IEM Rio 2022 Day 1: Recap
Recap for the IEM Rio CSGO Major 2022 Day 1.
A blockbuster start to the IEM Rio CSGO major with some unexpected results to spice up the Challengers Stage even more. With so many top teams who are favourites to win the tournament being in the challenger's stage has made it even more exciting. With the Brazilian crowd hyping every match-up, it has been a lifetime experience.
Following the conclusion of day 1, we saw two best-of-one matches by each team with a good number of upsets happening after the first day alone. Favourites to win the tournament like Cloud9 and Vitality did not impress like we would have expected.
Manish Gupta
The highlight of the day was Bad News Eagles emerging as the dark horse. Having famously qualified after playing from Internet Cafes in the past, the team went undefeated after two games in the group stage along with the likes of Mouz, Gamer Legion and Fnatic. Said, teams will need another win to make it to the next stage. Gamer Legion is another one of the underdogs who outperformed the expectations.
Most of the matches were very close but some of them stood out. For starters, BIG came back from a 15-8 deficit to win over Furia in overtime. Furia is one of the favourites, especially on the home soil which was surprising to many when the Germans managed to silence the crowd. Both BIG and Furia ended the day with a 1-1 score with the latter edging out on Round Difference. Vitality, EG, Greyhound, Outsiders and 9Z are some of the teams on thin ice who pose a stronger chance of qualifying for the next stage than certain teams.
The biggest disappointment was Cloud9. Considering their recent run of form, they were one of the favourites to win the entire tournament but many were left disappointed after they failed to secure a single win in two matches. Greyhound was one of the teams that many predicted would fail to secure a single win in the entirety of the group stage but they exceeded expectations to take down one of the favourites despite lacking the EU experience.
The teams with their backs against the wall are Cloud9, IHC, Imperial and 00NATION. It is definitely surprising to see that two Brazilian teams have failed to meet the expectations set by the home crowd but being 0-2 down, they need a response today if they want a future in this tournament.
Manish GuptaDay 2 starts early today with all the matches getting streamed on the official ESL Twitch channel. With the teams being inseparable on most occasions, get ready for another round of thrilling matches, yet again today.
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Until next time,
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