What happened at the Major qualifiers

Only five IEM Rio Major spots remain undecided as we head into the final day of the Regional Major Ranking tournaments in Europe, Americas, and Asia.

Most of the spots at the IEM Rio Major have now been decided, as over the course of day five the tally increased to 19 names out of 24. IHC were the first to join the list of teams qualified for Rio after winning the Asia RMR over Grayhound, and Europe followed a few hours later with Group B's 2-1 matches.

HEROIC clinched their spot with an all-around comfortable win against BIG, where Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's efforts were not enough to keep the Danes at bay. Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut led Vitality to a 2-1 victory over MOUZ and helped his teammate Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen retain his flawless record of having attended all Majors to date.

The ever-passionate Bad News Eagles will hope to repeat their impressive Antwerp performance in Rio de Janeiro later this month

OG were next to lock in their place in Brazil after beating back Outsiders — a milestone for the organization that entered the scene just before the pandemic began and, after a two-year wait, barely missed out on a spot at the previous two Majors in Stockholm and Antwerp.

Group A's all-or-nothing matches in the 2-2 pool saw fnatic beat 1WIN to ensure the black-and-orange organization's return to the Majors for the first time in 2019, GamerLegion complete their dramatic run through the RMR after taking down B8, and Bad News Eagles perform one of their signature comebacks against FORZE to make it to their second consecutive Major.

In the Americas, it was all about elimination on Saturday. Only three teams now remain in contention for the last spot on offer in the region — Imperial came back from 8-15 on the opening map against Nouns to go 3-2 and were joined by paiN and Complexity in a sixth-place decider bracket set to play out on Sunday, while ATK and Isurus bowed out of the competition.

Who has qualified so far?

Legends Stage
FaZe
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Natus Vincere
ENCE
Sprout Challengers Stage
9z
FURIA
00NATION
IHC
fnatic
GamerLegion
Bad News Eagles

To be determined*
Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Spirit
Cloud9
HEROIC
Vitality
OG

* Liquid vs. Evil Geniuses will decide one Legends spot

Spirit and Cloud9 will play for another Legends spot

HEROIC, Vitality, and OG will play in a third-place decider bracket for a Legends spot

Standout results of day 5

Europe A
Bad News Eagles 2-1 FORZE
GamerLegion 2-0 B8
fnatic 2-0 1WIN

Europe B
HEROIC 2-0 BIG
Vitality 2-1 MOUZ
OG 2-1 Outsiders
Falcons 2-1 HEET

Americas
Isurus 2-1 MIBR
Imperial 2-0 Nouns
Complexity 2-1 Isurus

Performance of the day

1.46 series rating ZywOo vs. MOUZ

Keeping up with his terrifying form from the last few months, ZywOo was a menace in Vitality's Major-qualifying victory against MOUZ. With a 1.76 and 1.57 rating on Mirage and Vertigo, it was in large part thanks to the French superstar that Vitality came back from a loss on the opening Inferno to secure a spot in Rio.

Honorable mentions:

Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou vs. Isurus
25-6 in a 10-5 CT half on Inferno

Rigon "⁠rigoN⁠" Gashi vs. FORZE
28-11, 2.27 rating in a 16-4 win on Mirage

Caner "⁠soulfly⁠" Kesici vs. Illuminar
32-18, 1.88 rating in a 16-10 win on Ancient

Play of the day

The play of the day also goes the way of ZywOo and his ace and 1v3 clutch against MOUZ, where the Frenchman's skill and awareness was on full display as he picked his opponents off one by one with the AWP.

HLTV live coverage

Interviews

Read more chelo: "Playing with FalleN has given me the best moments of my life" Read more Spinx: "On CT-side Mirage the team wanted me to be kind of an IGL" Read more coldzera: "I don't go to the gym, I don't enjoy my life, I only play CS"

Comments

Flatron "⁠juanflatroo⁠" Halimi: "If you make it one time, you can call it lucky, but if you make it the second time and you make it convincing enough, that's not lucky anymore"

Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand: "I don't think we went into the qualification actually expecting us to qualify for the Major"

Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković: "This was the goal when I first joined OG, to get into the Major"

Who's in the running for the last five spots?

There are a total of 11 teams still in play for the last five spots. The final day of the Major qualifiers will kick off with the Asia RMR decider in Melbourne, where Grayhound will hope to keep their Major streak alive as they face JiJieHao International.

The 2-2 matches in the European B group will follow along with the sixth-place decider in the Americas RMR, in which Imperial will first face paiN at 13:00 before the winner locks horns with Complexity later in the day for a spot in Rio.

