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Team Vitality Are Your Champions Of IEM Rio 2023

Team Vitality have been crowned the champions of IEM Rio 2023. The org has won it big in Brazil after defeating Heroic 2-0 in a best of 3 series. How did the roster make it to the finals and how did the finals turn out? Find out more only at Gamopo!

Road To The Finals

Team Vitality started off their IEM journey at Rio in the worst possible way. Their first match was against OG who had gotten the best of them, beating them 19-17. Thus, the team was forced to be relegated to the lower bracket. In the lower bracket finals, Vitality faced MIBR who they beat 2-0. Vitality was then up against FaZe who had previously lost Furia at the upper bracket finals. To the demise of FaZe, Vitality won 2-0 again and sent them home packing. At the lower bracket finals, Vitality had to face OG yet again. But it was time for vengeance as OG conceded to them 1-2 with Vitality now qualifying for the playoffs.

Vitality’s journey at the playoffs started by facing BIG. In another best of 3 series, they won 2-0 on Nuke and Mirage. It was now time for the team’s biggest test yet as they had to face Cloud9 at the semifinals. Cloud9 were ruthless on their first map which was Inferno and one more map win would mean the end of the journey for Vitality. In their second map as well, Cloud9 was ruthlessly dominating being up by 12-1. But Vitality made the comeback of their lives and went up to 12-14 from 12-1. They eventually took advantage of their momentum and won on Vertigo and then slayed Overpass booking their ticket to the finals.

The Finals

Rosters

Team Vitality

  • Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire
  • Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut
  • Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen
  • Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif
  • Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi

Heroic

  • Martin ‘stavn’ Lund
  • Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller
  • René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen
  • Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck
  • Jakob ‘Jabbi’ Nygaard

Map Picks & Bans

  • Vitality removed Ancient
  • Heroic removed Anubis
  • Vitality picked Vertigo
  • Heroic picked Inferno
  • Vitality removed Mirage
  • Heroic removed Nuke
  • Overpass was left over

The Series

The chosen maps for the finals of IEM Rio 2023 were Vertigo, Inferno and Overpass.

Map 1 (Vertigo)

Vitality’s pick of Vertigo came off the back of their insane comeback against Cloud9 on the map just the day before. At the start of the map, it looked like a great pick. Vitality won the first five rounds of the map with relative ease and Heroic seemed to be suffering. A rather unsettled Heroic roster seemed to have comeback way later in the first half as they equaled the score at 7-7. The first half ended 8-7 in favor of Vitality.

As the sides were reversed, it was Heroic who were now leading as they had won the first three rounds. When the going got tough, it was Magisk that stepped up for his team. Picking up multi kills every round had turned more of a hobby for this lad. A determined Vitality roster soon made a comeback. Heroic did their level best to resist by picking up a few rounds when Vitality was ahead but it wasn’t enough. Vitality had won their first map of Vertigo 16-13.

Map 2 (Inferno)

It was now time for Heroic’s map pick of Inferno. Unfortunately for them, Vitality had won the first two pistol rounds. While Heroic had shown some resistance, the first half was all Vitality. An in-form apEX and ZywOo took matter into their own hands and collectively picked up 29 kills together in the first half. Thanks to their ruthlessness, Vitality finished the first half being ahead 10-5.

With the roles reversed, it was now a fresh start for the roster of Heroic. The team recollected themselves and put on quite the performance at the start of the second half. Vitality turned nervous for a second as Heroic won 6 of the first 7 rounds to tie the score at 11-11. With few rounds remaining before a possible overtime, it was now or never for both teams. Team Vitality turned the momentum around and picked up 5 more rounds to finish off the series. And thus, Team Vitality were crowned the champions of IEM Rio 2023.

With the lion’s share of $250,000 in the bank, Team Vitality are going home not only with heavier wallets but also with tickets to Cologne. IEM Cologne 2023 begins this July and Vitality are expected to go big at the tournament.

