Cloud9 lock in semi-final berth at IEM Rio; FURIA to start from quarter-finals

The Russian team have secured themselves a top-four finish at the very least in Brazil.

Cloud9 arrived in Rio after a disappointing showing at the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR, initially being sent to the Last Chance Qualifier following losses Monte, G2, and ENCE. There, the team managed wins over B8 and BIG, but couldn't overcome FaZe in the Major-qualifying matchup itself.

The immense disappointment and short turnover time between their loss to FaZe in Copenhagen and opening game in Rio versus MIBR (a window of less than 48 hours between them, including travel) can't have been easy to deal with, but the Russian squad have shown tenacity since arriving in Brazil.

Ax1Le stepped up to help Cloud9 close out Ancient

They dispatched of MIBR with ease before securing a hard-fought 2-0 over OG to qualify for the playoffs, and now advance directly to the semi-finals after slipping past hometown favorites FURIA in the upper bracket final of Group B.

The Brazilian team couldn't convert upon their lead on Inferno and let their map pick slip against Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov's men, who in turn were blown out of the water on their own pick of Vertigo as FURIA mustered a 13-2 lead on the defense. Cloud9 — and Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov in particular — showed renewed form on the Ancient decider, though, and the Russian rifler shined with multi-kill rounds to help his side clinch a 16-12 victory to take the series.

"I'm always saying that we have the best Vertigo, but now I don't think that," Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov said with humility and with exhaustion clear on his face after the game. "I'm trying to be objective, they are playing really well, they are playing really, really well on that map. They outplayed us two times in a row on Vertigo without any chances, so it means a lot. I mean it makes sense that their Vertigo is better than us, so I'm not going to say we have the best Vertigo now.

"We need to change something, we need to adapt, we need to fix, and we need to try to mindgame somewhere there."

Cloud9 have two days to make those adjustments and adaptations as they won't play until Saturday, when they take on the winner of the quarter-final between Vitality and BIG.

IEM Rio 2023Best of 3

FURIA

Matchpage

1

2

19th April 2023

Cloud9

17

Inferno

19

16

Vertigo

9

12

Ancient

16

FURIA	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Yuri 'yuurih' Santosyuurih	74 - 57	+17	92.9	74.2%	1.27
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoKSCERATO	51 - 50	+1	67.8	71.9%	1.02
André 'drop' Abreudrop	57 - 56	+1	61.4	70.8%	0.99
Rafael 'saffee' Costasaffee	51 - 56	-5	62.8	69.7%	0.94
Andrei 'arT' PiovezanarT	53 - 64	-11	71.2	64.0%	0.90

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	64 - 51	+13	73.8	71.9%	1.12
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	68 - 61	+7	79.6	69.7%	1.10
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	48 - 54	-6	74.4	69.7%	1.05
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	61 - 63	-2	69.5	70.8%	1.02
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	39 - 60	-21	56.0	64.0%	0.78