OG and Vitality to clash in final IEM Rio Challengers Stage matchups

The six remaining teams will battle for three final spots in the Legends Stage.

The Challengers Stage of the IEM Rio Major is heading into its final day with the fate of just six teams left to be decided. MOUZ, Bad News Eagles, FURIA, Outsiders, and BIG have all confirmed their spots in the next stage, and just three spots remain up for grabs in the 2-2 round.

Some surprising names have yet to advance, including the No. 2 ranked team in the world, Vitality. Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's side have had a rocky run in Rio so far, starting things off with a win over Imperial but then suffering defeats to GamerLegion and Outsiders to end up in the 1-2 pool. OG also ended up in a similar position, winning their opener but losing their two subsequent matches to fnatic and FURIA.

dupreeh could miss out on the top-16 stage of a Major for the first time in his career

Both teams have since recovered slightly, with Vitality beating Grayhound in a best-of-three, and OG defeating IHC. Everything will be on the line on the final day as the teams will face off against each other for a spot in the Legends Stage, with no extra life remaining for the loser.

Cloud9 have also faltered in Rio, Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov being their only beacon of light early on before Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov showed up to play on day three. The Russian team will have to continue performing if they want to make it to the top-16 stage, something which isn't a guarantee as a GamerLegion that started out with a 2-0 record in Rio stands between them and advancing.

The final 2-2 matchup will pit fnatic against 9z, a series in which fnatic should be the favorite after they also got off to a 2-0 start only to drop best-of-threes to MOUZ and Outsiders. However, nothing is a guarantee when looking at the form of teams so far in the Challengers Stage, as so fnatic will need to bring their A-game to avoid an upset from the South American squad.

The schedule and matches for the final day of the Challengers Stage can be found below:

2-2 pool (BO3)

Date	Matches
IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers Stage
03/11/2022	OG15:00 Vitality	Match
03/11/2022	GamerLegion19:15 Cloud9	Match
03/11/2022	fnatic22:20 9z	Match

Imperial #18 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Outsiders #8 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev BIG #15 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaElias 's1n' Stein Cloud9 #5 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Bad News Eagles #23 Rigon 'rigoN' GashiSener 'SENER1' MahmutiFlatron 'juanflatroo' HalimiDionis 'sinnopsyy' BudeciGenc 'gxx-' Kolgeci Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 989 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 IHC #47 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarTengis 'sk0R' BatjargalTuvshintugs 'Annihilation' NyamdorjGaridmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenSodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold 9z #28 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 28 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1216 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 OG #14 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharShahar 'flameZ' ShushanAbdul 'degster' GasanovMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Vitality #2 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 916 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.53 MOUZ #9 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýJon 'JDC' de CastroÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman fnatic #19 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 2057 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 GamerLegion #25 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' IvanNicolas 'Keoz' DgusKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekIsak 'isak' Fahlén Grayhound #41 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli FURIA #10 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu