Everything that went down on the first day of the Rio Major Playoffs

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When it comes to upsets and unexpected results, the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major just keeps on giving. Of the two Quarterfinal matches played on the first day of the Major, one was an upset and the other was a much more straightforward result than most people thought it would be. If you missed out on the action from Brazil, here’s your chance to catch up.

Fnatic vs Outsiders

There’s a pretty large ranking difference between these two teams, but considering Fnatic’s recent form, one would have put them at even or near-even odds against Outsiders. However, things didn’t remain as even once the match began.

Game 1 

Starting on the T-side of Inferno — their map pick — Fnatic managed to keep things interesting early on and got four important rounds to take the lead despite having lost the Pistol Round. Outsiders didn’t take this lightly, though, as they almost completely locked the aggressors out after that, losing just one of the remaining 8 rounds in the half and only conceding two bomb plants in the same period.

The second half started very strong for strong for Fnatic, with the CIS side’s lead being taken away as the teams reached a score of 10-10. Outsiders struck back powerfully, though, as they bagged 6 of the next 7 rounds to win the game. Both Pyotr “fame” Bolyshev and Dzhami “Jame” Ali were instrumental in their team’s win.

Game 2 

Inferno may have been close at one point, but Fnatic could put up no such fight on Mirage. Despite winning the Pistol, they quickly went down 6-2 after a flurry of rounds from Outsiders. The Swedish side managed to get three back, but the CIS squad got another hat-trick of rounds before losing the last for a 9-6 half favoring the T-side. 

Outsiders may have lost the second round despite winning the Pistol, but they hit back immediately with five rounds on the trot, and although Fnatic managed to take one back, it was all over in the next round as Outsiders took it 16-8. Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev and David “n0rb3r7” Daniyelyan were the heroes for the winners this time around.

Cloud9 vs MOUZ

Long had Cloud9 been waiting for their chance, and with only MOUZ and Outsiders — teams ranked 9th and 10th on the world rankings — in their path ahead of the Grand Finals, this looked like it was their golden chance at achieving something big on LAN. MOUZ, though, wasn’t going to let things be that easy. 

Game 1 

MOUZ began with a bang as they secured four rounds on the T-side of their map pick of Inferno, but C9 took five in return on the trot before the former could level things. C9 composed themselves better, however, and the half ended 9-6 in their favor. 

On the flip side of things, MOUZ did have some good rounds, but C9 seemed to be just too strong — especially Abay “HObbit” Hasenov and Dmitriy ”sh1ro” Sokolov — and the European youngsters and their Aussie captain crumbled to a 16-11 loss. 

Game 2 

Overpass is currently well-known as one of the most CT-sided maps out there, and MOUZ began their CT-side with six straight rounds to put that point on full show. C9 weren’t to be trampled, however, and managed to get 5 important rounds before the half ended. 

Unfortunately for the CIS side, MOUZ picked up four quick rounds at the start of their T-side, and it seemed like the former would have to pull off one of their by-now-trademark defensive comebacks again. However, despite getting 8 of the next 10 rounds thanks to sh1ro’s best efforts, they ultimately lost the map 16-13 thanks to some brilliant play by David ”frozen” Čerňanský and Christopher “dexter” Nong.

Game 3

With both teams’ backs against the wall, they had to get their stuff together now or never. When Ancient began, it seemed as though C9 had done exactly that as they clinched five rounds to start their CT half. However, their jubilation soon turned into horror as MOUZ clapped back with an unforgiving eight-round streak that included 5 eliminations. C9 got the last two to finish with 7, but MOUZ had taken the half.

Once again, the winner of the first round, C9, failed to convert the next, and despite their best efforts, they simply couldn’t crack the defense of MOUZ except for one solitary time after that. When the dust settled, MOUZ had made it to the Semifinal with a 16-9 win on Ancient with frozen starring alongside Dorian “xertioN” Berman.

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