The IEM Rio Major 2022 Legends Stage will begin in the first week of November. Only sixteen teams from around the world will compete to get into the New Champions Stage where a single elimination bracket will decide the fate of everyone.
Both Faze Clan and Navi have the lowest odds to win outright as bet365 gives them 5.50 and 5.00 chances respectively. While Faze Clan bested Navi in the previous Major held in Antwerp in 2-0 sweep, Navi is slightly favored given the current form of Faze.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 28th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
Faze Clan is barely closing their maps at the moment. Far from their usual dominant performances, they almost fell to teams like Complexity during Pro League and despite taking Legends status with a clean 3-0, they were barely beating relatively weaker teams like Fnatic and GamerLegion, even getting pushed to three games by the newly formed Sprout Team.
On the other hand, Navi has been hitting their stride in cruising through RMR Group B with victories over Illuminar, MOUZ, and Outsiders. Star rifler turned IGL electronic has proved that he can both frag as well as call the shots with Navi’s sustained success.
Joining them with Legends status are Heroic, who are slowly incorporating their new addition Jabbi perfectly. Along with the consistent fragging of Stavn and Teses, the Heroic squad, who took fourth place in the last Major, will surely be competitive. New igl Aleksib has certainly made a tremendous impact to NIP as he led them to Legends status in his first stint playing for the Swedish organization.
ENCE, Sprout, and Team Spirit round up the Legend status lineup. All of these three are very unexpected as all three teams have incorporated significant changes to their rosters. They have won their places over the likes of Cloud9 and Vitality who are both in HLTV top 5 during the course of the RMRs.
The Americas will be represented by Team Liquid and Furia. Team Liquid recently announced the official addition of YEKINDAR who have elevated Team Liquid to new heights and is capable of competing against Counter Strike’s best of the best.
Finally, South America will boast Furia as the sole team from the continent where the event is taking place. Furia will be waving the Brazilian flag in front of thousands of their home crowd fans that should give them a boost going forward. Furia is a contender whether they play on their home soil or not, but the Brazilian spirit will surely give them a boost.
While there are eight more teams that will be promoted to Legends status through the Challenger’s stage, the eight already in sitting and waiting promise an exciting, must-watch event when it comes to CS:GO action.
Will a Brazilian squad hoist a trophy in Rio? Or will it belong to someone else?
