Heroic, Outsiders and Fnatic punched their tickets to the Champions Stage with their respective Round 4 victories Monday at the Legends Stage of the Intel Extreme Masters XVII Rio Major in Rio de Janeiro.
Heroic outlasted Team Liquid 2-1, Outsiders swept MOUZ 2-0 and Fnatic beat BIG 2-0 in the Round 4 High matches.
Also Monday, Natus Vincere beat Bad News Eagles, ENCE beat Team Vitality and Team Spirit beat Sprout in the Round 4 Low matches, all by 2-0 scores. The three losing teams all bowed out of the tournament.
The $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 24 teams — 16 from Europe, six from the Americas and two from Asia-Pacific. Eight teams were seeded straight into the second round, called the Legends Stage. The other 16 teams competed in the Challengers Stage for the final eight berths in the Legends Stage, which is running through Tuesday.
The Challenge Stage and the Legends Stage use the Swiss system, in which teams are reseeded after each round, with winners facing off in “high” matches the following round, and losers advancing to “low” matches. Early rounds consisted of a single map, while all elimination and advancement matches were best-of-three.
The playoffs, which will consist of single-elimination quarterfinals, semifinals and final, are set for Nov. 10-13. All playoff matches will be best-of-three.
The winning team will earn $500,000, 4,000 BLAST Premier ranking points and automatic berths in the BLAST Premier World Final, scheduled for Dec. 14-18 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, set for Jan. 31-Feb. 12 in Poland.
Heroic opened with a 16-8 win on Vertigo before Liquid tied the match with a 16-5 rout on Mirage. On the decisive map, Overpass, Heroic secured a 16-11 victory. Rene “TeSeS” Madsen led the all-Danish Heroic roster with 54 kills on a plus-8 kills-to-deaths differential. Casper “cadiaN” Moller was plus-15 with 53 kills and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard added 53 kills on a plus-8.
Outsiders beat MOUZ 16-10 on Overpass and 16-10 on Inferno. They were led by Russian Petr “fame” Bolyshev (46 kills, plus-22).
Fnatic defeated BIG 16-14 on Overpass and 16-7 on Mirage. Sweden’s Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson had 48 kills and a plus-16.
NaVi routed Bad News Eagles 16-3 on Ancient and 16-9 on Nuke. Ukraine’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev paced NaVi with 45 kills on a plus-24.
ENCE beat Vitality 16-12 on Vertigo and 19-15 on Nuke. Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia of Spain starred for ENCE with 60 kills and a plus-29.
Spirit defeated Sprout 16-9 on Nuke and 16-8 on Vertigo. The winners were led by Russia’s Robert “Patsi” Isyanov (41 kills, plus-12).
Legends Stage action concludes Tuesday with three Round 5 matches:
–MOUZ vs. ENCE
–BIG vs. Natus Vincere
–Team Liquid vs. Team Spirit
Intel Extreme Masters XVII Rio Major: Legends Stage standings
T1. FURIA Esports 3-0 (advanced to Champions Stage)
T1. Cloud9 3-0 (advanced to Champions Stage)
T3. Heroic 3-1 (advanced to Champions Stage)
T3. Outsiders 3-1 (advanced to Champions Stage)
T3. Fnatic 3-1 (advanced to Champions Stage)
T6. BIG 2-2
T6. ENCE 2-2
T6. Team Spirit 2-2
T6. Team Liquid 2-2
T6. MOUZ 2-2
T6. Natus Vincere 2-2
T12. Sprout 1-3 (eliminated)
T12. Bad News Eagles 1-3 (eliminated)
T12. Team Vitality 1-3 (eliminated)
T15. FaZe Clan 0-3 (eliminated)
T15. Ninjas in Pyjamas 0-3 (eliminated)
Intel Extreme Masters XVII Rio Major prize pool:
1. $500,000, 4,000 BLAST Premier points
2. $170,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $80,000, 1,250 BLAST Premier points
5-8. $45,000, 500 BLAST Premier points
9-11. $20,000
12-14. Sprout, Team Vitality, Bad News Eagles — $20,000
15-16. FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas — $20,000
17-19. 9z Team, Team GamerLegion, OG — $10,000
20-22. Evil Geniuses, Grayhound Gaming, IHC Esports — $10,000
23-24. Imperial Esports, 00 Nation — $10,000
–Field Level Media