No sooner had The International 2022 ended in Singapore than the world championship for another esports game begins in another part of the world. High-powered teams in the popular shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will rush into the battle for the title of the best team on the planet in the IEM Rio Major 2022. The main CS:GO tournament will be held in Brazil. 24 top clubs from all continents will fight for the title of world champions and a prize pool of $1.5 million.
Format of IEM Rio Major
The CS:GO World Championship takes place in several stages. According to the results of the RMR regional qualifying tournaments, all participants are divided into three categories of eight teams:
- contenders
- challengers
- legends
16 participants from the first and second groups entered the fight on October 31st. As a result of these matches, the top eight clubs will advance to the next stage of the major.
The preliminary stage, called The Challengers Stage, will be held according to the Swiss system. The previous round’s winners will play against the winners, and the losers will meet with the losers. Teams should win three matches to continue the struggle for the main prize. The team that loses three matches stops its participation in the event.
The second stage called The Legends Stage is played according to the same scheme. Again 16 teams (8 winners from the first stage and 8 “Legends”) meet on playing fields. Matches are to be held from 5 to 8 November.
The main CS:GO tournament will end at the Rio Olympic Arena!
The closed stadium is ready to accept up to 18,000 spectators and fans. 8 teams will compete for the title of champions in the standard playoff format from November 10 to 13.
Participants of the Intel Extreme Masters Rio CS:GO Major
24 teams will take part in the esports competition. The current winners of the FaZe Clan tournament, along with NAVI and the American Team Liquid, are the main contenders for the title, but they will miss the first days of the championship and start playing right from the second stage.
The same honor was given to Team Spirit. The club of Leonid chopper Vishnyakov showed a bright game at the qualifying RMR event and is going to be a serious opponent for other participants.
Ninjas in Pajamas from Sweden, Danish Heroic, and Sprout, as well as the European ENCE mix, were also able to enter the “Legends”.
Other promising teams include the French-Danish Team Vitality, the new roster of the American Evil Geniuses, and a bright MOUZ team from Europe.
Where and How to Make Bets on IEM Matches?
eSports bettors who follow the tournament closely can bet on GG Bet. This bookmaker offers the best odds as well as live matches. Fans can watch the broadcasts for free and cheer on their favorite teams as well as make predictions. To bet on the GGBet website, bettors need to register and make a deposit. The bookmaker also offers a special bonus for the event.
The Schedule of Upcoming Matches
Many games of The Challengers Stage have already ended. For instance, the first-round and several second-round games were played on October 31.
- The 3rd round is scheduled on November 1.
- Three matches of the 4th round will be held on November 2. Matches for passing or elimination will be played.
- Three matches of the 5th round will be held on November 3. Here, matches between 2-2 teams will be played.
- Matches of the 1st round will be held in the best-of-1 format (one map), while all series for the passing or elimination from the tournament will be in the best-of-3 format (up to two wins).
Favorites and Rewards
According to bookmakers’ forecasts, the main favorites of the tournament are FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, Team Vitality, Cloud9, and Heroic.
The prize pool of the competition is 1.5 million dollars. The winner will receive 500 thousand dollars and an invitation to IEM Katowice 2023 and BLAST Premier Final 2022.
So, just about a decade is left until we’ll know the holder of the title of the World Champion in CS:GO.
