Natus Vincere and BIG won twice Monday to move within one victory of making the playoffs as the Intel Extreme Masters Rio event got underway in Rio de Janeiro.
The $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament features 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening phase. Each team’s first match consisted of a single map, while all other matches are best-of-three.
The group winners qualify for the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up move into the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds, and the third-place finishers in each group start the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.
The single-elimination playoffs start April 21, with the quarterfinals and semifinals best-of-three and the grand final on April 23 best-of-five.
The tournament champion will earn $100,000 and a berth in the $1 million Intel Extreme Masters Cologne scheduled for July 25-Aug. 6 in Germany. The Rio runner-up will receive $42,000.
In Group A, Natus Vincere opened with a 16-9 win over The MongolZ on Mirage, then swept Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0, prevailing 16-10 on Mirage and 16-13 on Ancient.
Russia’s Denis “electroNic” Sharipov logged 47 kills for NaVi against NiP, while Ukraine’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev produced a team-best plus-13 kill-death differential. Denmark’s Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke led NiP with 41 kills.
Also in Group A, BIG routed MOUZ 16-6 on Overpass, then pulled out a 2-1 win over Heroic. After Heroic took Vertigo 16-14, BIG pulled level with a 16-11 victory on Nuke, then won the decisive third map, Overpass, 16-6.
Karim “Krimbo” Moussa led BIG’s all-German roster with 65 kills and a plus-23 K-D differential. Rene “TeSeS” Madsen amassed 59 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential for Heroic’s all-Danish squad.
In other first-round Group A matches, Heroic dumped 9INE 16-12 on Ancient, and Ninjas in Pyjamas topped Imperial Esports 16-5 on Mirage.
The MongolZ came back to defeat Imperial Esports 2-1 in a Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal. After Imperial won Overpass 16-3, The MongolZ captured Inferno 16-12 and Mirage 16-14.
9INE eliminated MOUZ 2-1 in a Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal, sandwiching a 16-11 victory on Vertigo and a 16-10 win on Nuke around a 16-9 defeat on Ancient.
In Group B, only the first round was contested on Monday. FaZe Clan clobbered 9z Team 16-3 on Overpass, FURIA Esports nipped Fnatic 19-15 in overtime on Ancient, OG got past Team Vitality 19-17 in overtime on Overpass and Cloud9 cruised past MIBR 16-8 on Ancient.
The Tuesday schedule:
Group A lower-bracket semifinals
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. 9INE
Heroic vs. The MongolZ
Group B upper-bracket semifinals
FaZe Clan vs. FURIA Esports
OG vs. Cloud9
Group B lower-bracket quarterfinals
9z Team vs. Fnatic
Team Vitality vs. MIBR
Intel Extreme Masters Rio prize pool
1. $100,000, berth in IEM Cologne
2. $42,000
3-4. $20,000
5-6. $10,000
7-8. $6,000
9-12. $5,000
13-16. $4,000
17-20. no prize money — Imperial Esports, MOUZ
–Field Level Media