lost a final in Rio de Janeiro even though they certainly had the support of many of the fans. Team Vitality takes the first victory in the fifth season of the Intel Grand Slam and will try to emulate what FaZe Clan did a few weeks ago. In addition, Vitality joins FaZe and G2 Esports in the teams qualified for the upcoming IEM Cologne 2023.

The grand final match was very intense and exciting. However, the determination of the French team prevailed over the excitement with which Heroic came into the match.

Team Vitality beat Heroic to become champions of IEM Rio 2023

On a spectacular day, the guys from Team Vitality achieved the feat that had eluded them in recent tournaments and beat Heroic 2-0 to become champions of the IEM Rio 2023. Magisk and apEX were the team’s heroes in this grand final match, where Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut could not show his full potential but still contributed a lot to the team.

The IEM Rio 2023 Grand Final was played by Vertigo (Team Vitality) and Inferno (Heroic).

Vertigo

Undoubtedly, the grand final started as we expected, with absolute intensity and with both teams showing why they had reached this stage. Team Vitality started by giving Heroic a big blow by winning seven of the first eight rounds to ensure a close first half.

However, Heroic, led by Martin “stavn” Lund, who closed a spectacular tournament, managed to win six of the next seven rounds to put a lot of spice into the match.

In the second half, we saw more of the same; Heroic started winning three consecutive rounds to pressure Magisk and Team Vitality, who saw how the match could slip through their fingers. But Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Lotan “Spinx” Giladi became protagonists in Team Vitality to return to the scoreboard and finally win 16-13.

Inferno

We saw a completely different match development in Inferno, but it was really exciting. Unfortunately, however, the end was the same as in Vertigo, as Team Vitality managed to take the victory by 16-12.

The French team started again very strong, winning many rounds on the TC side and, unlike the first map where the score was very close (8-7), this time they achieved a comfortable partial victory of 10-5. Then, in the second half, the roles were reversed, and Heroic, with Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard as the main striker, stopped Team Vitality’s offensives until they reached 12-12 on the scoreboard.

A new game began at this point; the next six rounds could have defined the champion or the equality in the series to play the third and decisive map. However, Team Vitality had an ace; they won four consecutive rounds and were proclaimed champions of IEM Rio 2023.

Header: ESL