FURIA set to play in Jeunesse Arena after advancing to IEM Rio Major playoffs

The Brazilian team have ensured that there will be a hometown representative in the arena after advancing 3-0.

FURIA have made it through to the playoffs of the IEM Rio Major after breezing past BIG in 2-0 fashion, trouncing the German team on Nuke (16-9) and Vertigo (16-6). They are the sole Brazilian representative to advance to the arena stage after the elimination of 00NATION and Imperial, and will have a few days to prepare for the next stage, having now made their third consecutive Major playoff appearance.

BIG still have two more chances to earn a spot in the bracket stage of the Major, but will need to show much better form than today if they want to beat Outsiders or fnatic, the opponents they will likely face in the 2-1 pool on Monday.

FURIA will play in front of a packed Jeunesse Arena

It was a dominant series from FURIA from start to finish, the home crowd loudly voicing their support and putting their weight behind the Brazilian team to both give them momentum, and to douse any fledgling flame of hope that might have lit for BIG upon their few round wins.

Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos got things started for his side with a quad kill defense with the Dualies on Nuke, and immediately followed that opening with an anti-eco ace to give FURIA the lead. BIG managed to answer back early on, climbing to a 6-5 lead, but were unable to crack through FURIA's defenses nor halt Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's aggression at the end of the half, allowing the Brazilian team to pull ahead by three rounds at the break.

BIG were given even fewer opportunities to get back into the map once FURIA were on the attack, multi-kill rounds from arT and yuurih ensuring that their side quickly climbed towards match point before they closed things out, 16-9, to move the series on to their own pick of Vertigo.

The second map proved even more one-sided than the first as FURIA hit the ground running and refused to concede any ground on the T side, bullying BIG at A ramp and almost always coming out on top of the early fights. Even the times that Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's men won the early duels, they faltered in the late round, FURIA proving the better team time and time again and conceding just three rounds to the German side in the first half en route to a 12-3 scoreline.

Three frags from Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne allowed BIG to win the second pistol round of the map and briefly gave them some life, but that momentum quickly sputtered out once FURIA were on rifles once again. A double kill through smoke from arT added insult to injury in the first round that FURIA won on the defense, and from that point BIG only got four more kills in the next three rounds as FURIA cruised to a 16-6 victory to take the series.

IEM Rio Major 2022Best of 3 FURIAMatchpage 2 0 6th November 2022 BIG 16Nuke 9 16Vertigo 6

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	49 - 23	+26	98.1	1.62
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	44 - 28	+16	104.8	1.54
Rafael 'saffee' Costasaffee	31 - 23	+8	64.2	1.18
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	27 - 19	+8	71.1	1.14
André 'drop' Abreudrop	25 - 30	-5	56.1	0.97

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Elias 's1n' Steins1n	31 - 37	-6	81.9	0.93
Nils 'k1to' Gruhnek1to	25 - 38	-13	63.1	0.78
Florian 'syrsoN' RischesyrsoN	25 - 32	-7	60.8	0.77
Karim 'Krimbo' MoussaKrimbo	21 - 33	-12	53.1	0.73
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	21 - 39	-18	56.5	0.64

Group Legends Stage 3W - 0L FURIA Cloud9 2W - 1L HEROIC MOUZ Liquid Outsiders fnatic BIG 1W - 2L Vitality Spirit Natus Vincere ENCE Bad News Eagles 0W - 2L Ninjas in Pyjamas Sprout 0W - 3L FaZe Imperial #18 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 27 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1985 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.70 Outsiders #8 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev BIG #15 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaElias 's1n' Stein Andrei 'arT' Piovezan Age: 26 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1032 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 Yuri 'yuurih' Santos Age: 22 Team: FURIA Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1046 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 fnatic #19 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman 00NATION #27 Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloEduardo 'dumau' WolkmerBruno 'latto' RebelattoSantino 'try' Rigal Nils 'k1to' Gruhne Age: 23 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1307 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.69 FURIA #10 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu