Outsiders edge past Spirit in CIS matchup, fnatic defeat ENCE in Rio

Outsiders emerged victorious at the end of a thrilling bout on Dust2 which went the full 30 rounds.

Both Outsiders and fnatic improve to a 2-1 record at the IEM Rio Major Legends Stage after dispatching of Spirit and ENCE, respectively. Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's crew fended off the comeback attempt from Spirit to clinch the 16-14 victory in the Russian derby while fnatic delivered a near-perfect CT side performance to take down ENCE 16-7.

Spirit and ENCE now find themselves in the 1-2 pool alongside Vitality and Natus Vincere and require a flawless campaign from here on out to progress through to the playoff stage.

Outsiders came out on top after a thrilling Russian derby

Both sides exchanged scoring runs to get the game underway, with Outsiders claiming the first three followed by a four-round spree from Spirit which featured back-to-back multi-kills courtesy of Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev. The momentum of the game immediately shifted over to Jame and company, though, as they would secure the next seven out of eight rounds to enter halftime up 10-5.

A Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov quad-kill in the second pistol and a Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov triple in the 17th were the driving forces for Spirit to claim the first two rounds coming out of the switch. Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's squad continued to chip away at Outsiders' lead and by the end of the 24th round, finally found themselves level-pegging at 12-12. Spirit briefly held a one-round lead over their fellow Russians, but in the end they were unable to convert it to a win as Outsiders bagged the 16-14 victory and improved to a 2-1 record in the Legends Stage.

IEM Rio Major 2022Best of 1

Spirit

Matchpage

14

16

6th November 2022

Outsiders

14

Dust2

16

fnatic had a flying start in their bout with ENCE as their nearly unstoppable pushes to the A site allowed them to claim a commanding 7-1 lead. Right at the halfway point in the half, ENCE turned things around and started stringing together rounds as the defenders which resulted in a 6-9 deficit at the break.

From that point on, fnatic completely dominated Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's crew as they marched their way to a 16-7 victory. William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman's men had a nearly flawless CT side by winning seven out of the eight rounds played, including a 1vs2 clutch defuse by the captain himself, en route to a convincing 16-7 victory on Nuke. Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen ended the game as his team's main contributor with 26 kills and a 1.70 rating, besting every other player on the server.

IEM Rio Major 2022Best of 1

ENCE

Matchpage

7

16

6th November 2022

fnatic

7

Nuke

16

Group Legends Stage

2W - 0L

HEROIC

BIG

FURIA

Cloud9

2W - 1L

MOUZ

Liquid

Outsiders

fnatic

1W - 2L

Vitality

Spirit

Natus Vincere

ENCE

0W - 2L

Ninjas in Pyjamas

FaZe

Sprout

Bad News Eagles