Supposedly, over at the IEM Rio Major Legends stage, we have the top 16 teams in the world ready to go. Accordingly, following the conclusion of the Challengers stage, we’re ready to offer a small preview of all the action to come!
IEM Rio Major Legends Preview – Unclear Middle of the Pack
Indeed, in terms of format, this stage is identical to the one before it – simply involving higher seeded teams. Accordingly, a 16 Team Swiss System Format will take place. Here, after multiple rounds of competition, the top 8 will proceed to the Champions Stage while everyone else is eliminated.
Apart from listing the competitors, who’ll be fighting between 5th and 8th November, we’ve also listed the Day 1 opening matches for you. Find the Round 1 matches listed below in the CET time zone:
November 5th 2022 – Round 1
Team Liquid vs MOUZ – 15:00
Team Spirit vs Bad News Eagles – 15:00
FaZe Clan vs Cloud9 16:15
Sprout vs BIG – 16:!5
NAVI vs Team Vitality – 17:30
Heroic vs Outsiders – 17:30
ENCE vs FURIA – 18:45
NiP vs Fnatic – 18:45
We’ll be sure to keep up with all the action here on esportsguide!
Indeed, the new CS:GO Major format, dividing the competition into multiple stages, gives us the chance to pause and absorb the event. Accordingly, with the completion of the Challengers Stage of the IEM Rio Major, 8 teams have been eliminated – read on to learn more below!
IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage – Becoming Legends
ONE MORE DAY OF THE #IEM RIO CHALLENGER STAGE REMAINS.
Indeed, for those unaware, the format involved a 16 team swiss system format. Involving multiple matches, the Challengers Stage included the lowest seeded competitors.
Indeed, from this pool, the following teams have been eliminated:
Team GamerLegion
OG
9z Team
Grayhound Gaming
Evil Geniuses
IHC Esports
00 Nation
Imperial Esports
Down to the final day of competition, the likes of Cloud9 and Team Vitality were on the chopping block of elimination. However, the favourites barely prevailed.
With the event kicking off a few days ago, the IEM Rio Major 2022 has proven to be very exciting. Indeed, starting off with the challengers stage, some teams are already on the brink of elimination. Read to learn more about the current state of the event below!
For those unaware, the first stage of the competition is the Challengers Stage. Accordingly, 16 low-seeded teams are trying to be in the top 8 in order to qualify for the next stage, the Legends Stage. Here they’ll join other teams to fight for the very next stage of competition.
Anyways, here’s how the standings of Challengers Stage looks like for the teams who have not yet qualified or been eliminated:
#4 – Team GamerLegion (2-1)
#5 – Fnatic (2-1)
#6 – Outsiders (2-1)
#7 – FURIA Esports (2-1)
#8 – OG (2-2)
#9 – 9z Team (2-2)
#10 – Evil Geniuses (1-2)
#11 – Grayhound Gaming (1-2)
#12 – Team Vitality (1-2)
#13 – Cloud9 (1-2)
Day 3 of the #IEM Rio Challengers Stage is HERE! 👊
Alarmingly, there are some favourite teams who are on the brink of elimination.
Specifically, both Team Vitality and Cloud9 have won international events earlier this year – many thought they’d contest FaZe and Na’Vi at this event.
Continuing later on today, the competition will decide who continues as clear as day.
For those unaware, the coming week is simply awesome for CS:GO. Specifically, the long-awaited IEM Rio Major 2022 will finally be taking place. Bearing this in mind, here at esportsguide we have our very own set of predictions in this featured article below!
Event Background
Credits: ESL
So, before we proceed, let’s explain how the event will work. Below, find a few quick facts listed below:
Prize Pool: $1,250,000
Date: 31st October to 13th November
Organizer: ESL
Teams: Top 24 CS:GO teams in the world
Venue: Rio de Janeiro (Riocentro, Jeunesse Arena)
Heading into this event, which was cancelled last year, 24 teams have qualified through multiple regional qualifiers. Indeed, this is the most exxiting event since the start of the season at the end of August. With that out of the way, let’s dive a little deeper into the predictions!
IEM Rio Major 2022 Predictions – Legends Favoured
Credits: Intel
Quite simply, our predictions will also take into consideration the level of seeding of these teams. Specifically, not all teams have been seeded equally.
Accordingly, as part of the format, there will be three stages – Challengers, Legends and Champions. Bearing this in mind, certain teams have already been seeded into Legends thanks to strong performances all year long.
Furthermore, this does mean that these teams have a higher chance of winning it all and rank higher in the rankings – here are the teams seeded in the Legends Stage:
FaZe Clan
Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas
ENCE
Sprout
Heroic
Team Spirit
Team Liquid
These teams earned their spot mainly through impressive performances in the regional major qualifier events.
Looking at Results Since August
Credits: ESL
Regardless of the seeding, we need to take a better look at the season to understand how teams have been performing.
With regards to timeline, it’s best to consider events since the end of August. For those unaware, the player break for CS:GO often takes place in August – a time when rosters change too.
