Natus Vincere and Cloud9 emerged as group winners as the opening phase of the Intel Extreme Masters Rio event concluded on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro.
Natus Vincere swept BIG 2-0 in the Group A upper-bracket final, and Cloud9 edged FURIA Esports 2-1 in the Group B upper-bracket final.
Heroic and Team Vitality claimed the final two playoff berths.
Heroic dumped Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 in the Group A lower-bracket final.
Team Vitality downed OG 2-1 in the Group B lower-bracket final after ousting FaZe Clan 2-0 in a Group B lower-bracket semifinal earlier Wednesday. OG had advanced with a 2-0 triumph over Fnatic.
The playoffs will start Friday with FURIA Esports and Heroic battling in a quarterfinal matchup for the right to meet Natus Vincere in the semifinals. BIG and Team Vitality will clash in the quarterfinals, with the winner moving on to meet Cloud9 in the semis.
The $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 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 Friday, with the quarterfinals and semifinals best-of-three and the grand final on Sunday 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.
On Wednesday, Natus Vincere needed double overtime to beat BIG 22-20 on Mirage, then sealed the series with a 16-8 win on Inferno.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev led NaVi with 61 kills and a plus-26 kills-deaths differential. Marcel “hyped” Kohn and Josef “faveN” Baumann each had 48 kills for BIG.
Cloud9 opened with a 19-17 overtime win on Inferno before FURIA took Vertigo 16-9. Cloud9 wrapped up the series with a 16-12 decision on Ancient.
Kazakhstan’s Timur “buster” Tulepov logged a team-high 68 kills for Cloud9, while Russia’s Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov had a team-best plus-13 K-D differential. Yuri “yuurih” Santos led FURIA’s all-Brazilian squad with 74 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential.
Heroic got past Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-5 on Overpass and 16-9 on Inferno.
Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard produced 54 kills and a plus-28 K-D differential for Heroic’s all-Danish roster. Another Dane, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, topped Ninjas in Pyjamas with 45 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential.
OG jumped on top with a 16-14 win on Mirage before Vitality captured Inferno 16-5 and Overpass 16-10.
France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut mustered 72 kills and a plus-30 K-D differential for Vitality. Israel’s Shahar “flameZ” Shushan paced OG with 52 kills and a minus-2 K-D differential.
Earlier, Vitality downed FaZe Clan 19-16 in overtime on Anubis, then 16-9 on Overpass.
Israel’s Lotan “Spinx” Giladi amassed 73 kills and a plus-39 K-D differential for Vitality. Estonia’s Robin “ropz” Kool wound up with 43 kills and a minus-1 K-D differential for FaZe Clan.
OG routed Fnatic 16-6 on Mirage, then 16-5 on Vertigo.
Denmark’s Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen powered OG with 42 kills and a plus-23 K-D differential. His countryman Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi recorded 33 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential for Fnatic.
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 — Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG
9-12. $5,000 — 9INE, The MongolZ, Fnatic, FaZe Clan
13-16. $4,000 — MOUZ, Imperial Esports, 9z Team, MIBR
–Field Level Media