IEM Rio Major profile: Outsiders

Outsiders' mixed results against top opposition puts them near the middle of the HLTV power ranking, but promising growth may foreshadow a dark horse performance in Rio.

Outsiders is one of the many teams comprising an incredibly packed middle of the field made up of squads anywhere between the top and bottom six or seven in our power ranking. Such a packed field and not many tournaments played since the break due to ESL Pro League’s exceedingly long format makes it hard to establish where Outsiders and similar teams stand, creating the perfect environment for upsets. This could make IEM Rio the perfect scenario for a team that plays a notedly hard-to-play-against style, slowing and muddying down rounds, to thrive.

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Why is there no clear favorite for the Rio Major?

One of the leading stories for Outsiders in Rio is going to be how the two new players that joined in May are going to hold their own at a Major alongside the likes of Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev, who have long established themselves as top-tier performers, as well as Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev, who joined the team alarmingly close to the PGL Major in Stockholm and has since carved out a place for himself as a very capable rifler at the top level.

A range of experience

The team’s two long-standing veterans, Jame and Qikert, can track their Major legacies back together to when they broke out with AVANGAR at the ELEAGUE Major in 2018. They just barely failed to make it past the Challengers Stage in their debut, falling in the ninth place decider match to Liquid — albeit with Wilton "⁠zews⁠" Prado standing in. The duo then missed the FACEIT Major in London before returning to the Major circuit at IEM Katowice 2019, where they made the Legends Stage for the first time and finished in 9-11th place.

The magic happened at the last pre-pandemic Major, StarLadder Berlin, where alongside Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev, Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov and Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev, the Outsiders stalwarts took home silver. Their final loss, at the hands of a record-breaking Astralis, was merciless, but the feat — along with strong finishes at other non-Major events —, made them notorious enough for an organization of the stature of Virtus.pro to come knocking.

FL1T, whose superlative play made him one of the engines that put FORZE on the map, was brought on to Virtus.pro right before the PGL Major in Stockholm, the first post-pandemic Major. In total, throughout his time on both teams, he has tasted the bitterness of loss and the warmth of a crowded Major arena, having played in all Major stages: Challengers, Legends and Champions.

PGL Major Antwerp fallout

Outsiders went through a partial renovation after the group stage exit at the last Major, PGL Antwerp, when Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis left the team in search of new challenges and buster was moved to the bench. Both departures were particularly notable, in the case of YEKINDAR because he was the team's rising star and in the case of buster because it broke up the core that emerged from AVANGAR.

The Latvian entry's departure at first appeared to leave a gaping hole in the Russian squad's tactical game at the time, since he was a crucial cog in the machine as the aggressive element of a very passive team, but Outsiders are finding ways to remain competitive. "YEKINDAR is a good player, but this is a game about the team anyway, you know?" FL1T told HLTV at ESL Pro League. "If you have five people who are believing in the team, believing in every round, who are friendly, they can play good. You just need to believe. Good atmosphere, good vibes, and practice a lot."

Two newcomers joined from K23, and out of the two, it is only 21-year-old David "⁠n0rb3r7⁠" Danielyan who packs some Major experience, having been a part of the Winstrike squad alongside Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov that made the IEM Katowice Challengers Stage. The core of that team, which had made a splash at ELEAGUE 2018 with a Cinderella playoff run, failed to make it to the Legends Stage this time around, losing in the 2-2 match to Cloud9.

For the 21-year-old Russian-Armenian, it was a dream come true. "I was really happy when my coach said that Outsiders want me," n0rb3r7 told HLTV at IEM Cologne, when he was a fresh recruit. "It's really nice because maybe a few years ago I was watching Qikert's playstyle and I said 'I want to play with him.' And right now I'm here, with Outsiders, with Qikert, Jame, and I'm really happy."

The other addition, Outsiders' initial target, was Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev, who has been holding his own while adjusting to a new level of play. The 19-year-old has excelled since joining Outsiders, even if his 1.10 LAN rating dips to 1.05 against top 20 opposition. His first international LAN experience has come with his new squad, but Majors are particularly known to be meat grinders for neophytes, turning many a newcomer to jello even before the stadium matches. This makes the squad’s newest addition the most susceptible to stage fright at an event with such an electric atmosphere as a Major, particularly one with a crowd at every stage, but there have been players known to thrive in this same situation.

Getting to know each other

Outsiders have been blowing hot and cold since making their last changes in May, from second at ESL Challenger Valencia to 13-16th at IEM Cologne to quarter-finalists at ESL Pro League to scraping by the European RMR in the 2-2 pool for a spot at the Major to winning ESL Challenger Rotterdam. Jame and company did not get to play that many maps against top-tier opposition, as ESL Pro League hogged over a month of the calendar since the return of play after the break, but they have tallied over 50 maps across all events on LAN since June, not a bad number for everyone to get on the same page.

Clear progress is being made as more time passes since the changes in May, which can be seen with their dominating performances against the second line of competition and by their important series wins against top opposition, such as beating FURIA in Pro League after falling to them at IEM Cologne or winning the ESL Challenger Rotterdam grand final 2-0 against ENCE.

Much of this transitory period has to do with the in-game leader's understanding of the game and the slow pace he instills on the team. "Jame has the biggest brain, and for me in the beginning it was kinda hard to understand him, but right now it's easy," n0rb3r7 told HLTV. "It's about the slow playstyle and preparation for matches."

One of Outsiders' particularities is that it's a team with no individual weaknesses and all players are rated 1.00 or above, an impressive feat after losing both a star entry in YEKINDAR and a solid rifler in buster. n0rb3r7 and fame, with 1.02 and 1.10 ratings respectively, give the team a rarely seen depth of individual talent.

Major expectations

Outsiders are not among the top contenders in the world, but playing many tournaments and placing well at ESL Challenger-level events while some teams struggle to remain active brought them up to seventh place in the world ranking — a steep 10 place increase from where they started at the beginning of summer when they made roster changes. HLTV's power ranking ahead of the Major places them a good distance behind, 13th, due to the nature of the points accrued at smaller events, but Outsiders have shown they have sting against teams of their caliber and are close to delivering against tougher opposition.

It’s near impossible to make a case for Outsiders to upset their way to a title run, or even a wild run to the grand final like Jame and Qikert did at StarLadder Berlin — although IEM Rio could shape up to be a surprise-fest. It would be equally reckless, however, to say that they can't put up a fight to make it to the Legends Stage and even reach the playoffs, as they did at ESL Pro League, where they lost in two close quarter-final maps (one in overtime) to the tournament’s champions and current No.1 team in the world ranking, Vitality.

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