Here’s how the competition has looked like in the past few events seen:
ESL Pro League Season 16
#1 – Team Vitality
#2 – Team Liquid
#3-4 – Cloud9, G2 Esports
BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022
#1-3 – OG, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid
IEM Masters XVII – Cologne (July)
#1 – FaZe Clan
#2 – Natus Vincere
#3-4 – Astralis, Movistar Riders
We’ve included the IEM Masters XVII Cologne event as it’s a great example of the long rivalry this year between FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere.
History of the Grand Slam – IEM Rio Major 2022
Who are the top performing players at Majors in the last 12 months? 🤔
Speaking of FaZe Clan, let’s talk about the Intel Grand Slam.
Accordingly, set every season, the Grand Slam is an added $1,000,000 incentive for any team that manages to win four out of 10 events organized by ESL at the highest level of CS:GO.
For the 2021 season, here’s how teams stack up in terms of wins:
Team Vitality (x2)
Cloud9 (x1)
FaZe Clan (x3)
Indeed, FaZe Clan this event have the opportunity to win the Slam. However, any team that stops them will also be provided incentive of $100,000.
Our Final Thoughts
So although FaZe Clan may be the favourite for this event, the likes of Natus Vincere, Team Vitality and Team Liquid are strongly on their tail.
Indeed, it’s an incredibly special time for competitive CS:GO fans. Specifically, the IEM Rio Major 2022 is one of the most exciting events of the calendar year and it kicks off as soon as next week. Read on as we discuss how to watch this event in this upcoming featured article below!
Organized by ESL, the Rio Major will set a prize pool of $1,250,000 on the line, earning the esteemed legacy of being a CS:GO Major.
For those unaware, this event is more historic considering that it had to be cancelled last year. Back and bigger than ever, the competition is boiling down from 31st October to 13th November.
Taking place offline at the Riocentre/Jeunesse Arena in Rio deo Janeiro, Brazil, the top 24 teams in the world are heading to try and write themselves into the history books.
Here is a look at the competition heading into this upcoming week:
Columbus 2016: 1st ESL One Cologne 2016: 1st Atlanta 2017: 3rd-4th Krakow 2017: 5th-8th Boston 2018: 3rd-4th IEM Katowice 2019: 3rd-4th@coldzera & @TACOCS have never finished below 8th at a Major when competing together 👀 pic.twitter.com/PW0gXxzkvX
Apart from the prize pool, on the line are a bunch of BLAST Premier Points while 1st place earns a direct seed to IEM Katowice 2023 and BLAST Premier Final 2022. In addition, do note that this event forms part of the Intel Grand Slam – in this context, FaZe Clan will win the $1,000,000 Grand Slam if they win this event as this would be their 4th event win.
Format
In terms of format, we have three stages of competition to discuss.
Firstly, the Challengers Stage will feature Challengers teams, running from 31st October to 3rd November. Accordingly, the sixteen teams seeded to this stage will fight through a Swiss System Format.
For those unaware, this means that opening matches (BO1) will be followed by Elimination and Advancement matches being BO3.
From here, the top 8 teams proceed to the Legends Stage while the bottom 8 teams are eliminated – halving the competition.
Moving on to the Legends Stage, the 8 teams from the Challengers Stage will join the 8 teams already seeded in the Legends Stage. Running from 5th November to 8th November, another 16 team swiss system format will take place.
Once again, after opening matches, an elimination and advancement set of matches which are BO3 will take place to once again halve the competition. Bearing this in mind, only the top 8 will progress to the Champions Stage.
Finally, we’ll have our final 8 teams in the Champions Stage. Taking place from 10th November to 13th November, a single elimination bracket will take place with BO3 matches.
Schedule for the IEM Rio Major 2022
With regards to the schedule fo the event, we highly recommend visiting the schedule for the event here.
Watch the IEM Rio Major 2022 on esportsguide
You can also watch the event live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
Indeed, heading into this event, FaZe Clan are certainly the top team heading into this event. However, other contenders include Cloud9, Team Vitality and Natus Vincere.
Accordingly, contracts ends and players always have the chance to leave or resign. Bearing this in mind, the likes of the Natus Vincere CS:GO roster gave their star player this huge decision. Read on to learn about s1mple’s choice on this matter.
Naturally, keeping Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev was the hope considering his incredible reputation. Anyways, yes, it’s public information that the star has resigned with the Ukranian organization for 3 further years.
Their crowning achievement was winning the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, which brought NAVI another $1,000,000. Individually, s1mple has earned 21 MVP awards and was twice named the best player in the world by HLTV – in 2018 and 2021.
Indeed, in the coming month, the CS:GO community will be enjoying the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. However, before this anticipated event, we have two regional qualifiers – read on as discuss how to watch the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown for both Europe and American regions.
As we’ll iterate, the BLAST Premier Showdown will be taking place in both Europe and America. Specifically, prior to the $425,000 main event, each region will be compete to earn the final two seeds – one for each region.
Taking place online, BLAST is providing one final showdown for teams to earn a spot. Each region will enjoy a $67,500 prize pool, with both events taking place between 19th and 23rd October.