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Fnatic and FaZe Clan Bid Their Farewell To IEM Rio 2023

We are done and dusted with the group stage action of IEM Rio 2023. With some top teams already making it to the playoffs, it’s misery for the fans of Fnatic and FaZe Clan as they have been eliminated from the tournament. Let’s find out how their journey went and who actually qualified from their group.

Group B Of IEM Rio 2023

The Group B of Rio this year had quite a few powerhouse teams including the likes of FaZe, Cloud9 and Team Vitality. For the rest of the teams in the group like Fnatic, it would be a challenge to make it to the playoffs.

Fnatic and FaZe Clan’s Journey At IEM Rio 2023

Both the teams walked into Rio with high hopes. With both teams being placed in group B, they had to take down some big names to have a shot at the playoffs.

Fnatic began their journey at Rio facing FURIA Esports. Unfortunately, for them, FURIA meant business and conceded the first game to them 19-15. Fnatic were then relegated to the lower bracket where they faced 9z Team. There Fnatic made a comeback of 2-1 after losing the first map to them. They then had to face OG at the lower bracket semifinal. Their dreams of winning the major came crashing down as OG thumped them 2-0.

FaZe Clan, on the other hand, started off their journey at Rio with a sleek 16-3 win over 9z team. However, their run was halted as it was FURIA yet again who this time came knocking on the door of FaZe. They lost their series 2-0 to FURIA and were forced to the lower bracket. In the lower bracket, they had to face another giant- none other than Team Vitality. A determined Vitality roster made sure FaZe couldn’t progress further as they won 2-0.

Who Qualified For The Playoffs?

Playoffs of IEM Rio 2023 begins tomorrow and we have some big names going up against each other. Here are all the playoff teams:

  • FURIA Esports
  • Heroic
  • BIG
  • Team Vitality
  • Natus Vincere
  • Cloud9

Furia will be facing Heroic and BIG is placed against Vitality at the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, NaVi and Cloud9 fans can rest a little tomorrow as their teams are already at the semifinals. We have our predictions for all of the matchups coming soon only here on Gamopo!

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IEM Rio 2023: Group A Upper & Lower Bracket Finals

IEM Rio 2023 is turning hot as we turn to some of the bigger matches tonight. We are at the business end of Group A. With BIG facing NaVi and NIP going against Heroic, we have two top matchups of this tournament. With high stakes on the line, we take a look at the matches and come up with predictions for these two matchups in group A of IEM Rio 2023.

IEM Rio 2023: Group A

Group A of IEM Rio 2023 started off with some top world-class teams. The likes of Heroic, BIG, MOUZ, NIP and NaVi are all in group A. But now it’s time for the upper and lower bracket semifinals. BIG will be facing Natus Vincere in the upper bracket final first and then Heroic will be going against Ninjas In Pyjamas.

BIG vs. Natus Vincere

Rosters

BIG
  • Johannes ‘tabseN’ Wodarz
  • Josef ‘faveN’ Baumann
  • Karim ‘Krimbo’ Moussa
  • Nils ‘k1to’ Gruhne
  • Marcel ‘hyped‘ Köhn
NaVi
  • Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev
  • Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov
  • Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy
  • Valerij ‘b1t’ Vakhovsjkyj
  • Andrij ‘npl’ Kukharsjkyj

Our Prediction

NaVi vs BIG seems to be a bit of a straightforward matchup in our opinion. NaVi has won four of their last five competitive matches while BIG has won only two. The last time the two teams faced each other was at the IEM Rio Major 2022 where NaVi won 2-0. The NaVi team looks stronger on paper and has a better recent form heading into this match. So, we predict a win for NaVi tonight and they’ll be moving forward to the next stage of the tournament.

