HEROIC and Team Vitality each moved within one win of reaching the playoffs at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 event by sweeping matches on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro.
In the Group B upper-bracket semifinals, HEROIC handled Astralis 2-0 and Vitality downed The MongolZ 2-0.
Group B lower-bracket action began on Tuesday, with Virtus.pro rallying to eliminate 9z Team 2-1 and Eternal Fire ousting G2 Esports 2-0.
In the Group A lower-bracket semifinals, MOUZ topped Complexity Gaming 2-0, and FaZe Clan routed Team Liquid 2-0.
The $250,000 IEM Rio began with two double-elimination groups of eight teams. The best-of-one opening matches in both groups were played Monday. All following matches are best-of-three.
The winners of Groups A and B will advance directly to the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up will move to the quarterfinals as the high seeds, and the third-place teams will advance to the quarterfinals as the low seeds.
The playoffs are a single-elimination bracket where all matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final Sunday.
The winning team will take home $100,000 and earn an automatic berth into IEM Katowice 2025.
On Tuesday, HEROIC got past Astralis 13-9 on Mirage, 13-7 on Ancient. Israel’s Guy “NertZ” Iluz paced HEROIC with 39 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential. Martin “stavn” Lund led all-Danish Astralis with 33 kills.
Vitality needed double overtime to beat The MongolZ 19-17 on Inferno, then sealed the match with a 13-8 triumph on Nuke. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut powered Vitality with 60 kills and a plus-40 K-D differential. Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren amassed 40 kills for The MongolZ’s all-Mongolian side.
9z Team opened with a 13-6 victory on Ancient before Virtus.pro claimed Inferno 13-11 and Mirage 13-2. All-Russian Virtus.pro got 46 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential from Petr “fame” Bolyshev. Uruguay’s Franco “dgt” Garcia posted 43kills and a plus-11 K-D differential for 9z Team.
Eternal Fire cruised past G2 Esports 13-4 on Anubis, 13-6 on Mirage behind 39 kills and a plus-24 K-D differential from Ozgur “woxic” Eker. Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov finished with 35 kills and a plus-7 K-D differential for G2 Esports.
MOUZ needed overtime on each map to squeeze past Complexity Gaming, posting 16-12 wins on Vertigo and Inferno. Finland’s Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo had a team-high 48 kills for MOUZ, while Sweden’s Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin produced a team-best plus-15 K-D differential. The United States’ Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski registered 42 kills for Complexity Gaming.
FaZe Clan stopped Team Liquid 13-6 on Inferno, 13-7 on Dust II. Slovakia’s David “frozen” Cernansky put up 36 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential for FaZe Clan. Canada’s Keith “NAF” Markovic wound up with 28 kills for Team Liquid.
The tournament continues Wednesday with six matches:
–Natus Vincere vs. FURIA Esports (Group A upper-bracket final)
–MOUZ vs. FaZe Clan (Group A lower-bracket final)
–Team Vitality vs. HEROIC (Group B upper-bracket final)
–Astralis vs. Virtus.pro (Group B lower-bracket semifinal)
–The MongolZ vs. Eternal Fire (Group B lower-bracket semifinal)
–Astralis/Virtus.pro winner vs. The MongolZ/Eternal Fire winner (Group B lower-bracket final)
IEM Rio 2024 prize pool:
1. $100,000, qualification to IEM Katowice 2025
2. $42,000
3-4. $20,000
5-6. $10,000
7-8. $6,000
9-12. $5,000 — Complexity Gaming, Team Liquid, two teams TBD
13-16. $4,000 — Imperial Esports, paiN Gaming, 9z Team, G2 Esports
–Field Level Media
