IEM Rio Major will start soon, and the European teams that will participate are decided after two European Regional Major Rankings. FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Natus Vincere and ENCE emerged victorious together with 12 more teams that made it to the Rio Major.
The winners of these two Regional Major Rankings tournaments will face the teams that made it to Rio Major through their region's own RMRs. An amazing competition is coming, so buckle up! Let's take a look at what happened at European RMR A & B.
European RMR A
FaZe Clan and Ninjas in Pyjamas found a fast qualification, defeating teams like GamerLegion, Fnatic, Astralis and Bad News Eagles on their way. The final teams that they defeated, Sprout and Cloud9, managed to follow them to Rio after winning their next game.
Sprout and Cloud9's incredible performances stirred the competition, and when forZe faced Astralis in an elimination match, we knew that it's going to be a very bad tournament for some of the most strongest CS:GO teams. Astralis was eliminated by foRze, but they were not alone in the disappointing teams column.
G2 Esports didn't hesitate to lose a game against GamerLegion, missing the chance of Rio Major and heading back home. At that point, only forZe, B8, 1win, Fnatic, GamerLegion and Bad News Eagles were alive.
Following Team Spirit who defeated them earlier, Bad News Eagles crushed forZe, kicking them out and securing sixth place. GamerLegion found an easy victory against B8 to participate in a Major tournament for the first time in their history. Finally, Fnatic defeated 1win and made it to the Major as the eight place.
G2 Esports, Astralis and forZe definitely want to forget about this RMR as soon as possible. They will probably focus on next year. Eternal Fire's Turkish super team benched MAJ3R right after their elimination, promoting xfl0ud back to the roster. These shocking results at European RMR A might bring even more unexpected changes in the future.
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European RMR B
Natus Vincere and ENCE left their mark with 4-0 runs at European RMR B. NAVI defeated Illuminar, MOUZ and Outsiders to start the Rio Major in a preferable spot, and ENCE followed by defeating HEET, Falcons and BIG. They definitely deserve recognition, NAVI's round difference is at +31 while ENCE's is at +27.
OG, Heroic and Team Vitality followed them with 3-1: Although MOUZ defeated OG in the first game, they were able to overcome Illuminar, Falcons and Outsiders to make it to Rio Major. Heroic defeated SAW, Sangal and BIG while losing one to Outsiders, Vitality defeated FANTASY, Monte and MOUZ while dropping one to BIG.
In the end, there were only six teams left: BIG, MOUZ, Outsiders, Team Falcons, Sangal Esports and K23. Outsiders were able to defeat Team Falcons confidently with 2-0, kicking them out of Major contention and taking the eighth place.
The rest of the games were more chaotic. Sangal Esports forced MOUZ to a third map and tried honorably as a less-experienced team, while MOUZ secured the ticket to Brazil. Finally, BIG also defeated K23 2-1, making it to yet another Major with this long-standing organization.
With some of the favourites being eliminated in European RMR A and teams like Vitality coming with good forms, I think it will be a great competition in Rio and can't wait for it to start!
