Liquid trounce Sprout to claim first win; BIG overpower MOUZ to go 2-0

The North American roster rebounded with a comfortable victory after being destroyed in the first round.

Liquid joined the 1-1 pool of the IEM Rio Major Legends Stage after getting the better of Sprout 16-5. The North American roster will be pleased to get their first win of the Major on the board after previously suffering a 2-16 trouncing by MOUZ in the opening round.

Sprout, meanwhile, now stare down the barrel of elimination after falling to the 0-2 pool. The Danish-majority roster raised eyebrows by securing a Legends Stage berth at the RMR, but have since failed to produce similar results in their two games in Rio thus far.

BIG, meanwhile, prevailed over MOUZ in the game that played out backstage, decimating the Germans 16-6 on Mirage to advance to the 2-0 pool. Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne was on another level in his team's victory over the European mix, putting up a 1.71 rating and 98 ADR.

Inferno was the battleground of choice between Liquid and Sprout, and it was the North Americans who got off to the better start as they soon posted a 5-0 advantage thanks to a high-fragging output from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski. Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Danish-majority roster as the world's third-best team doubled down with lethal executes and precise shooting, extending their lead to 10-1. From here on out, Liquid never looked back, running over their foes en route to a 13-2 showing by the side swap.

Sprout got their comeback attempt underway immediately once on the T-side, nabbing the pistol round and converting the second to make a slight dent in Liquid's hefty lead. Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella and company's prowess in the server continued to be on full display, however, and the squad quickly put the two remaining rounds they needed on the board to win the map 16-5 and move ahead to the 1-1 pool of play.

MOUZ and BIG squared off on Mirage for their chance at going 2-0 by the end of the Legend Stage's first day of play; the Germans struck first, going 5-1 up on the T-side despite MOUZ's best efforts to disrupt things. A 1vs1 clutch by David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský in the seventh round was vital in getting the European combine into the swing of things, which they used to bring themselves back to just one round down, 5-6. BIG rallied together despite MOUZ's upswing in form, winning four rounds on the trot to head into the break with a comfortable five-round cushion.

The two teams descended into a back-and-forth skirmish at the onset of the second half, with the Germans reaching 13-7 on the back of an eco-round buy. With BIG taking control of the economy, it was simply a case of Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and co. taking care of business, winning three rounds on the bounce with relative ease to lock in the map 16-7 and end the first day of play with a 2-0 record.