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IEM Rio Major SA spotlight: 9z triumphant, while 00 Nation continues downwards stroke

· Nov 02 - 3 minutes read

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo used to be known as the Librarian due to his and SK Gaming’s ability to silence unfavorable crowds while winning international trophies. However, this time around it was him and the Brazilian crows who got silenced by the 9z roster.

The crowd was screaming frantically at their home venue and the chants started to slowly fade away thanks to the South American lineup of 9z constantly pressuring Imperial down in the second round of matches at the 2022 IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage.

Imperial Fallen shaking hands with fans after loss

The squad captained by Maximiliano “max” Gonzalez crushed Imperial from the start of Mirage and established the rhythm of the series thanks to a confident performance on the CT side, where they managed to punish every single small mistake Imperial did finishing the first half 13-2.

The Brazilian home crowd roared once again after FalleN got an ace with Dual Berettas on the B bombsite, his first-ever ace at a Major event even after all these years of competitive play. Imperial started to get some momentum and started to take a couple of consecutive rounds.

The lead on the score sadly proved to be way too big for the Brazilian side to come back from, and 9z finished the match with a 16–11 victory over Mirage. At the end, the Brazilian crowd still heavily applauded Imperial on its way out, as they continued to believe in their home representative.

This victory over Imperial gives 9z some breathing space in the tournament as they’ll play their ending best-of-one series, looking to advance to the next stage of the event.

As for Imperial, they are currently in the 0-2 class at the 2022 IEM Rio Major, in order for them to survive they can not lose a single game going forward.

Now going to our next South American matchup, the first Brazilian victory at the 2022 IEM Rio Major came after a battle of 2 home representatives. FURIA absolutely demolished 00 Nation (16-6) on map Mirage advancing into the 1-1 class of the Challengers Stage.

This match set the Brazilian crowd to a roaring cry before it began but 00 Nation sadly did not play well at all, making the crowd a little bored by halftime.

Epitácio “TACO” de Melo and Marcelo “coldzera” David’s squad couldn’t stop the bleeding, as FURIA’s T side aggressiveness in the first half saw Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato go ballistic grabbing 20 kills.

FURIA placed 00 Nation between a rock and a hard place after they won the first half by 11-4, afterwards 00 Nation was not able to establish the momentum to catch up in the scoreline. FURIA showcased an almost perfect CT side to finish Mirage 16-6. KSCERATO showing his true potential in front of the home crowd.

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