IEM Rio Major viewer’s guide

The first Valve-sponsored event to be held outside of Europe and North America, the IEM Rio Major, gets started on Monday, October 31, and will run for two weeks before concluding with a best-of-three grand final on November 13.

The 24-team tournament will be split into three parts: the Challengers Stage, the Legends Stage, and the Champions Stage, with a live audience present for each of the different rounds. The first two portions will play out in Swiss-style group-stage formats, where three wins are needed for teams to advance to the next stage. The eight Legends status teams (see below) have a leg up in the competition, awaiting in the Legends Stage already for the eight best teams from the Challengers Stage.

The Major will then transition into a single-elimination best-of-three format for the playoffs. The winning team will take home the Major trophy, the $500,000 cash prize, as well as places at both the BLAST Premier World Final 2022 and IEM Katowice 2023 and a notch in the fourth season of Intel Grand Slam.

FaZe head into the Major in Brazil as the tournament’s favourites, even in spite of the fact that the European combine fell from atop the world ranking two weeks ago. The squad around Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen will be gunning to claim their second consecutive Major trophy after winning the PGL Antwerp Major back in May.

Hot on their heels are Natus Vincere and the newly-crowned world No. 1 team: Vitality. The Dan “⁠apEX⁠” Madesclaire-led roster travel to Brazil fresh off of their first-place finish in ESL Pro League Season 16, and will begin their run through the Major from the opening stage with a first-round matchup versus the home team of Imperial.

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IEM Rio Major profile: Vitality

FURIA lead the charge for the Brazilian fans hoping to see a home team make a deep run. The South American squad currently reside within the top 10, though have missed out on playoff appearances at their past two Big Events — ESL Pro League Season 16 and IEM Cologne. Their newest recruit, Rafael “⁠saffee⁠” Costa, put up a monstrous 1.48 rating throughout their fifth-place Regional Major Ranking run and will be a key component in FURIA‘s plans should his good form continue.

Another team likely to evoke the roar of the Brazilian crowd is Imperial. The legendary roster with Gabriel “⁠FalleN⁠” Toledo at the helm spoke candidly about what it means to play at the Major in their home country, with Fernando “⁠fer⁠” Alvarenga even being open about his desire to potentially retire prior to the RMR. The Brazilian quintet can be predicted to have a surge in motivation in front of the expectedly enigmatic Brazilian audience, as the side looks to repeat their surprisingly strong form seen back at the PGL Antwerp Major.

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IEM Rio Major profile: Imperial

Liquid pay a trip to the Legends stage of the IEM Rio Major as a now fully-fledged quintet. Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis recently signed with the American-Dutch organisation after standing in for the squad for the best part of three months. During that time, Liquid has seen a big upswing in form, going from No. 13 on the world ranking to their current No. 3 placing, as well as securing a runners-up finish at ESL Pro League Season 16 alongside a playoff finish at IEM Cologne.

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Why is there no clear favorite for the Rio Major?

There are also considerable absences from the $1,250,000 competition, namely in the form of G2 and Astralis, who were both unable to traverse the Europe RMR. For the Europeans, it marked their first Major missed since DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, with world-famous players like Nikola “⁠NiKo⁠” Kovač and Ilya “⁠m0NESY⁠” Osipov set to watch the Brazilian spectacle from the sidelines. Similarly, Astralis also failed in their bid to qualify for the Major, with the organisation now absent from their first ever Major since its creation in 2016.

The team list for the IEM Rio Major is as follows:

Legends

The 24-team event will span two weeks, starting on October 31 and concluding on November 13, with each stage lasting four days. Below is a full schedule of the IEM Rio Major:

Challengers Stage

Monday, October 31
15:00 MOUZ vs. Outsiders (BO1)
15:00 GamerLegion vs. 9z (BO1)
16:15 Bad News Eagles vs. 00NATION (BO1)
16:15 OG vs. Grayhound (BO1)
17:30 BIG vs. FURIA (BO1)
17:30 Evil Geniuses vs. IHC (BO1)
18:45 Vitality vs. Imperial (BO1)
18:45 Cloud9 vs. fnatic (BO1)
21:30 Swiss Round 2 #1 (BO1)
21:30 Swiss Round 2 #2 (BO1)
22:30 Swiss Round 2 #3 (BO1)
22:30 Swiss Round 2 #4 (BO1)
23:45 Swiss Round 2 #5 (BO1)
23:45 Swiss Round 2 #6 (BO1)
01:00 Swiss Round 2 #7 (BO1)
01:00 Swiss Round 2 #8 (BO1)

Tuesday, November 1
15:00 Swiss Round 3 #1 (BO1)
15:00 Swiss Round 3 #2 (BO1)
16:15 Swiss Round 3 #3 (BO1)
16:15 Swiss Round 3 #4 (BO1)
17:30 Swiss Round 3 #5 (BO3)
17:30 Swiss Round 3 #6 (BO3)
21:00 Swiss Round 3 #7 (BO3)
21:00 Swiss Round 3 #8 (BO3)

Wednesday, November 2
15:00 Swiss Round 4 #1 (BO3)
15:00 Swiss Round 4 #2 (BO3)
18:30 Swiss Round 4 #3 (BO3)
18:30 Swiss Round 4 #4 (BO3)
22:00 Swiss Round 4 #5 (BO3)
22:00 Swiss Round 4 #6 (BO3)