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Heroic

Rosters

NIP
  • Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner
  • Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin
  • Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen
  • Danyyl ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov
  • Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke
Heroic
  • Martin ‘stavn’ Lund
  • Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller
  • René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen
  • Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck
  • Jakob ‘Jabbi’ Nygaard

Our Prediction

NIP vs Heroic is a bit of a tricky matchup in our opinion. NIP has a better form going into this match winning three of their last five matches. Heroic has a decent form as well winning four of their last six matches. The last time the two teams have faced each other was at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals 2022. Heroic won that matchup 2-1. But it’s NIP that won 3/3 series before that. While this matchup can go any way, we predict a win for Heroic.

Both NIP and NaVi would look forward to making it into the next round of IEM Rio 2023 as they had done so in their first matches. Let’s see what the night has in store for them!

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NIP & NaVi Begin IEM Rio 2023 With Wins

You know what the best part is about competitive Counter-Strike? The fact that there’s almost always a top tier tournament going on. With the IEM Rio 2023 kicking off today, that means another tournament full of action, drama and much more! Good news for NIP & NaVi fans is that their teams started off the tournament picking up wins.

NIP & NaVi Wins Their Opening Matches

NIP vs Imperial Esports

Rosters

NIP
  • Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner
  • Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin
  • Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen
  • Danyyl ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov
  • Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke
Imperial Esports
  • Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo
  • Ricardo ‘boltz’ Prass
  • Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo
  • Marcelo ‘chelo’ Cespedes
  • Jhonatan ‘JOTA’ Wilian

Map Picks & Bans

  1. Imperial removed Vertigo
  2. Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Overpass
  3. Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Inferno
  4. Imperial removed Nuke
  5. Imperial removed Anubis
  6. Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Ancient
  7. Mirage was left over

The Match

It was Mongolia vs the rest of Europe in the first match of IEM Rio 2023. With Mirage being the battleground, both teams looked to move to the upper bracket semifinals from group A.

The Ninjas started off the map winning the first two pistol rounds. But Imperial responded right after picking up the next 3 rounds without flinching. It was then NIP’s turn to pick up consecutive rounds as they won the next 4. For the rest of the first half, it was pretty much NIP domination. The first half ended 11-4 in favor of Ninjas in Pyjamas. In the second half, there was little to show from the side of Imperial Esports. They won only one round in the second half as NIP finished off the map 16-5. It was Brollan that really stood out on NIP’s first match of the tournament.

NaVi vs The Mongolz

Rosters

NaVi
  • Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev
  • Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov
  • Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy
  • Valerij ‘b1t’ Vakhovsjkyj
  • Andrij ‘npl’ Kukharsjkyj
The Mongolz
  • Garidmagnai ‘bLitz’ Byambasuren
  • Sodbayar ‘Techno4K’ Munkhbold
  • Baatarkhuu ‘Bart4k’ Batbold
  • Tuvshintugs ‘ANNIHILATION’ Nyamdorj
  • Chinguun ‘hasteka’ Bayarmaa

Map Picks & Bans

  1. TheMongolz removed Ancient
  2. Natus Vincere removed Anubis
  3. Natus Vincere removed Inferno
  4. TheMongolz removed Vertigo
  5. TheMongolz removed Overpass
  6. Natus Vincere removed Nuke
  7. Mirage was left over

The Match

For NaVi vs The Mongolz, Mirage was the playground once again. NaVi started off their IEM Rio 2023 run winning the pistol rounds against Mongolz. They followed it up by winning three more rounds at a stretch. But it was now time for Mongolz to respond. For the rest of the first half, it was total domination from the Mongolian side. Their aggression and tactics outshined the entire NaVi roster. The first half ended 8-7 in favor of the NaVi side. NaVi were looking at an imminent upset if they were to let this continue. However, they did turn things around in the beginning of the second half. They consecutively picked up the first four rounds in the second half regaining their lead over their opponents. The Mongolz could do very little after as NaVi soon picked up the map. The match ended with NaVi winning on Mirage 16-9. Gotta feel bad for bLitz who put up an impressive show for the Mongolz.

The two victors of the opening matches, NIP & NaVi will be facing each other tonight later on. The winner of that matchup will be moving onto the upper bracket finals from group A.

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