IEM Rio: Quarter-finals day as it happened

Catch up with the happenings on and off broadcast and behind the scenes of the quarter-finals day at IEM Rio.

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Photos: Heroic's celebration and FURIA's heartbreak
01:10 - Striker

Check out the complete IEM Rio quarter-finals day gallery here.

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TeSeS: "There was a bit more of mental preparation"
00:45 - Sumljiv

René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen joined the broadcast for a post-match interview, and he first touched on their Ancient comeback. "We just had to grind some CT rounds, we had strong belief in our T side, where we were playing a bit faster, trying to mix up the pace."

"It was tough to talk sometimes, and we had to repeat ourselves and repeat a million times, but we got through it. We knew we had to be prepared for everyone booing at us, so there was a bit more of mental preparation," the 22-year-old touched on the atmosphere in the arena.

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They have done it!
00:31 - Sumljiv

Silence falls upon the arena as Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller gets the final kill to complete the comeback. A 13-4 streak on Ancient was enough to overcome a slow start, as HEROIC ran out 16-12 winners.

The last few rounds of the game were utter chaos, with Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos and Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa winning respective clutches to keep FURIA alive, but the Brazilians ran out of steam eventually.

HEROIC have qualified for the semi-final against Natus Vincere with the victory, while FURIA leave the Jeunesse Arena after suffering another heartbreak at the hands of HEROIC.

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Heroic's streak puts them in the lead
00:10 - Sumljiv

From 1-8 to 11-9, HEROIC's unrelenting spirit catches another team off guard. They are yet to lose a single offensive round, and their economy is booming.

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Heroic give themselves a chance
23:58 - Sumljiv

After being 1-8 down, HEROIC's resurgence gives them a chance to win the series. Five out of the last six rounds reduced the deficit to three, meaning a pistol round and conversion would tie up the scores for the Danes.

Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund carried their team so far with 13 kills each, but every HEROIC member will need to contribute if they want to come back.

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Brazilians on fire
23:45 - Sumljiv

It's all one-way traffic on Ancient so far. FURIA's T side is proving too much to handle for HEROIC, as they find themselves 1-8 down.

Even with Ancient becoming better for the offensive side after the spawns were moved, HEROIC will need to turn around the half quickly if they are to have any chance of a semi-final appearance.

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FURIA start on T side
23:29 - Sumljiv

FURIA won the knife round and chose to start on the T side, and their decision looks to be paying off.

yuurih won a 1vs4 in the pistol round to start them off on the right foot, and the Brazilians currently sit 4-0 up.

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Heroic tie the series
23:08 - Sumljiv

It wasn't pretty, but HEROIC got it done in the end. FURIA got up to 12 rounds and with the momentum seemingly in their control, HEROIC had to fight hard for the map.

All of that meant that HEROIC closed Mirage out 16-12, closing out Mirage with a last-second A attack, during which the Brazilians weren't able to get a single kill.

We now move on to the decider of Ancient, far from a comfortable map for both teams — a high-octane brawl is expected.

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FURIA resurgence
22:57 - Sumljiv

FURIA won the pistol and following conversion before stavn and jabbi converted a 2vs4 situation to win the first gun round. That could have broken FURIA's mental, but they didn't stand down, fighting round by round to reach double digits.

With the difference between the teams just four rounds, can FURIA complete the comeback?

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Heroic in big lead
22:39 - Sumljiv

Well, that was impressive. HEROIC have racked up 12 rounds in their defense, putting them in the driver's seat to move the series to a third map.

While the scoreline may look like the Danes dominated from start to finish, the reality is far from that. Who knows what would have happened if cadiaN wasn't able to win his clutch, as HEROIC would have no money left over.

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cadiaN shows up
22:30 - Sumljiv

cadiaN in a clutch situation on the Mirage A site, seems familiar?

Without a defuse kit and in a 1vs3 situation, the captain won a miraculous round to keep HEROIC in control. The crowd was not pleased.

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Heroic fight back
22:19 - Sumljiv

HEROIC have weathered the early FURIA force-buys and currently sit 5-0 up, with both Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and yuurih sitting on zero kills.

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FURIA win Inferno
21:53 - Sumljiv

After an intense map of CS, we have FURIA taking the lead in the series after winning their opponents' pick. We were treated to yet another clutch by arT in the dying stages, with the IGL breaking HEROIC's economy in the process and giving his team a path to victory.

Next up is FURIA's pick of Mirage.

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KSCERATO reaches 30; drop clutches 1vs2
21:47 - Sumljiv

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato is topping the board for FURIA.

He currently sits on 30 kills, 120 ADR, and 10 multi-kills, but it was André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu who got his team within two rounds of an Inferno win.

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We are level
21:30 - Sumljiv

HEROIC came out swinging at the start of the second half and strung together five rounds. That ties up the scores at 10-10, with the rest of the Danish squad joining stavn on the scoreboard.

