FURIA advance to IEM Rio playoffs after beating FaZe for first time in 662 days

The Brazilian team have ensured they will play in front of their home crowd once again.

FURIA are through to the playoffs of IEM Rio after securing a 2-0 victory over FaZe in the upper bracket semi-final of Group B, clinching their first victory over the European combine since playing them in Gamers Without Borders in July 2021.

Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's side have been on a run of renewed form as of late, recently topping the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR for a spot in the Legends Stage and showing a better level of play since arriving in Brazil for Rio as well.

The team managed to move past fnatic in an overtime affair on Ancient to start off their tournament run, and have now ended a losing streak to FaZe to make a return to the Jeunesse Arena, where they previously beat Natus Vincere in the quarter-finals of the IEM Rio Major before losing to HEROIC.

FURIA head coach Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira had mentioned the team making "profound changes internally, both technically and tactically" ahead of the team's Major-qualifying bid, and those changes have been paying off as evidenced by their recent results.

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It was especially clear in the team's series versus FaZe, where they looked to be a step ahead of the European combine on both Mirage and Nuke. A somewhat reeled-in version of their aggressive playstyle paid dividends as they repeatedly won the battle for middle, with the entire team stepping up en route to a dominant 10-5 T side before closing out the game, 16-8.

Nuke unfolded much the same, with FaZe winning a handful of clean rounds on their own T side, but often being unable to crack through FURIA's stalwart defenses as the Brazilians claimed another five-round lead at the break. A few scrappy rounds and fumbled situations from FURIA brought the map within touching distance for FaZe in the end, but Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa ended up bailing his side out with a quad kill and 1vs2 clutch to take things over the line.

FURIA have a chance to advance directly to the semi-finals of IEM Rio as they will take on the winner of OG vs. Cloud9 in the upper bracket final of Group A. FaZe, meanwhile, have been cast down to the lower bracket and face a difficult test already as they go up against Vitality in a best-of-three, a team who they last took on at ESL Pro League Season 17 and lost to 0-2 following overtimes on Anubis and Nuke.