The Challengers Stage of IEM Rio continues with the third day of action. There are still plenty of big-name teams trying to reach the next stage of IEM Rio.
There have already been several surprise winners through the first couple days of action. There are plenty of more surprises to come with the action on this third day of IEM Rio Challengers Stage.
With only eight teams set to advance the fight for the right to play in the Legends stage is on. 00Nation and Imperial Esports have already been knocked from the competition. Key teams like Evil Geniuses, OG and Team Vitality find themselves below the cutoff.
Let's look at some of the biggest matches on the schedule for day three of this great event.
Outsiders looks to advance against fnatic
| What: | Outsiders vs. fnatic, IEM Rio Challengers Stage |
| Where: | Rio de Janeiro |
| When: | 13:30 EST, Wednesday 2nd November 2022 |
| How to watch: | CS:GO YouTube Channel / Twitch |
| Odds: | Outsiders 2.00, fnatic 1.72 |
It's round four of the five round opening stage of IEM Rio 2022. A pair of 2-1 teams square-off as Outsiders and fnatic square-off for the right to move on to the Legends Stage of this Major event.
Outsiders was able to rebound from a first match loss against MOUZ 16-6, with back-to-back wins over IHC and a surprise defeat of Team Vitality. Things might have gotten quite easier for Outsiders to make a deep run in this event. They have to get past a tricky foe in this match though.
Fnatic started its run with wins against very quality opponents. As they took down Cloud9 19-17 and followed that up with a 16-13 victory against OG. They couldn't quite get the job done against MOUZ in a best of three matches as they lost 2-1, as MOUZ booked its ticket into the next stage already.
Both teams have proven they could make runs throughout this event, but there is likely only one more spot available for one of these two teams. The edge goes to Outsiders and their in-game leader FL1T as he has been a strong player for the #8 team in CS:GO.
Vitality must win or go home
| What: | Team Vitality vs. Grayhound , IEM Rio Challengers Stage |
| Where: | Rio de Janeiro |
| When: | 13:30 EST, Wednesday 2nd November 2022 |
| How to watch: | CS:GO YouTube Channel / Twitch |
| Odds: | Vitality (-1.5) 1.25, Grayhound (+1.5) 3.75 |
Vitality has had a very ugly start for the current #1 ranked team in CS:GO. And another defeat will send the team home very early. They have to get on the right track against a fellow 1-2 team in Grayhound.
The team from down under put up a great show against Cloud9 as they were able to hand them a loss 19-17. Their other two matches thus far didn't go as well as they were held to single digits in both matches against OG and BIG.
Vitality started off well with a convincing 16-9 victory against Imperial. They have quite been the same since with losses to GamerLegion and Outsiders. ZywOo and Vitality now find themselves on the brink of elimination. The team has already felt some repercussions as they have slipped from the top spot in the world rankings.
An early exit from IEM Rio could really drop them in the rankings moving forward. They don't want that plus they have far superior experience over Grayhounds. It has been a nice run for the fairly new team to this level of competition. Vitality is desperate, but they are the right choice to cover.
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Esports: All eyes on IEM Rio Major 2022
A toss-up between GL and FURIA
| What: | GamerLegion vs. FURIA, IEM Rio Challengers Stage |
| Where: | Rio de Janeiro |
| When: | 17:00 EST, Wednesday 2nd November 2022 |
| How to watch: | CS:GO YouTube Channel / Twitch |
| Odds: | GamerLegion 2.37, FURIA 1.53 |
It should be a real toss-up when GamerLegion (2-1) takes on FURIA (2-1) for a spot in the IEM Rio Major 2022 Legends Stage. Both teams have proven their worth and will be trying to send the other to the fourth day of this Challengers Stage.
GamerLegion has had a big run starting with a 16-6 win against 9z on the opening day. They then proceed to shock the world with a 16-10 defeat of Team Vitality. They couldn't follow that up with an automatic bid on the line against Bad News Eagles as they lost 2-0, against one of two teams to advance to the next stage of the competition.
On the flipside, FURIA suffered what looks like a bad loss against BIG in their first match. That match did reach overtime. They were able to rebound from the loss with wins over 00Nation which eliminated that team from the event. They then knocked-off OG who now finds itself nearing elimination as well.
Things are challenging for both teams, and the match-up to keep an eye on is definitely between FURIA's KSCERATO and GamerLegion's acoR. The experience behind KSCERATO should be the difference maker in this match that is truly a toss-up.
