FURIA set to play in Jeunesse Arena after advancing to IEM Rio Major playoffs

FURIA have made it through to the playoffs of the IEM Rio Major after breezing past BIG in 2-0 fashion, trouncing the German team on Nuke (16-9) and Vertigo (16-6). They are the sole Brazilian representative to advance to the arena stage after the elimination of 00NATION and Imperial, and will have a few days to prepare for the next stage, having now made their third consecutive Major playoff appearance.

BIG still have two more chances to earn a spot in the bracket stage of the Major, but will need to show much better form than today if they want to beat Outsiders or fnatic, the opponents they will likely face in the 2-1 pool on Monday.

It was a dominant series from FURIA from start to finish, the home crowd loudly voicing their support and putting their weight behind the Brazilian team to both give them momentum, and to douse any fledgling flame of hope that might have lit for BIG upon their few round wins.

Yuri “⁠yuurih⁠” Santos got things started for his side with a quad kill defense with the Dualies on Nuke, and immediately followed that opening with an anti-eco ace to give FURIA the lead. BIG managed to answer back early on, climbing to a 6-5 lead, but were unable to crack through FURIA‘s defenses nor halt Andrei “⁠arT⁠” Piovezan‘s aggression at the end of the half, allowing the Brazilian team to pull ahead by three rounds at the break.

BIG were given even fewer opportunities to get back into the map once FURIA were on the attack, multi-kill rounds from arT and yuurih ensuring that their side quickly climbed towards match point before they closed things out, 16-9, to move the series on to their own pick of Vertigo.

The second map proved even more one-sided than the first as FURIA hit the ground running and refused to concede any ground on the T side, bullying BIG at A ramp and almost always coming out on top of the early fights. Even the times that Johannes “⁠tabseN⁠” Wodarz‘s men won the early duels, they faltered in the late round, FURIA proving the better team time and time again and conceding just three rounds to the German side in the first half en route to a 12-3 scoreline.

Three frags from Nils “⁠k1to⁠” Gruhne allowed BIG to win the second pistol round of the map and briefly gave them some life, but that momentum quickly sputtered out once FURIA were on rifles once again. A double kill through smoke from arT added insult to injury in the first round that FURIA won on the defense, and from that point BIG only got four more kills in the next three rounds as FURIA cruised to a 16-6 victory to take the series.

Group Legends Stage