The end of the RMR series marks the beginning of the team trek to Brazil.
The first Valve-sponsored CS:GO Major is happening at the end of the month. Rio de Janeiro will be the stage where 24 global teams will converge to play at South America’s first CS:GO major event. For the past week, Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events were held around the world to see which teams will proceed to book their tickets to visit the famous South American country. There are the Europe RMR (A and B tournaments), Americas RMR, and Asia RMR.
From the RMRs, 16 teams from Europe will head on, with six from the Americas (both North and South) as well as two from Asia. IEM Rio Major is set to have the second largest prize pool after Major Stockholm, with a pool of $1.25 million. For the first time, all stages of the competition will have a live crowd to follow the action, with a fan fest running alongside the event hosted by famous Brazillian CS:GO Streamer Alexandre “Gaules” Borba.
Teams qualified for IEM Rio Major
Below are the teams who qualified for the IEM Rio Major, broken down into different regions:
Europe
- FaZe Clan
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Natus Vincere
- ENCE
- Team Spirit
- Cloud9
- Sprout
- Heroic
- Vitality
- OG
- Fnatic
- GamerLegion
- Bad News Eagles
- BIG
- MOUZ
- Outsiders
Americas
- Evil Geniuses
- Team Liquid
- 9z
- FURIA
- 00 Nation
- Imperial Esports
Asia
- IHC
- Grayhound
The big surprise in the list is the lack of big European names, such as Astralis and G2 Esports, eliminated in the European RMR Group B. Meanwhile from the Americas, Complexity Gaming and MIBR were the casualties of the American RMR event.
IEM Rio Major will kick off on 31 October with the Challengers Stage, where 16 Contenders and Challengers in total will try to advance to the Legends Stage, to meet the eight best teams of the RMRs.
The Legends Stage will run from 5 to 8 November with a Swiss system format, the same formula used in the Challengers Stage, and only the top eight CS:GO teams will advance.
The Champions Stage of the IEM Rio Major will take place between 10 and 13 November at the Jeunesse Arena and one team will be crowned the champion at the end of the tournament.
