Rio Major Day 3 Preview: GamerLegion vs FURIA and BIG vs 9z

Four teams have had their fates decided already, but there are still fourteen looking to progress further at the Rio Major

The Challengers Stage of the IEM Rio 2022 Major is heating up, with the 14 remaining CSGO teams set to clash for further spots in the Legends Stage and avoid elimination in the third day of competition.

Only six of the lineups from 9z, BIG, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, FNATIC, FURIA, GamerLegion, Grayhound, IHC, OG, Outsiders and Vitality can continue their Major runs into Legends Stage.

Both MOUZ and Bad News Eagles were first to qualify previously. Impressive showings from the young blood on MOUZ, xertioN, torzsi and frozen, were especially noteworthy as the trio outperformed all of their opponents on Fnatic. Bad News Eagles soared through despite some questions as to how ready the team were, having only played five maps since the previous PGL Major Antwerp earlier this year.

00Nation and Imperial were knocked out after failing to win a single match in their Major runs. This was a disappointment for the Brazilian crowd in attendance, but hometown heroes can be found on FURIA and 9z, who will both be playing important games.

FURIA will take on GamerLegion in their 2-1 match while 9z face a weakened BIG, having to field stand-in s1n from their academy lineup due to faveN suffering from health issues. The full schedule list of matchups for day three can be found below:

Challengers Stage 2-1 Matches and betting odds

BIG vs 9z (1.50 | 2.60)

Outsiders vs FNATIC (2.06 | 1.76)

GamerLegion vs FURIA (2.42 | 1.56)

Challengers Stage 1-2 Matches and odds

OG vs IHC (1.13 | 5.90)

Vitality vs Grayhound (1.04 | 11.50)

Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9 (3.95 | 1.26)

*Odds correct at time of publishing

The final round of Challengers Stage matches for IEM Rio will take place the following day with the remaining six teams. Following big upsets by both Grayhound and IHC earlier in the event, many people with active pick’ems will be eagerly following the last games to keep their Diamond Coin hopes alive.

To get the Diamond Coin for IEM Rio, players need to make five correct predictions in Challengers Stage, Legends Stage and become increasingly accurate for playoffs.