Here are the key matches which will decide the last five IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage spots:

IEM Rio Major qualifying matches
04:00 JiJieHao International vs. Grayhound
11:00 BIG vs. K23
14:30 MOUZ vs. Sangal
18:00 Outsiders vs. Falcons
20:00 Complexity vs. winner of Imperial/paiN

Sangal #37 Caner 'soulfly' KesiciRobin 'ScrunK' RöpkeKornél 'kory' SzedlárLove 'phzy' SmidebrantCan 'kyuubii' Ali Isurus #89 Nicolás 'Noktse' DávilaRoberto 'reversive' ThemthamIgnacio 'meyern' MeyerMarcos 'deco' AmatoLuciano 'luchov' Herrera ENCE #18 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Illuminar #77 Paweł 'reatz' JańczakPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaKonrad 'EXUS' JeńczeńMateusz 'TOAO' ZawistowskiBartek 'mASKED' Trybuła Sprout #31 Ismail 'refrezh' AliFritz 'slaxz-' DietrichRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossVictor 'Staehr' StaehrLaurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea OG #14 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharShahar 'flameZ' ShushanAbdul 'degster' GasanovMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Natus Vincere #2 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 25 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1287 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.63 Vitality #3 Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautDan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifLotan 'Spinx' Giladi FORZE #26 Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovAleksandr 'zorte' ZagodyrenkoAleksandr 'shalfey' MarenovAleksandr 'KENSI' GurkinEvgeny 'Norwi' Ermolin B8 #69 Arseniy 'cptkurtka023' DerevinskiyDenys 'amster' LiashenkoAlexey 'alex666' YarmoshchukMykyta 'Hkta' RevaArtem 'r1nkle' Moroz Time is adjusted to your selected timezone JiJieHao International #101 Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDmitriy 'facecrack' AlekseyevMaoz 'BluePho3nix' PazTal 'meztal' HahiashviliMori 'MOREE' Mizrahi Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 27 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1973 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.70 Rigon 'rigoN' Gashi Age: 23 Team: Bad News Eagles Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 418 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.73 IHC #82 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarTengis 'sk0R' BatjargalTuvshintugs 'Annihilation' NyamdorjGaridmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenSodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold ATK #40 Rhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongIan 'motm' HardyJonathan 'b0denmaster' BodenmalmMichael 'Swisher' SchmidGareth 'MisteM' Ries GamerLegion #60 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' IvanNicolas 'Keoz' DgusKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekIsak 'isak' Fahlén Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Imperial #21 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Ninjas in Pyjamas #11 Patrick 'es3tag' HansenFredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Complexity #17 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' WinceJustin 'FaNg' Coakley K23 #46 Timur 'clax' SabirovBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovVladislav 'FinigaN' UsovDaniil 'X5G7V' MaryshevKonstantin 'Raijin' Trubarov 1WIN #33 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevIgor 'lollipop21k' SolodkovAleksandr 'TRAVIS' TimkivAleksandr 'glowiing' MatsievichDenis 'deko' Zhukov BIG #16 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneJosef 'faveN' BaumannKarim 'Krimbo' Moussa 9z #50 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer MOUZ #9 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýJon 'JDC' de CastroÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman HEROIC #10 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand Age: 25 Team: GamerLegion Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1077 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 HEET #25 Audric 'JACKZ' JugAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroThomas 'Djoko' PavoniPierre 'Ex3rcice' BulingeAurélien 'afro' Drapier paiN #23 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtFelipe 'skullz' MedeirosRomeu 'zevy' Rocco Falcons #35 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittAli 'hAdji' HaïnoussBryan 'Maka' CandaKévin 'misutaaa' RabierJordan 'Python' Munck-Foehrle FURIA #7 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu MIBR #24 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesRaphael 'exit' LacerdaMatheus 'Tuurtle' AnhaiaJhonatan 'JOTA' WillianBreno 'brnz4n' Poletto fnatic #19 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Outsiders #12 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Nouns #44 Dominick 'JazzPimp' DimpfelDavid 'cynic' PolsterBrendan 'Bwills' WilliamsDanny 'Cxzi' StrzelczykJeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1992 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Caner 'soulfly' Kesici Age: 18 Team: Sangal Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 151 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Cloud9 #6 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Bad News Eagles #32 Rigon 'rigoN' GashiSener 'SENER1' MahmutiFlatron 'juanflatroo' HalimiDionis 'sinnopsyy' BudeciGenc 'gxx-' Kolgeci Spirit #15 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovBoris 'magixx' VorobievPavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovIhor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov 00NATION #29 Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloEduardo 'dumau' WolkmerBruno 'latto' RebelattoSantino 'try' Rigal Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1100 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.67 Evil Geniuses #22 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJadan 'HexT' Postma Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 21 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1061 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.61 fnatic #19 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Flatron 'juanflatroo' Halimi Age: 25 Team: Bad News Eagles Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 611 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.72 Grayhound #39 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli