What happened at the Major qualifiers – Day 4 debrief

Qualification and elimination were on the line all day long during the fourth day of the IEM Rio Major qualifiers, and emotions were running high with so much at stake.

To kick off the day, ENCE secured Legends status with a win over BIG in the last 2-0 match of the European RMRs in Malta, while FANTASY and SAW bowed out of the competition after going 0-3.

Three qualification matches soon followed and saw Spirit brush aside Bad News Eagles, Cloud9 beat 1WIN after a comeback from 3-12 on the second map, and Sprout edge out a win over B8 as the Danish-majority side completed their surprise run at the RMRs.

Massive tournament favorites G2 were staring down elimination next and couldn’t handle the pressure against one of the dark horses of the tournament, GamerLegion, putting an end to the organization’s seven-year streak of Major appearances.

Astralis were another big name to miss out while they were playing without Kristian “⁠k0nfig⁠” Wienecke, who had suffered an injury leading up to the tournament and was replaced by Mikkel “⁠MistR⁠” Thomsen. Without one of their key players, the Danish powerhouse lost to forZe in their elimination series in heartbreaking fashion, unable to convert a 13-4 lead on Mirage.

Meanwhile at the Americas RMR in Stockholm, 9z completed their inspiring run to the IEM Rio Major with a drama-less win over ATK in the 2-1 pool, and FURIA soon followed to bring Brazil’s best team to their home Major after beating paiN. 00NATION joined the list a few hours later on the back of a laborious series victory against Complexity.

Current standings
IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR A standings
IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR B standings
IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR standings
IEM Road to Rio Asia RMR standings

To close out the day in Stockholm, Nouns, Imperial, and Isurus staved off elimination in the 1-2 pool and are set to fight for a chance to play for one last spot in the Americas RMR over the next two days.

On the following day over at PAX Melbourne, IHC defended their Challengers Stage spot from PGL Major Antwerp, winning the Asia RMR after beating Grayhound and sending the Australian side to a last-chance match against JiJieHao.

Who has qualified so far?

TBD*
Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Spirit
Cloud9
Sprout

* Liquid will play Evil Geniuses for a Legends spot on Sunday

** The team with the highest Buchholz score between Spirit, Cloud9, and Sprout will automatically clinch a Legends spot, and the other two will play for another in a 4th-place decider on Sunday

Standout results of day 4

Europe A
GamerLegion 2-1 G2
forZe 2-0 Astralis

Europe B
ENCE 2-0 BIG

Americas
00NATION 2-1 Complexity
Isurus 2-1 MIBR

Performance of the day

In the upset of the day, Frederik “⁠acoR⁠” Gyldstrand kept up his impressive form from the previous days at the Europe RMRs, delivering a key performance for GamerLegion on the deciding Inferno to send G2 packing.

Honorable mentions:

Rasmus “⁠Zyphon⁠” Nordfoss vs. B8
30-19, 1.54 rating in a 16-13 win on Vertigo

Ismail “⁠refrezh⁠” Ali vs. B8
32-18, 1.63 rating in a 13-16 loss on Nuke

Franco “⁠dgt⁠” Garcia vs. ATK
27-4, 2.12 rating in a 16-7 win on Dust2

Tengis “⁠sk0R⁠” Batjargal vs. Grayhound
40-26, 1.55 rating in a 19-16 win on Mirage

Play of the day

ENCE had several players step up to the plate with important clutches in their Major-qualifying victory against BIG, and Alvaro “⁠SunPayus⁠” Garcia converted one of the most important ones of the bunch on the second map:

HLTV live coverage

HLTV.org has coverage teams over in Malta and Stockholm to bring you interviews from location, photos, and story updates on Instagram. Here are the interviews we conducted during the second day of the Major qualifiers:

Full interviews

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refrezh: “It’s insane to reach the Major in such a small amount of time”

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nafany: “The team from early 2021 and right now are two different teams”

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arT on not claiming the Legends spot: “I am just happy that I made it through”

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magixx on qualifying for the Rio Major: “The best thing I am enjoying is the work I’ve done with the guys”

Comments

Santino “⁠try⁠” Rigal: “I grew up watching the Majors, it was a big dream for me and now it became true”

Fredrik “⁠roeJ⁠” Jørgensen: “I think [mezii] is not really there yet to take over everything, he needs help from us”

Rafael “⁠zakk⁠” Fernandes: “We are going to the most epic Major in the history of esports”

Marco “⁠Snappi⁠” Pfeiffer: “I’m super happy about our progress since Pro League”

Six Major-qualifying matchups await on Day 5

The Europe RMR B tournament is heading into the 2-1 matches featuring three exciting matchups to start the fifth day in Malta. Later in the day, it will be all or nothing for six teams in the A tournament as they clash in the 2-2 pool.

11:00 MOUZ vs. Vitality
11:00 BIG vs. Heroic
11:00 OG vs. Outsiders
18:00 forZe vs. Bad News Eagles
18:00 fnatic vs. 1WIN
18:00 GamerLegion vs. B8

In the meantime, six teams will face elimination in the Americas tournament and play for their chance to enter the deciding matches for one last spot in the region.