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IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage: Who are the favorites to take it all?
The start of IEM Rio Major is less than one week away. The Legends will skip the Challengers Stage but the Contenders and Challengers will need to survive to play in the Legends Stage.
The format used is the Swiss System, which means that eight of the 16 competitors will advance. In every case, the race stops after three victories or three defeats. Most matches will be best-of-one. Elimination and advancement matches are best-of-three.
The Challengers Stage takes place between October 31 – November 3. The tournament’s location is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which means that for Europeans, daily matches will start in the afternoon, at around 4-5 PM.
The Favorites of IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage
Eight teams will essentially win this stage but only five of them are strong enough to be regarded as favorites. The rest will need to fight hard and hope that they don’t run into one of the top competitors more than once.
Team Vitality
Vitality shouldn’t even have to play in this stage. They’re currently ranked #1 globally and won the recent ESL Pro League Season 16. With such results, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and his teammates are one of the top contenders for the trophy.
In the Challengers Stage of IEM Rio Major, Vitality will most likely have a near-perfect run. If they play their usual game, 3 W – 0 L or 3 W – 1 L are the only possible outcomes.
Cloud9
Cloud9 are currently ranked 5th globally and we already saw what they’re capable of at IEM Dallas (1st), Roobet Cup (3rd – 4th), ESL Pro League S16 (3rd – 4th).
In the RMRs for the IEM Rio Major, they finished 5th. Unfortunately for them, only the top four teams in their qualification tournament received the Legend Status, which is why they are here, competing in the Challengers Stage.
Cloud9 have an excellent roster that has remained unchanged for more than a year. This gives them an edge against most teams, whose rosters are a lot more volatile.
C9’s biggest weakness is their ability to play on the big stage, under pressure. We know they can win online and that’s how their roster rose to prominence. But on LAN, the situation has been a lot more complicated. And let’s not forget that IEM Rio Major will take place, from start to finish, in front of a large crowd.
Outsiders
Outsiders struggled to qualify for the Major but at the recent ESL Challenger DreamHack Rotterdam, they claimed the trophy and defeated strong teams like MOUZ, ENCE, and Fluxo along the way.
It’s unlikely that Outsiders will survive the second stage of the Major, but they should definitely survive the first.
MOUZ
MOUZ are not the kind of team that wins trophies. They haven’t won anything significant since February 2020. But at the same time, they always manage to be one of the top 10 teams. Even now, they are ranked 10th globally. So it’s hard to imagine them missing the Legends Stage given the level of competition.
OG
OG have a lot to prove to their fans. They are ranked 15th and finished 4th in the RMRs. The potential is definitely there and the odds of surviving the Challengers Stage are very high. What happens next will depend on their tournament form.
Header: ESL