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Neymar spotted in the stands
21:23 - Sumljiv

FURIA have quite the celebrity fan in the Jeunesse Arena.

Neymar has been spotted in the stands, and with his club Paris Saint Germain also currently playing a game, the Brazilian is showing where his allegiances lie.

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FURIA win out the half
21:17 - Sumljiv

HEROIC started to reduce the deficit but KSCERATO had other ideas.

In a 1vs2 situation, he was able to defuse the bomb after good utility usage and put FURIA up to eight. That spurred the Brazilian side to win out the remainder of the half. They currently find themselves 10-5 up as they move into their offense.

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FURIA lead opening exchanges
21:02 - Sumljiv

FURIA have started strong on the CT side of Inferno and currently lead 5-3. On the HEROIC side, stavn is doing the heavy lifting, with his resume including this quad-kill.

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FURIA get the crowd going
20:39 - Sumljiv

This time around there was no mystery about who the crowd would support. The teams walked out on the stage, and FURIA got quite the welcome with the famous chant of "FURIA,FURIA!" already bellowing through the arena.

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The veto is in
20:28 - Sumljiv

The map veto has been announced and the series is set to on HEROIC's map pick of Inferno, with the Brazilians opting to pick Mirage.

Ancient is the decider, if needed.

1. Heroic removed Anubis
2. FURIA removed Overpass
3. Heroic picked Inferno
4. FURIA picked Mirage
5. Heroic removed Vertigo
6. FURIA removed Nuke
7. Ancient was left over

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FURIA vs. Heroic set to start in 10 minutes
20:20 - Sumljiv

The moment that the crowd has been waiting for is almost upon us.

The second quarter-final of IEM Rio between HEROIC and FURIA is set to start in a couple of minutes. The teams have a bit of history between them, and it is HEROIC who came out on top in their last three meetings.

The last time they met was in this very arena during the IEM Rio Major semi-final, where the Danes won 2-1 despite the strong home support for FURIA.

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dupreeh on Cloud9 match: "They will be dangerous to play because they have nothing to lose"
20:15 - Sumljiv

In a quick post-match comment with HLTV, Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen spoke about their upcoming semifinal against Cloud9.

"I think Cloud9 are a really solid team with a lot of young guns and some really interesting players, but they are the same as BIG and they didn't qualify for the Major," he said.

"It's been a huge upset for them, and they come to this tournament showing that they are better than what they showed at the RMR. They will be dangerous to play because they have nothing to lose."

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dupreeh: "Winning here would be really great, but this tournament has not been prioritized in the same way the Major and the RMR has"
20:00 - Striker

dupreeh stepped onto the analyst desk after the match to share some thoughts on Vitality's win and what the team focused on the most.

"The biggest hurdle and the thing we put the most emphasis towards is that we had to be prepared mentally," he said. "BIG did not qualify for the Major, we did, and we came from a really good run at the RMR. Tthey don't have a Major coming up, this is the most important thing, so they want to show that they can still play good."

The veteran also spoke about what the Rio tournament means in context of the BLAST.tv Paris Major coming up, admitting it has not been the biggest focus for Vitality. "Winning here would be really great, but at the same time, with the whole schedule, this tournament has not been prioritized in the same way the Major and the RMR has," he said.

"We came here knowing that we need to do our best, but at the same time, we're not grinding four hours of deathmatch every day, we're not playing 10 FACEITs every night. It's all about rejuvenating and gaining energy going into the Major."

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Vitality clinch the series 2-0
19:39 - Striker

Just like Nuke, it was close for a time until Vitality pulled away just at the end. Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut topped the scoreboard, but it was a solid team effort overall from Vitality across the series. They move on to play Cloud9 in the first semi-final on Saturday.

BIG exit the tournament in fifth-sixth place — a clear improvement on their previous form, but they will certainly feel they were in with a chance to at least go to three maps here.

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The duality of man
19:25 - Striker

Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn's flashy double in defense of the B bombsite got BIG their 10th round, but in the next round he missed a key opening in aggression towards underpass, and Vitality are back in the lead.

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BIG hold on despite ZywOo 1v2
19:05 - Striker

As the half was drawing to a close some individual plays decided close situations and it looked like Vitality would run away with the rest of the half after ZywOo stepped in with a 1v2 clutch. However, BIG responded with just Deagles a couple of rounds later and it's now even at 7-7.

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BIG had the early advantage, but it's now gone
18:55 - Striker

After back-and-forth starts on Nuke, Mirage began with BIG claiming the pistol and second-round conversion, but since Vitality have been able to buy up they've had the upper hand. It's 4-4 now after the favorites won out on a couple of late-round situations on A.

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Mirage begins
18:36 - Striker

BIG won Mirage last time the two teams faced off against each other at the Europe RMRs just over a week ago, and they need to do so again to survive in the series.

