The first day of the Legends Stage at the IEM CS:GO Rio Major has finished.
Eight teams join the action in Brazil, taking on the eight squads that advanced to second stage of the tournament from the Challengers Stage. Overall, the first day will bring us 16 best-of-one series today, which will seed the teams into 2-0, 1-1, and 0-2 brackets for tomorrow.
With all the matches that took place today, it’s tough to keep up with all of them. You can also check out the scores and schedule for the tournament.
Here’s everything that went on in the first day of IEM Rio Major Legends Stage
MOUZ dominate Liquid, Spirit outmaneuver Bad News Eagles
Team Liquid were hoping to start their Major run strong but were obliterated by MOUZ in their first game of the Legends Stage at the IEM Rio Major. The European side defeated Liquid 16-2 after a tremendous terrorist side, where they collected 13 rounds thanks to Jon “JDC” de Castro and David “frozen” Čerňanský’s heroics, who recorded 23-6 and 22-6 K/D ratios, respectively. In the second matchup Spirit also showcased a dominating form in their victory over Bad News Eagles. The Kosovan side boasted impressive eight rounds on the T side but couldn’t find any successes in the CT side, resulting in Spirit winning 16-8.
Cloud9 defeat FaZe Clan after being 4-13 down, BIG beat Sprout
C9 have done what was nearly impossible against FaZe in the best-of-one on Overpass. The international team led by Finn “karrigan” Andersen won both pistol rounds and were 13-4 up when C9 started their comeback on the CT side thanks to Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov and Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov’s fragging power (27 and 21 kills, respectively). FaZe lost at least three key after plants and C9 ended up winning by 16-14. On the secondary stream, BIG took down Sprout 16-11 after a powerful CT side showing (9-3) in the second half fueled by Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and Florian “syrsoN” Rische individual performances.
S1mple shines in NAVI’s victory against Vitality, Heroic overthrow Outsiders
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev was the best player on the server in Natus Vincere’s victory over Team Vitality on Mirage. The match took three overtimes to conclude, with the Ukrainian being a pivotal part of NAVI’s triumph, boasting a 40-28 KD ratio. Vitality came back in the regular time from a 15-10 lead and in two first overtimes, but in the third one they ran out of steam and the game finished with a 25-21 score. Off-stage, on the other hand, Heroic firmly defeated Outsiders. The latter tried to mount a comeback attempt on the CT side, where they gathered seven rounds but were eventually stopped by Heroic, who triumphed with a 16-9 score.
Fnatic fires past NiP, crowd-buffed FURIA fries ENCE
The once legendary rivalry between Fnatic and NiP renewed at the Major for the first time in years. Fnatic overwhelmed NiP on the T side early, taking the first seven rounds of the map, with NiP needing an ace on the AWP from REZ just to get on the board. That ace did little to slow down Fnatic’s T side momentum, but NiP started to rally and mount a comeback after switching to their T side. It was pistols on eco rounds that did finish them off, 16-13 in favor of Fnatic.
ENCE went headfirst into enemy territory, taking on FURIA in front of a rabid Rio crowd. FURIA got the crowd loud and behind them early on their T side, especially after an ENCE defuse attempt fell fractions of a second short. FURIA put on a tremendous T side and a near-flawless CT side after half-time, rolling over ENCE 16-6 on Vertigo.
Round two: BIG one win away from Champions Stage after beating MOUZ, Liquid send Sprout to 0-2 pool
BIG are the first team to finish the first day of IEM Rio Major Legends Stage undefeated following a one-sided 16-7 victory against MOUZ on Mirage. This was MOUZ’s first loss in the tournament as they breeze past the Challengers Stage with a 3-0 record. The man responsible for ending MOUZ’s winning streak in Rio was BIG rifler Nils “k1to” Gruhne, who finished with 22 frags and just 10 deaths.
While this happened, Liquid faced Sprout on stage and dominated the European team from the very beginning of the Inferno match thanks to a dominant 13-2 victory on their T side. Sprout bought themselves a chance by winning the second pistol, but Liquid closed the game 16-5 as soon as they got access to rifles.
FaZe end day 1 of Legends Stage winless after loss to Vitality, C9 comeback versus NAVI to remain undefeated in Legends Stage
What an awful day for FaZe Clan. The PGL Antwerp Major champions were outplayed by Vitality in the 0-1 pool match of IEM Rio Major Legends Stage and are just one loss away from being eliminated from the $1.25 million tournament. Vitality crushed FaZe 12-3 in the first half of Inferno with the help of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and just kept the game under control on their CT side to win by 16-6 and recover from their loss in the opening round.
The secondary stream featured NAVI and C9 in another clash of titans, and the fans saw the latter once again pull an unreal reaction in the second half. C9 were 7-13 down on Mirage before they won eight in a row and eventually stole the game in the 30th round. This was the best performance from star rifler Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov in the whole tournament, as he finished with 33 kills, and left the shadow of other stars like sh1ro and nafany.
FURIA mounts furious comeback against Spirit to ignite Rio crowd and reach 2-0 pool, ENCE breaks BNE and enters 1-1 pool
FURIA looked broken early on Mirage, falling into a deep hole against Spirit’s CT side. But a splendid ace from André “drop” Abreu lit a fire under FURIA and rejuvenated the crowd just before half-time. FURIA fought all the way back from a 10-1 deficit to a 13-13 tie, propelled by KSCERATO, before seizing the lead and never letting up, completing the 16-13 comeback to produce pure elation from the Rio crowd.
ENCE looked crisp and punctual against Bad News Eagles, taking the first 11 rounds of Ancient on their stalwart CT side. Bad News Eagles could only produce a few rounds on their CT side before ENCE ended the affair 16-7, with 25 kills from Snappi.
Final results of round two: Heroic dismantle Fnatic and move to 2-0 pool, Outsiders push NiP to elimination territory
Heroic are through the first series of advancement matches in the IEM Rio Major Legends Stage thanks to an outstanding 16-2 victory versus Fnatic on Mirage. The Danish powerhouse won 13 rounds on their CT side and had to do little to close out the game as Terrorists. The in-game leader Casper “cadiaN” Møller and the rifler Martin “stavn” Lund combined for 43 frags.
While Heroic was breezing past Fnatic, Outsiders and NiP were playing a close series that almost went the distance. The CIS side was in danger because of their lack of economy on the CT side during the second half, but scraped a victory in the 24th round that changed the outcome of the game. From there on they dominated NiP and won by 16-12 after a streak of five rounds. Several players in Outsiders had a positive impact, but Petr “fame” Bolyshev finished with the most kills (24).
