EG and Liquid secure IEM Rio Major spots

The two North American heavyweights are the first Americas RMR teams to advance to the Major.

Liquid and Evil Geniuses progressed through the North America RMR with a flawless 3-0 record, booking their place at the Rio Major after beating 9z and Complexity, respectively.

After getting through the Swiss system, the two 3-0 teams will battle for the Legends Stage spot in the first-place place decider game, coming at 16:30 on Sunday. Four more spots in Rio are yet to be decided in the Americas RMR, which will go to the three 3-1 teams and the final to the 3-2 team who wins the sixth-place decider.

Liquid made it through to the IEM Rio Major

The series between Evil Geniuses and 9z started on Overpass, the pick of the North Americans. They started off their map choice with a pistol round win, but 9z fought back quickly by winning the first gun round. A triple-kill by Jadan "⁠HexT⁠" Postma got his team back to winning ways, and they made the most of the switch of momentum by racing up to a 10-1 lead, with HexT and Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte dominating the 9z defense. Evil Geniuses closed out the half with a dominant 13-2 scoreline, as they moved on to the CT side.

Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta secured the pistol round for the North American side, putting them up to map point in the process. They lost the immediate force buy and then spent a couple of rounds getting control of their economy, but closed out the map 16-5 without issues, moving the series on to Dust2.

The second map began with Evil Geniuses racing to the lead, only to once again lose the first gun round. This time, however, 9z were able to string more than one round together, going on a massive eight-round streak to dominate the first half, which ended 12-3 in their favor.

Evil Geniuses found themselves 15-5 down at the start of the second half, faced with a mammoth task of bringing the game back against 10 map points. They gave a good account of themselves, winning six in a row before 9z finally closed out the map, with Lucas "⁠nqz⁠" Soares getting a triple on the A site.

Mirage was the decider, where Evil Geniuses took early control of the game after their good start got them a 5-3 lead. 9z won a few rounds on the back of individual plays, such as a 2vs4 won by Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia and Nicolás "⁠buda⁠" Kramer and David "⁠dav1deuS⁠" Tapia Maldonado's quad-kill on an eco round, but otherwise struggled to stop the T side, losing the first half 5-10.

9z started the comeback attempt early in the first half, coming within one round of their opponents at 12-11. Once there, it was rookie HexT who stepped up to the plate with two kills through smoke to turn the momentum of the game and get Evil Geniuses to series point, which the North Americans converted and secured a 16-13 win.

IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMRBest of 3 Evil GeniusesMatchpage 2 1 6th October 2022 9z 16Overpass 5 11Dust2 16 16Mirage 13

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jadan 'HexT' PostmaHexT	67 - 42	+25	85.4	1.30
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	52 - 52	0	76.7	1.10
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	46 - 41	+5	49.4	1.02
Timothy 'autimatic' Taautimatic	47 - 54	-7	76.1	1.01
Sanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovneaLaN	41 - 51	-10	67.8	0.98

9z	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonadodav1deuS	63 - 55	+8	87.4	1.17
Lucas 'nqz' Soaresnqz	48 - 48	0	71.4	1.01
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalezmax	49 - 51	-2	70.7	1.00
Franco 'dgt' Garciadgt	49 - 47	+2	69.5	0.98
Nicolás 'buda' Kramerbuda	30 - 54	-24	48.4	0.65

Complexity came out the gates swinging on Inferno, winning the pistol and converting it to a 3-0 lead. Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski stepped up in the first gun round with a triple-kill, with the scores quickly tied up at 3-3. Liquid continued to dominate, running away to a four-round lead before EliGE provided the highlight of the map, winning a 1vs3 clutch to keep their streak going. Complexity got just one round before halftime, going into the second half behind by seven.

Liquid started the second half with an aggressive play in the pistol, winning it and getting themselves to map point with a 15-4 scoreline. A late resurgence by Complexity got them slightly closer, but they weren't able to stop Liquid from closing out the map with a 16-9 scoreline.

The first half of Overpass was a close-fought affair, with Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli and Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery winning a 1vs2 each in the opening exchanges. Complexity kept the lead for a while before Liquid stabilized and retook the lead, eventually closing out the first half 8-7.

A second-half pistol put the EPL S16 finalists in a strong position, made even stronger by Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm's 1vs3 clutch against an eco, which put Liquid 14-7 up. A simply breathtaking half by floppy followed, with the 22-year-old winning clutches, finding openings, and single-handedly stopping the offense with his star performances. He carried Complexity to a nine-round streak to close out the game 16-14, finishing the map on an incredible 38 kills.

The decider of Ancient started with Complexity racing to a 6-1 lead, no doubt riding the momentum of their incredible comeback on the previous map. Liquid didn't give up, however, breaking their opponent's economy to start clawing back at the advantage. Their seven-round streak got them back into the lead, with the scoreline standing at 8-7 in their favor.

Moving to the favored side of the map, Liquid put together a flawless display, winning all eight rounds in a row to close out the game 16-7. EliGE put his disappointing EPL final performance behind him, leading the way with a 1.41 rating in the series.

IEM Road to Rio 2022 Americas RMRBest of 3 ComplexityMatchpage 1 2 6th October 2022 Liquid 9Inferno 16 16Overpass 14 7Ancient 16

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	73 - 50	+23	93.7	1.28
Justin 'FaNg' CoakleyFaNg	46 - 55	-9	67.4	0.86
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	41 - 63	-22	66.4	0.77
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærlihallzerk	39 - 60	-21	53.2	0.73
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	42 - 67	-25	60.3	0.72

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	75 - 50	+25	95.9	1.41
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	62 - 42	+20	80.1	1.38
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	58 - 44	+14	76.6	1.20
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	56 - 56	0	81.1	1.17
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	44 - 51	-7	71.9	1.00

Group Swiss 3W - 0L Liquid Evil Geniuses 2W - 1L FURIA 00NATION Complexity paiN ATK 9z 1W - 2L Imperial Nouns MIBR O PLANO 0W - 2L ARCTIC TeamOne Isurus Infinity Josh 'oSee' Ohm Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 1140 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 25 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1649 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 9z #50 David 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoFranco 'dgt' GarciaNicolás 'buda' KramerLucas 'nqz' SoaresMaximiliano 'max' Gonzalez Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 776 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Ricky 'floppy' Kemery Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 843 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.66 Lucas 'nqz' Soares Age: 17 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 213 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.59 Franco 'dgt' Garcia Age: 21 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 459 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.61 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 24 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1183 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.67 David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado Age: 22 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 353 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67 Evil Geniuses #22 Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovTimothy 'autimatic' TaSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJadan 'HexT' Postma Jadan 'HexT' Postma Age: 20 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 528 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmKeith 'NAF' MarkovicMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Complexity #17 Michael 'Grim' WinceRicky 'floppy' KemeryJustin 'FaNg' CoakleyJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouHåkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Nicolás 'buda' Kramer Age: 19 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 70 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.70 Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Age: 26 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1189 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67