IEM Rio Major 2022NAVI send BIG packing to clinch penultimate playoff spot at IEM Rio
Natus Vincere have now secured their seventh consecutive Major playoff appearance.
Natus Vincere locked in their place in the Champions Stage of the IEM Rio Major with a 2-0 victory over BIG, eliminating the Germans on the back of a 16-12 showing on Mirage and a 16-11 scoreline on Dust2.
It was Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy's time to step up for his team in this best-of-three, where he averaged a team-high 1.22 rating alongside a respectable 72 ADR. This strong performance from the Russian was vital in earning his team one of the last few spots up for grabs for the playoffs in the Jeunesse Arena, with just one more slot still to be filled by the winner of the upcoming matchup between Liquid and Spirit, which starts at 22:00 on Tuesday.
BIG, meanwhile, finish their run through the IEM Rio Major in 9-11th place, narrowly missing out on a spot in the playoffs in the process. The team around Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz will rue not making the most of their initial 2-0 record in the Swiss stage, dropping consecutive qualifying series to FURIA, fnatic, and now Natus Vincere to exit a Major in the group stage for the second time running.
Natus Vincere's pick of Mirage played host to the first map of the best-of-three, but it was BIG who got off to the better start. The Germans snatched the pistol round away thanks to a 1vs1 clutch by Elias "s1n" Stein, before adding three of the following four rounds to go 4-1 up on the CT-side. BIG's defensive wall continued to hold strong as the half progressed; the tabseN-led roster had answers for whatever Natus Vincere threw at them, and guaranteed themselves an opening-half victory, 8-3. A much-needed upswing in form by Natus Vincere followed, however, with Perfecto and Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev combining for 24 kills to enable the roster to trail by just three rounds at the interval.
Natus Vincere shut down a valiant 1vs5 attempt from Karim "Krimbo" Moussa in the pistol round to start their time on the defense, with the quintet going on to add a further two rounds to build up their finances. Multi-kill rounds from Nils "k1to" Gruhne greeted them, however, with the Germans using this new injection of firepower to extend their lead a little bit more, 12-9. This three-round cushion in favour of BIG failed to hold firm, though, as Natus Vincere rose to the occasion and mounted an impenetrable seven-round defensive streak of their own to close out Mirage 16-12 and go 1-0 up in the do-or-die series.
The action between the two teams moved to Dust2 for the second battleground. Natus Vincere kept up their run of good form from Mirage, drumming up an early 4-0 lead on the CT-side thanks to eight kills from Perfecto, who had also carried over his strong performance from the map prior. BIG kept up the pressure in spite of the less-than-ideal start, though, putting up five rounds to Natus Vincere's one to bring the game to a 5-5 stalemate and keep their Ukrainian counterparts on their toes. The tense nature of the map didn't relent as the half entered its dying stages, with BIG barely managing to string together a three-round streak to post a slender one-round advantage by the side swap.
Denis "electroNic" Sharipov and company won five rounds on the trot at the onset of the second half to break the deadlock and take the lead once more, 12-8. At this point, the game once again descended into a back-and-forth affair, neither side able to chain together more than two rounds at a time, something that benefited the PGL Stockholm Major champions as they reached match point, 15-10. In the end, BIG were unable to go toe-to-toe with their opponents, winning one more round before being dispatched of 11-16, their campaign through the Brazilian Major coming to an abrupt end in the process.
  BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 - 34 | +6 | 76.3 | 74.5% | 1.08 | |
| 35 - 37 | -2 | 72.7 | 63.6% | 0.99 | |
| 32 - 35 | -3 | 61.3 | 67.3% | 0.91 | |
| 26 - 37 | -11 | 58.6 | 63.6% | 0.83 | |
| 24 - 40 | -16 | 58.5 | 60.0% | 0.67 |
 Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 - 27 | +16 | 72.3 | 80.0% | 1.22 | |
| 40 - 30 | +10 | 77.7 | 72.7% | 1.20 | |
| 37 - 36 | +1 | 78.5 | 72.7% | 1.11 | |
| 37 - 34 | +3 | 76.0 | 74.5% | 1.10 | |
| 26 - 30 | -4 | 53.8 | 70.9% | 0.94 |
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson
Dion 'FASHR' Derksen
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi
William 'mezii' Merriman
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