Thursday, November 3
15:00 Swiss Round 5 #1 (BO3)
18:30 Swiss Round 5 #2 (BO3)
22:00 Swiss Round 5 #3 (BO3)

Legends Stage

Saturday, November 5
15:00 Swiss Round 1 #1 (BO1)
15:00 Swiss Round 1 #2 (BO1)
16:15 Swiss Round 1 #3 (BO1)
16:15 Swiss Round 1 #4 (BO1)
17:30 Swiss Round 1 #5 (BO1)
17:30 Swiss Round 1 #6 (BO1)
18:45 Swiss Round 1 #7 (BO1)
18:45 Swiss Round 1 #8 (BO1)
21:15 Swiss Round 2 #1 (BO1)
21:15 Swiss Round 2 #2 (BO1)
22:30 Swiss Round 2 #3 (BO1)
22:30 Swiss Round 2 #4 (BO1)
23:45 Swiss Round 2 #5 (BO1)
23:45 Swiss Round 2 #6 (BO1)
01:00 Swiss Round 2 #7 (BO1)
01:00 Swiss Round 2 #8 (BO1)

Sunday, November 6
15:00 Swiss Round 3 #1 (BO1)
15:00 Swiss Round 3 #2 (BO1)
16:15 Swiss Round 3 #3 (BO1)
16:15 Swiss Round 3 #4 (BO1)
17:30 Swiss Round 3 #5 (BO3)
17:30 Swiss Round 3 #6 (BO3)
18:45 Swiss Round 3 #7 (BO3)
18:45 Swiss Round 3 #8 (BO3)

Monday, November 7
15:00 Swiss Round 4 #1 (BO3)
15:00 Swiss Round 4 #2 (BO3)
18:30 Swiss Round 4 #3 (BO3)
18:30 Swiss Round 4 #4 (BO3)
22:00 Swiss Round 4 #5 (BO3)
22:00 Swiss Round 4 #6 (BO3)

Tuesday, November 8
15:00 Swiss Round 5 #1 (BO3)
18:30 Swiss Round 5 #2 (BO3)
22:00 Swiss Round 5 #3 (BO3)

Champions Stage

Thursday, November 10
18:00 Quarter-final #1 (BO3)
21:30 Quarter-final #2 (BO3)

Friday, November 11
18:00 Quarter-final #3 (BO3)
21:30 Quarter-final #4 (BO3)

Saturday, November 12
18:00 Semi-final #1 (BO3)
21:30 Semi-final #2 (BO3)

Sunday, November 13
17:00 Brazil vs. Sweden (BO1)
19:00 Grand final (BO3)

A total of 24 broadcast talent members will be bringing the action to life over the course of the fortnight. Tres “⁠stunna⁠” Saranthus will be one of four hosts heading up the desk, whilst Alex “⁠Machine⁠” Richardson will return to casting duties, where he reunites with Chad “⁠SPUNJ⁠” Burchill on the microphone, alongside several other fan-favourite commentators.

The full talent lineup for the IEM Rio Major is:

Desk hosts

Tres “⁠stunna⁠” Saranthus
Freya “⁠Freya⁠” Spiers
Pala “⁠Mantrousse⁠” Gilroy Sen
Jasmine “Veracity” Kanuga

Casters

Alex “⁠Machine⁠” Richardson
Chad “⁠SPUNJ⁠” Burchill
Mohan “⁠launders⁠” Govindasamy
Conner “⁠Scrawny⁠” Girvan
Hugo “⁠Hugo⁠” Byron
Harry “⁠JustHarry⁠” Russell
Jason “⁠moses⁠” O’Toole
Matthew “⁠Sadokist⁠” Trivett

Analysts

Mathieu “⁠Maniac⁠” Quiquerez
Janko “⁠YNk⁠” Paunović
Alex “⁠Mauisnake⁠” Ellenberg
Sudhen “⁠Bleh⁠” Wahengbam
Aleksandar “⁠kassad⁠” Trifunović
Danny “⁠mahone⁠” Hsieh
Allan “⁠Allan⁠” Hender
Luis “⁠peacemaker⁠” Tadeu

In-depth analyst

Anders “⁠Anders⁠” Blume

Sidelines

Eefje “⁠sjokz⁠” Depoortere
Anastasija “⁠Heccu⁠” Tolmačeva
James “⁠BanKs⁠” Banks

The Major in Brazil will boast a whopping $1,250,000 prize pool, a $250,000 increase compared to the previous Major in Antwerp thanks to the transfer of cash prizes in the Regional Major Ranking events to the Major itself. The prize pool distribution is as follows:

1. $500,000 + BLAST Premier World Final + IEM Katowice 2023
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000
5-8. $45,000
5-8. $45,000
5-8. $45,000
9-11. $20,000
9-11. $20,000
9-11. $20,000
12-14. $20,000
12-14. $20,000
12-14. $20,000
15-16. $20,000
15-16. $20,000
17-19. $10,000
17-19. $10,000
17-19. $10,000
20-22. $10,000
20-22. $10,000
20-22. $10,000
23-24. $10,000
23-24. $10,000

As always, HLTV.org will be in attendance at the IEM Rio Major from start to finish, so stay tuned as we’ll bring you full coverage of the Brazilian spectacle, including galleries, videos, interviews, social media updates, as well as several HLTV Confirmed episodes.