FURIA secure Legends Stage spot at IEM Rio Major

The Brazilian team have ensured that there will be at least one hometown representative heading into the top-16 stage of the Major.

FURIA have made it through to the Legends Stage of the IEM Rio Major after beating GamerLegion in a two-map series, defeating the European combine 16-9 on Vertigo and 16-11 on Inferno to advance to the top-16 stage with a 3-1 record.

The victory is especially meaningful for Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's side as they are now the only all-Brazilian representative still in attendance at the Major, with Imperial and 00NATION both bowing out following losses to Cloud9 and IHC on Tuesday.

GamerLegion still have one more chance to advance, but have a difficult match ahead of them as they will take on a Cloud9 that looks to finally be returning to form after a shaky start to the Major. Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek's troops impressed by starting the event with a 2-0 record, but may end up kicking themselves if they miss out on qualifying for the Legends Stage after squandering three chances to advance.

FURIA immediately gave GamerLegion a taste of how the series would unfold on Vertigo, Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato and Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos combining to recover a 2vs5 situation in the opening pistol round and give their side an early lead. Round wins for GamerLegion were sporadic and split from that point, the European combine proving unable to chain together any round wins on the CT side as the trio of yuurih, KSCERATO, and André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu led the way for FURIA in claiming an 11-4 halftime lead.

GamerLegion's best efforts to structure an offensive half of their own proved fruitless as the deficit was too much to climb back from, aggression from arT and multi-fragging from the other FURIA members leaving little room for a comeback effort as things were brought to a swift end, 16-9.

Inferno unfolded much the same, although this time it was the AWP of Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa that powered FURIA to a one-sided lead at halftime. GamerLegion were only able to crack through the Brazilian team's defenses for a brief moment in the latter portion of the half, but it was too little too late on the T side for siuhy and company as they were left staring down a 4-11 deficit heading into the side swap.

A pistol win and subsequent conversion offered GamerLegion the chance to get back into the map, and they immediately seized upon the chance by winning six rounds straight to narrow the gap to 10-11. FURIA responded by attacking banana to get their first T-side round on the board, and didn't let up from there, relentless aggression helping them plow their way to a 16-11 victory.