Imperial, the home of the godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike, FalleN, is one loss away from being eliminated from Americas Regional Major Ranking (RMR) after losing 16-11 to 00 Nation today. The defeat in the 1-1 pool of the Swiss system means Imperial will not qualify for IEM Rio Major if they drop one more match.
The Brazilian derby, dubbed The Last Clássico, saw TACO and coldzera comfortably beat their former Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming teammates FalleN, fer, and fnx, the latter of whom transitioned to head coach after the player break. This quintet won back-to-back CS:GO Majors in 2016, and are now fighting each other for a spot in the first Major held in Brazil.
It seemed Imperial had the upper hand against 00 Nation in the beginning of the best-of-one game on Inferno as FalleN and crew won the first half 10-5 on the CT side. Imperial, however, crumbled once they switched to Terrorists and saw 00 Nation take control of the game thanks to a nearly impenetrable defense. The team, led by TACO and coldzera, only conceded one point in the second half and had no trouble winning the game 16-11. 00 Nation’s Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer proved to be the best player of the series, finishing with 27 frags and just 18 deaths.
This result sends Imperial to the 1-2 pool, where they cannot afford to lose any more in the tournament, while 00 Nation are now in the 2-1 pool and just one win away from qualifying for the IEM Rio Major.
The third round of Americas RMR will conclude today with the first advancement matches between 9z and Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid and Complexity, plus the first elimination games, which will feature Isurus vs. ARCTIC and Los + oNe vs. Infinity.