Accordingly, let’s take a look at the 8 competing teams from each region:
Furthermore, each event format will involve all 8 teams fighting through an 8 team single elimination bracket. With only one lifeline in the competition, the BO3 matches will determine which teams progress deeper into the event. Finally, the winner from each region will earn the coveted spot in the Fall Finals.
Here’s a look at the Quarterfinal matches from both regions:
North American Showdown
Complexity vs Sharks Esports
LOS + oNe vs MIBR
Evil Geniuses vs Fluxo
VERTEX ESC vs 00 Nation
Europe Showdown
Team Vitality vs TYLOO
Eternal Fire vs Astralis
BIG vs Sangal Esports
ECSTATIC vs Heroic
Only one team from each region will earn the coveted seed for the Fall Finals!
Schedule for the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown
Credits: BLAST
With regards to the schedule for each event, we highly recommend visiting the official BLAST Premier Twitter page in order to view an updated schedule.
Watch the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown on esportsguide
You can also watch the event live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
With predictions, we’ll be taking a look at each region.
Starting with Europe, the favourite here should be clear. Considering the recent downfall of Astralis, Team Vitality is the favourite especially after placing 1st at the ESL Pro League Season 16. However, the Showdown does include Asian teams such as TYLOO which can make things hard to predict.
Credits; BLAST
Over for North America, the most recent regional event here was the IEM Road to Rio 2022 American RMR. Over at this event, the likes of Evil Geniuses managed to place 2nd here in an impressive feat for this developing roster. Otherwise, their closest competition is likely Complexity Gaming, who placed higher than EG at ESL Pro League Season 16.
Again, while we may make these predictions, the single-elimination bracket means that anything can happen. Basically, each match could mean elimination for each team.
Accordingly, following an awesome return to CS:GO this past month, we have some epic events to look forward to. Indeed, the BLAST Fall Showdown 2022 is almost here and we have some early information to share below!
Eveything we’ll be talking about is available on the BLAST Premier Twitter page, where everything has been shared and announced.
Specifically, the event kicking off on 19th October with both European and American components. Taking place online with prize pools of $70,000, the stakes are clear.
Accordingly, the winning team from each region will qualify to the Fall Finals. Indeed, these will be the final two seeds available for the Fall Finals event taking place in November.
Anyways, as announced in the past day, here’s the schedule for the Fall Showdown below:
Wednesday 19th October (CEST)
16:30 – EU Quarterfinal 1 – Team Vitality vs TYLOO
19:30 – EU Quarterfinal 2 – Astralis vs Eternal Fire
22:30 – NA Quarterfinal 1 – Complexity vs Sharks Esports
Credits: Valve
Thursday 20th October (CEST)
16:30 – EU Quarterfinal 3 – BIG vs Sangal Esports
19:30 – EU Quarterfinal 4 – Heroic vs ECSTATIC
22:30 – NA Quarterfinal 2 – MIBR vs Team One
Friday 21st October (CEST)
16:30 – EU – Semi Final 1
19:30 – NA – Quarterfinal 3 – Evil Geniuses vs Fluxo
22:30 – NA – Quarterfinal 4 – 00Nation vs VERTEX ESC
Saturday 22nd October (CEST)
16:30 – EU – Semi Final 2
19:30 – NA – Semi Final 1
22:30 – NA – Semi Final 2
Sunday 23rd October (CEST)
19:30 – EU – Final
22:30 – NA – Final
We can’t wait to see how the competition boils down in the coming weeks!
For those unaware, one of the most popular esports organizations in North America is none other than TSM. Short for Team SoloMid, the lack of a CS:GO team has been a question for the past 5 years, since disbanding. However, we have news that TSM CS:GO Roster 2023 is officially happening – read on to learn more!
TSM CS:GO Roster 2023 – It’s About Time
Making the announcement in an official social media Tweet, here’s what the Vice President of esports for the organization, Dominic Kallas, had to say:
TSM FTX October Update
We'd like to share some exciting news with the fans as we near the end of 2022. pic.twitter.com/jOsy1ccPAS
Indeed, with the IEM Rio Major incoming later this year, the excitement levels continue to grow. In addition, a recent announcement from ESL only has the community more thrilled. Read on as we discuss a recently announced prize pool upgrade!
IEM Rio Major Prize Pool – A Welcome Boost
Credits: ESL
Throughout the history of CS:GO, Major events have always been marked with a $1,000,000 prize pool. Indeed, sponsored by Valve, these events simply carry more weight than others.
However, in a recent tweet by Intel Extreme Masters, the prize pool was given an additional $250,000 as viewable below:
The #IEM Rio major prize pool is being increased to $1,250,000! 💰
This change means any teams who qualify for the major will now earn prize money. pic.twitter.com/kh2VQNB9hr
Taken from the IEM Road to Rio prize pool, this addition prize will ensure that all teams will earn prize. Prior to this change, 17-24th would earn only sticker money. Now, they’ll win at least $10,000 for their efforts while all placements have received a slight boost too.
Overall, this change makes the event the second largest prize pool Major, only behind PGL Stockholm Major from last year.
We can’t wait to see how teams compete to earn the most of this impressive prize!
