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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 Major 2022 Quarterfinals Predictions

We have finally stepped into the Champions Stage of IEM Rio Major 2022. With only 8 teams remaining, the quarterfinals will commence from tomorrow. Let’s check out the top 8 teams and present our predictions of the IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals!

IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals

Top 8 Teams

Here are the top 8 teams of IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals:

  • Cloud9
  • MOUZ
  • Fnatic
  • Outsiders
  • Heroic
  • Team Spirit
  • Natus Vincere
  • FURIA Esports

IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals Predictions

As we can already see, there are an abundance of big names among the top teams this season. It’s gonna be tough to pick up the victors in all of the matchups but here we go with our IEM Rio quarterfinals predictions:

Fnatic vs Outsiders

We have Fnatic vs Outsiders as the first series of the quarterfinals. And this should be a good one! Both the teams have had a similar form throughout this tournament so far. However, Outsiders picked up a two-map win over Fnatic last week. Fnatic would definitely want to take revenge for their earlier loss but it’ll be tough. It seems like Outsiders will be picking up another win over Fnatic but it might be a close one.

Cloud9 vs MOUZ

The second match of day 1 of the quarterfinals see Cloud9 facing MOUZ. The two teams had very different starts to the tournament. MOUZ were table toppers during the Challengers Stage picking up consecutive wins against Outsiders, Evil Geniuses and Fnatic. However, they couldn’t replicate the dominance in the Legends Stage losing against BIG and Outsiders. On the other hand, Cloud9 started off sloppy losing against Fnatic and Grayhound in their two opening matches. Over time, they regained their form and now look to dominate MOUZ.

Cloud9 should be the easy favorites to win the series here. We know how good they are on maps like Overpass and Mirage where they have far better winrates than MOUZ. MOUZ always tries to ignore Dust2, so if C9 picks that up then it will be game over then and there. So, we’re siding with Cloud9 as the clear favorite here.

Heroic vs Team Spirit

Heroic vs Team Spirit could go either way. Both the teams have displayed some amazing Counter-Strike in this tournament. Heroic’s wins over Fnatic, Outsiders, and Team Liquid have impressed the crowd quite a bit despite being annihilated by C9. Team Spirit did pick up a well-deserved win against Liquid but losses against FURIA and Outsiders were uncalled for.

This matchup will boil down to the map picks and bans. If Heroic gets both Nuke and Overpass in their favor, they should be picking up this series. This series should be an amazing matchup!

Natus Vincere vs FURIA Esports

FURIA, overall, have had a better performance at IEM Rio thus far. They won all of their Legends Stage matches against ENCE, Team Spirit and BIG. Including those three, FURA have won six consecutive matches. With all of that in mind, Natus Vincere is surely in trouble. They started off the tournament on the wrong foot losing against Cloud9 and Team Liquid. With current form in consideration, we don’t see NaVi making it out alive. FURIA just might get the best of them this time around especially with yuurih in such great form.

So, what do you make of our IEM Rio quarterfinals predictions? May the odds be in your favor!

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