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Vitality clinch Nuke 16-12
18:17 - Striker

Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif was 3-15 at one point but put up three consecutive multikills to help Vitality put Nuke to bed. We're heading to BIG's pick, Mirage, after the break. Here's a highlight from the round in which his and Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi's reagression outside salvaged a 3v5 situation.

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Vitality take the lead late
18:10 - Striker

Nuke is all about rotations and Vitality excelled at those in a key round where they locked BIG under heaven and sent the rest on another saving mission. It's now 13-12 for the favorites.

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Forcebuy wars kick off second half again
17:55 - Striker

It's a repeat of the first half. Neither team wants to take an eco and give the other a breather. ZywOo's Deagle triple stopped BIG's vent rush to lower in the second round, and the Germans struck back immediately after, but then had to three-man save for a minute in the following round after losing the bomb in front of squeaky.

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Vitality salvage the half (6-9)
17:48 - Striker

ZywOo finally found some impact with a triple and a 1v1 clutch in the 14th round, and another successful upper hit in the final round of the half set the score at 6-9.

Impressive performance so far from stage rookie hyped, who now sits on a 13-5 score as BIG's joint-top fragger along with Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne.

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Have you seen this man?
17:40 - Striker

A French man aged 22 known by the name ZywOo has gone missing after he was last seen walking up on the Rio stage. If you have any information about his whereabouts, Vitality would probably pay a hefty sum to get him back.

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A moment of respite for Vitality
17:37 - Striker

It's 7-3. BIG won six rounds on the trot before Vitality finally found their first, catching their opponents off-guard with just pistols and a quick hit towards upper, where most of the action has taken place so far.

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BIG win the forcebuy wars
17:29 - Striker

The first four rounds went back and forth with the two teams exchanging forcebuys, but in the fifth an upper execute met a strong BIG defense, which means the Germans take early control of the map.

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And we're live
17:16 - Striker

A small tech issue welcomes us into the series, but it's about to go down on Nuke. Vitality start on the T side on their pick.

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Vitality and BIG take the stage
17:12 - Striker

The Brazilian crowd makes their favorite known. There's not a lot of love in Rio for BIG.

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The veto is in
16:55 - Striker

The exact same maps as in the two team's previous matchup at the RMR will be played today. Although there's a lot of comfort for both teams, the veto looks solid for BIG when you consider their maps so far in Rio: They beat MOUZ and HEROIC on Overpass and the Danes on Nuke, and took Natus Vincere to double overtime on Mirage.

Nuke to start, where Vitality have a seven-map winning streak.

1. Vitality removed Ancient
2. BIG removed Inferno
3. Vitality picked Nuke
4. BIG picked Mirage
5. Vitality removed Anubis
6. BIG removed Vertigo
7. Overpass was left over

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The dynamic between the teams is obvious
16:45 - Striker

Pressure is on Vitality as the favorites. BIG didn't even expect to make it to playoffs, Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz said in an interview with James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks on the broadcast.

tabseN: "We didn't expect to be in the playoffs. We just played like we have nothing to lose. I believe we are a dangerous team, we showed it at the RMR that we are capable of getting some wins here and there, but we don't have the consistency."

Magisk: "Everyone is performing really well right now, so it helps a lot that everyone is stepping up individually, but also as a team we are playing a lot better."

"I still think it's the same [BIG], the only difference is that, for them, this tournament is more important than anything else. Obviously, they didn't go to the Major, and this is the thing that they have left.

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The stage is set for the IEM Rio playoffs to begin
16:17 - Striker

The quarter-finals day of IEM Rio is here.

The doors to the Jeunesse Arena are open and the countdown begins to the first playoffs match, which pits Vitality against BIG at 17:00 to see who will get a step closer to the trophy and meet Cloud9 on Saturday. Later, HEROIC and FURIA will lock horns on Natus Vincere's side of the bracket in a rematch from the IEM Rio Major semi-finals.

Date	Matches
IEM Rio 2023
21/04/2023	Vitality Finished 2:0 BIG	Match
21/04/2023	HEROIC Finished 2:1 FURIA	Match

The first quarter-final is less than an hour away. The bookies have BIG as heavy underdogs, understandably so given the German team's shaky form, their recent disappointment in the qualifiers for the BLAST.tv Paris Major, and the fact that Vitality handed them a beating at the RMRs in Copenhagen.

However, that tabseN's team have made it this far is a testament to their improved level in Rio. With wins over MOUZ and HEROIC and a competitive affair against Natus Vincere, it looks as if a continuation of their upset run is not out of the question.

Ultimately, though, Vitality are in the driver's seat following their lower bracket run through Group B, where they won three consecutive series against MIBR, FaZe, and OG to make it here.

ZywOo and Spinx are in fantastic form with the Israeli on top of the rating charts of the tournament and the Frenchman in second place, a pre-requisite that puts Vitality in with a solid chance to win the whole thing, let alone a matchup against a BIG team that has a new AWPer in hyped about to make his stage debut.