IEM Rio Major Overview

The format of the CS:GO Major Rio bracket was the same as it has been for the previous five years. In the beginning, there were sixteen teams competing for eight slots in the next Legends stage in the Challengers Stage. These teams were classified as either “Challengers” or “Contenders” according to how they placed in respective Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournaments. The same structure applied to the Legends Stage of the CS:GO Rio Major, with the top eight players moving on to the knockout stage in front of a crowded Accor Arena.

A Swiss format was used for the IEM Rio Major’s Challengers and Legends stages, where teams would need three victories in order to secure a spot in the next series of matches while three defeats would send them packing instantly.

From there, the knockout stage used a single elimination best-of-three format from the quarter-finals all the way to the grand final. This format was the norm for quite some time and, with new seeding and matchup rules implemented by Valve for the first Counter-Strike 2 Major in Denmark, it would be the last time.

The total prize money was $1,250,000 split accordingly with the top 16 placers of the CS:GO Major Rio. The champions received the coveted Major trophy, invites to Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023 and the BLAST Premier World Final 2022, and $500,000. Second place received $170,000; 3-4th got $80,000 each; 5-8th earned $45,000 each; 9-16th picked up $20,000 for their efforts; and finally 17-24th weren’t left empty handed as they all took home a nice consolation sum of $10,000.

Double Elimination for Brazil

There were three Brazilian teams that qualified for the IEM Rio Major 2022, namely FURIA, Imperial, and 00NATION. After the Challengers Stage of the tournament, only FURIA was left standing. Both Imperial, led by Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, and 00NATION, spearheaded by Marcelo “coldzera” David, went 0-3 in the challengers stage and bowed out of their home Major winless. Still, the support from the fans in attendance and around the world was felt massively and the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd was a welcome sight.

Perfection for Bad News Eagles

Bad News Eagles was a team whose players no one really knew of before 2022, but quickly made a name for themselves as a scrappy Kosovar squad that could be the dark horse of any tournament. They qualified for the IEM Rio Major with a sixth place finish at the IEM Rio EU RMR A, placing them in the Challengers Stage. From there, the Kosovars went perfect in four maps against 00NATION, BIG, and GamerLegion to secure a 3-0 record and qualification to the Legends Stage.

Most Important Stories – Legends & Knockout Stage

NIP and FaZe Bomb Out

Quite possibly the biggest shock of the Legends Stage was the fact that both NIP and FaZe went 0-3 and completely bombed out of the competition despite being locks to reach the playoffs at the very least.

FaZe just barely lost their opening game to Cloud9, 14-16, before losing a completely one-sided affair to Vitality where Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut and Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif completely shut down the red-and-black squad. They faced off against Bad News Eagles in the elimination series and took them to three maps before succumbing to their fate in a 20-22 double OT match on Mirage.

NIP also faltered in disappointing fashion at the Rio Major, losing both their opening day matches to really close scorelines, 13-16 against fnatic and 12-16 against Outsiders. Their last chance at staying alive completely went up in smoke after getting swept by Sprout, with the entire team getting outclassed by Rasmus ‘Zyphon’ Nordfoss across both maps.

FURIA

The last hope of Brazil at their home Major, FURIA did not disappoint during the Legends Stage and punched their ticket into the playoffs with a 3-0 record, besting ENCE, Spirit, and BIG in the process. Every time FURIA played, the crowd was packed and noisy and it was clear that the Brazilian five-stack fed off that contagious energy brought by their countrymen.

When the quarter-finals arrived, FURIA were matched up against Natus Vincere, one of the toughest teams in the world who also had the best player in the world. What happened next was a series that no one in Brazil would soon forget, as their heroes FURIA pulled off the 2-1 reverse sweep to send NAVI home and make it through to the semis in front of a packed and energetic Jeunesse Arena. Though FURIA were unable to reach the final and win the whole thing, their quarter-final victory was enough to prove that the Brazilians still had it in them. It also meant a great deal for the team, as they had been associated with choking and underperforming in recent tournaments until Rio.

Champions of Brazil – Outsiders

The first Brazilian CS:GO Major, IEM Rio had its fair share of challenges but it never lacked for intensity on the server. It also was the coronation venue for another set of first time Major champions with an Outsiders (Virtus.pro core) lineup consisting of Alexey “Qikert” Golubev, Dzhami “Jame” Ali, Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev, David “n0rb3r7” Daniyelyan, and Petr “fame” Bolyshev. The grand finals pitted Heroic against Outsiders (formerly Virtus.pro). Despite Heroic’s impressive run, Outsiders proved too strong, winning the series 2-0 and claiming the coveted Major trophy.