BIG complete lower-bracket run to earn IEM Brazil berth

The German side picked up the second and final IEM Brazil spot up for grabs from the European closed qualifier.

BIG locked in a place at IEM Brazil after successfully completing a lower-bracket run through the European closed qualifier, recording clean 2-0 victories over Sprout, HEET and ENCE, before reverse sweeping HONORIS, 2-1, in a hard-fought consolidation final.

IEM Brazil, which will boast a $250,000 prize pool and offer an Intel Grand Slam notch, will run from April 17-23 and play host to 16 teams, six of whom currently sit within the top 10. The tournament will also play out just three weeks prior to the start of the BLAST.tv Paris Major, giving teams the perfect opportunity to work their way up to championship-level form.

hyped impressed in his debut event with a tournament-high 1.25 rating over 12 maps

The eight-team qualifier marked Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn's debut outing with BIG. The 21-year-old has been brought into the fold as a replacement for Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische, who reportedly benched himself from the squad in the wake of the team's disappointing 13-16th exit from IEM Katowice.

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syrsoN steps down from BIG's starting lineup - Report

It was also hyped who was BIG's highest-rated performer in the do-or-die matchup versus the Poles. The German marksman was the sole reason his side was competitive in the 14-16 loss on Nuke (1.83), and continued to put up strong numbers in the other two maps of the series to end proceedings atop the scoreboard with a 1.44 rating to his name.

The remaining two berths to the Brazilian competition will be filled by the winners of the North American and South American closed qualifiers, which run from February 15-16 and feature the likes of Complexity in the former and 00NATION in the latter.

The current team list for IEM Brazil is the following:

Natus Vincere
Vitality
MOUZ
FURIA
Outsiders
OG
9INE
NA closed qualifier

FaZe
Ninjas in Pyjamas
fnatic
HEROIC
Cloud9
IHC
BIG
SA closed qualifier