As the National Day holiday draws to a close, the top CS tournaments will be returning to us, with 16 teams competing for the $250,000 prize pool and the glory of being champions in Rio de Janeiro. This is also the last offline competition for most teams before the Shanghai Major, after all, only eight top teams will be able to participate in the BLAST World Showdown.
IEM Rio
The tournament will run from October 7-13 and will be the last Intel Grand Slam event of 2024。
system of racing
group stage (of a competition)
-16 teams divided into two groups
-Adopted double-elimination system
-BO1 in the first round, BO3 in subsequent matches
-Group 1 advances to semi-finals
-Group 2 and 3 advance to the Quarterfinals
a knock-out competition
-Single-elimination system
-BO3 for Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals, BO5 for Finals
Today’s Schedule
FaZe vs FURIA (October 7, 22:00)
The opening match will pit host team Furia against Galactic Battleship FaZe, who last met back in the Copenhagen Major, where FaZe won 13-7 in Anceint. FaZe struggled at the end of the offseason, and despite a recent resurgence, it’s still not enough to be in contention for the title.
As for Furia, the former South American No. 1 is struggling even more, with the team stopping in the Round of 16 at both IEM Cologne and EPL S20, and slightly improving at the BB Villa Cup, but still defenseless against top tier teams. With teams like paiN, MIBR and Imperial on the rise, FURIA’s position is in jeopardy.
MOUZ vs paiN (October 7, 22:00)
Meanwhile, the other opening match will also see the host team take on the European international team, who met at the BB Villa Cup not long ago, where MOUZ gave up one game to two and sent paiN to the losers’ bracket.
As one of the strongest teams in the first half of the year, MOUZ had a cold streak at IEM Dallas before the summer break. This was not the beginning of the nightmare for the youngsters. After three consecutive quarterfinals in the second half of the year, the team traveled to Malta as the defending champions, where they were defeated three times by their opponents, stopping them in the Top 20. After a half-month break, MOUZ is in dire need of a win to revitalize their morale.
As for paiN, they had a good performance in recent international tournaments, becoming the top team in South America with the BB Villa Cup and IEM Cologne. However, the team has struggled a bit since returning to South America, and now they need to find their form at home.
NAVI vs Imperial (October 7, 23:00)
In the second round of the tournament, it’s still the host team that will face the current world number one, NAVI, who haven’t played each other before, but both had good results in EPL S20.
NAVI won their third trophy of the year in Malta, while Command Aleksib broke their BO5 curse, and despite losing at BLAST Autumn, they are still the strongest team in the tournament. On top of that, NAVI has great consistency against weaker teams, and they haven’t suffered a real blowout yet this year.
As for Imperial, they made good progress in EPL S20, advancing to the knockout rounds with two consecutive underdog victories over BIG and MOUZ in the group stage. Despite failing to beat M80 and Spirit in the subsequent rounds, they still proved that they have the ability to create miracles on the international stage.
Liquid vs COL (October 7, 23:00)
The North American duo met in the first round, with both sides having played each other in Cologne and EPL S20, while Liquid won four consecutive maps and beat COL twice.
The restructured Liquid looked to have a promising future, losing only to top teams and FaZe in offline matches, but the restructured Liquid also had a variety of pitfalls, such as poor offensive performance, ultimate against top snipers, and the enigmatic YEKINDAR, all of which hindered the team’s further progress.
Their old rival COL, on the other hand, has had their share of highs this year, but more regrets. The team broke the MOUZ and FaZe demons in EPL 20, but eventually fell to Liquid. As of now, they still haven’t been able to put up a better performance than EPL S19 and ESLC Yenköping.
Vitality vs 9z (October 8, 00:00)
The first round matchup in Group B will be between Vitality and 9z, who last met at IEM Dallas when the South American team was on the rise, defeating title favorites Vitality 2-0.
However, in the second half of the year, 9z were unable to continue their momentum from Dallas, as they swept through the round robin in Cologne, nibbled away just one win in the BB Villa Cup Final and EPL S20, and suffered a number of losses to fellow South American teams on the international stage. Once a step away from the Top 10, they are once again outside of the Top 20, and wonder if Rio will be the starting point for them to make a comeback to the top tier.
As for Vitality, after back-to-back wins in the BLAST Fall Group Stage and IEM Cologne, they immediately pulled off some big jobs in the EPL S20 and BLAST Fall Finals. No one will question their ceiling, but what they’ve been lacking is consistency, and with the “formulaic apology” sent out well in advance of the apEX tournament, Vitality may be able to regain their form and make a run at their next title.
G2 vs HEROIC (October 8, 00:00)
On the other side, the newly crowned BLAST champions will be challenged by HEROIC. G2 won all three matchups at the beginning of the year, but this matchup will be the first meeting between the two sides since the change in lineup.
While the new lineup has always been at the center of public opinion, objectively speaking, G2 has truly been one of the best performing teams since the end of the summer break, reaching the EWC finals in their debut, winning all of their BLAST Fall group stage matches, and following up with top six, top four, and championships in their subsequent three tournaments. The extremely high ceiling and floor and ever-improving performances make you look forward to what they will actually accomplish in the remaining three tournaments of the year.
As for HEROIC, their performance after the break can only be described as struggling, with a crippled lineup in the early stages and a slump in the later stages of the tournament. The team’s most consistent performance so far has been the IEM Rio Closed Qualifier, where they defeated C9 in the first round, then won four consecutive matches to get the ticket to Brazil.
VP vs MGLZ (October 8, 1:00)
Jame and his team returned to his faithful Rio to face Mongolian rivals MGLZ, who had met twice in the first half of the year, both times ending in VP’s favor.
But times are different now, as VP’s play after the break has been evident to all, as they’ve played Falcons, BIGs, and South American teams in major tournaments, and have rarely even had the chance to face the real powerhouses. Even so, the team’s win percentage in the last three months is a dismal 44.4%.
As for MGLZ, despite once being among the Top 10, their progress on the top stage has stagnated. Gradually, they became a stepping stone for other dark horses. After two consecutive Top 12 exits from the tournament, they will have their final trial before the RMR tournament here with Elisa Espoo Masters.
EF vs Astralis (October 8, 1:00)
The fake HEROIC face G2 on the other side of the half of the bracket, while the real HEROIC face Eternal Fire in the last match of the first round. the two sides have only met once this year, with Astralis’ old team defeating the Turkish team 2-0 in EPL S19.
The new Astralis team has certainly improved by leaps and bounds, scoring just 4 points against the World No. 2 on the first day and 29 points against the World No. 4 on the second day, and they will be challenging the current World No. 7 in Rio. And before this event, they had more training and bonding time than Autumn Decision.
And Eternal Fire proved that their success in the BB Villa Cup was no accident with a great performance in EPL S20. Before coming to Rio, the team had already reached the finals of two consecutive tournaments, reaping the second place. Now, after proving that they have what it takes to compete with all the top teams, all Eternal Fire needs to do is find consistency and make a run at the title.
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