It’s a little surprise that played out during the IEM Rio Major 2022, the last international CS:GO tournament of this year. This week-end, Underdogsthe orgless and flagless team from Virtus.pro, following the banning of all Russian teams from CS competitions after the war in Ukraine, won the Brazilian Major. Qualified with difficulty via the European RMR B, taking a place from Contenders, the structure did not start out as a favorite, far from it.
Thanks in particular to good games against Fnatic and Vitality, Outsiders climbed to 3rd place in the Challengers Stage during the competition, thus advancing to the Legends Stage. Again, the team outdid itself by winning against big teams like Ninjas in Pajamas or Team Spirit. Fourth in the Legends Stage, the Russians found Fnatic in the quarter-finals this weekend. Victorious 2/0, they then eliminated MOUZ in the semis (1/2) and finally made short work of Heroic in the final (2/0).
The Scandinavians were not unworthy, having taken over Team Spirit then FURIA during these playoffs. Outsiders therefore wins the championship, 500,000 dollars and recovers a place for the IEM Katowice 2023 and the BLAST Premier Final 2022. And above all, with 4000 points better than the standing of the BLAST Premier, advance in the top 10, thus giving an additional chance to the other teams for the world final.
To note that IEM Rio Major 2022 became the second most watched CS:GO tournament in history with 69.2 million hours watched during the competition, two million less than the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, and 1.1 million more than the recent PGL Major Antwerp 2022, according to figures released by Esports Charts.