Welcome to Rio: IEM Rio Major Qualified Teams Tier list

The IEM Road to Rio RMR Concluded on 9th September, where we found the 24 teams that will battle it out at Rio on LAN for the second major of 2022. The IEM Rio Major is set to kick off on 31st October with the challengers' stage, where 16 out of the 24 teams will battle it out in a Swiss Format stage to make it to the Legends stage.

The format of IEM Rio Explained:

In the current iteration of IEM Rio Major, The main event had no invited team, and all the teams, even the defending Champions Faze Clan, had to qualify through the RMR events. The Road To Rio RMR Event was divided into four tournaments Europe A, Europe B, Americas, and Asia.

The top 16 teams from PGL Major Antwerp Received a Direct invitation to the Road to Rio RMR Event, while the rest of the teams had to battle it out in the closed qualifier to make it to the RMR event.

Each regional RMR event had 16 teams except the Asian RMR, which consisted of a Sub-Regional qualifier culminating in 2 teams qualifying for the Rio major.

In the case of European RMR, four teams from RMR A and three teams from RMR B on the top of the table qualified directly to the Legends stage, while the rest of the teams were drafted into the Challengers stage.

The American RMR had only one spot in the Legends stage, while the remaining qualified teams will play in the challengers' stage. Eight of the sixteen teams in the Challenger stage will make it to the Legends stage, and only eight will move forward to the Champions stage.

The Legends and the Challenger stage will follow the traditional Swiss Round Robin, while the final Legends stage will be a double-elimination bracket-type tournament. The Double Elimination bracket's winner will be crowned IEM Rio Major's champion.

IEM Road to Rio:

Only 24 of the 200+ teams made it out of the Road to Rio RMR. These teams brawled with each other to earn a spot amongst the top 24 teams in 2022. This brawl also saw G2 Esports and Astralis falling to qualify, signifying a general rise in the level of play in CSGO competition.

All the qualified teams are, in their rights, the top team, and the level of competition is undoubtedly reflected in the numbers. The Rio RMR became the most-watched RMR event of all time, with all three RMRs having a peak viewership of 300k+ viewers, with American RMR peaking at 486k.

Qualified team tier list:

The S+ Tier teams are the teams that are tournament favorites, Faze the defending champions, and the S1mple-led NaVi are unquestionably the frontrunners.The S Tier teams have a chance to upset the S+ teams and are the tournament dark horses.While no team qualifying for the Major is any lesser than the teams ranked higher, The ranking is based on experience, team play, chemistry, and firepower. And if the RMR was anything but an indicator that the upcoming Major would be anyone's to win.

With only 18 days to go for the Challengers stage, We must prepare to watch one of the most intense CSGO majors of all time. The Major Action starts on October 31 with OG taking on Grayhound Gaming

Image source: ESL