The CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 is divided into 3 stages, the Challengers, Legends, and the Champions stage. The Challengers stage ran from October 31st – November 3rd, 2022, and featured 16 top pro teams. In this article, we are going to break down what happened. You can watch and bet on every single match at the CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 at https://gg.bet/en/counter-strike.
These 8 teams will be progressing to the Legends Stage and have a chance to win $500,000:
As you can see from the list, some top CS:GO teams were eliminated, and some highly rated teams performed poorly and only just managed to qualify. Keep reading to find out how these teams came out on top and what teams they had to defeat to earn their coveted top 8 slot.
MOUZ earned the number 1 spot in the Challengers Stage. They achieved a perfect 3-0 record and looked dominant. In their first match, they crushed Inferno and then kept their win streak alive with an easy victory over Mirage. In MOUZ’s final match, they had a tough back-and-forth battle with Fnatic but eventually proved too strong and won 2-1.
MOUZ is an old-school German CS:GO pro team that has almost $4 million in lifetime tournament earnings. They have not had a strong 2022, failing to win any big tournaments but based on their performance in the Challengers Stage have a great chance of making a deep run at the CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022.
We don’t blame you if you have never heard of the Bad News Eagles. This little-known team from Kosovo was only established in 2022, and they have just $65,000 in lifetime CS:GO winnings. The young team of unknown players achieved a perfect record of 3-0 and came in second place.
In their first match, Bad News Eagles proved too strong for 00 Nation. Then they crushed BIG before taking out Team GamerLegion. Every team in the CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 definitely took notice of the Kosovan team’s performance. It will be interesting to see if they can perform as well against better competition in the Legends Stage, where they could run into the likes of Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, and Ninjas in Pajamas.
Before the CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 kicked off, we expected Team Vitality to qualify top of the group. Team Vitality was coming off a very impressive win at the ESL Pro League Season 16 in October where they took home $200,000.
Despite Team Vitality being in great form and having a talented squad, they really struggled during the Challengers Stage, compiling a record of 3-2 and coming in 7th place. They managed to beat OG, Imperial Esports, and Grayhound Gaming but lost to Outsiders and Team GamerLegion. If Team Vitality is going to back a deep run in this event, they need to play much more aggressively and take their opportunities.
Despite their setbacks, Team Vitality still has a squad that can push the top teams, such as FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere. They even hold recent wins over Natus Vincere and Team Liquid. We are sure the French team will improve as the tournament progresses and will make it to the Champions Stage.
Even though OG is not the strongest CS:GO team, we expected to at least make it to the Legends Stage. They have improved greatly in 2022 and achieved a number of impressive results in the BLAST Premier league. They are also one of the biggest esports organizations on the planet and have a massive budget to train and develop players. OG will be very disappointed that they were kicked out of the CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 so early.
Another early surprise exit from the CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 was Evil Geniuses. Evil Geniuses is a highly successful CS:GO team with over $1 million in lifetime tournament winnings. They have had an up-and-down 2022, but we were surprised they went 1-3 and only managed a win against IHC Esports and then lost to MOUZ, Cloud9, and 9Z Team. Evil Geniuses will be training hard and looking to bounce back at the next Major in 2023.
The top 8 teams from the Champions Stage progress to the Legends stage, where they compete with 8 other teams in a Swiss System Format. The top 8 teams from the Legends Stage will then compete in the Champions Stage, which is a single elimination playoff, and the ultimate champion will walk away with $500,000 and an invite to the IEM Katowice 2023 and the BLAST Premier Final 2022.
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