Final CS:GO IEM Rio Major playoff spot goes to Team Spirit

After a grueling best-of-three, the final playoff spot at the CS:GO IEM Rio Major has gone to Team Spirit. The last North American hope in Team Liquid has been eliminated after a rocky road to the Champions Stage. Team Liquid had a few opportunities to qualify for the playoffs but dropped two crucial best-of-threes against CIS squads. Both NAVI and Team Spirit proved too big a beast for Liquid to conquer and sent them home.

Here’s a full breakdown of the final game of the CS:GO IEM Rio Major Legends Stage.

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Team Spirit takes down Team Liquid for the last CS:GO IEM Rio Major Champions Stage spot

.@Team__Spirit play spoiler to @TeamLiquidCS, taking them down 2-1 to secure the final spot in the #IEM Rio Champions Stage!

16-10 Vertigo
12-16 Mirage
16-13 Ancient pic.twitter.com/ZNrz7iGYS0

— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) November 9, 2022

Map summary:

• Vertigo (Team Spirit’s pick): 16-10 to Spirit
• Mirage (Team Liquid’s pick): 12-16 to Liquid
• Ancient (Decider): 16-13 to Spirit

Right from the map veto, Team Spirit seemed to have a punish pick ready in the form of Vertigo. Team Liquid has looked shaky on the map from day one and Team Spirit capitalized. Starting off on the T side, Team Liquid won the pistol and the subsequent conversions. However, Team Spirit quickly got their economy in place and rolled Team Liquid for a 10-5 half in their favor. Swapping to the CT side, Liquid looked like they were being out called and out fragged by Chopper and w0nderful respectively. The map ultimately went Spirit’s way 16-10.

Team Liquid looked a lot better on their pick of Mirage. After posting a stellar T side with a dominant 10-5 scoreline. However, Team Spirit showcased a bit of resilience to draw the scoreline back to 11-10 at one point. Eventually, Team Liquid managed to pull it across the line with a 16-12 scoreline thanks to map MVP, Josh ‘oSee’ Ohm, and his 27 frags.

Unfortunately for the North American squad, this was where the good news ended. Limping out the gate, Liquid only managed to get seven CT rounds on Ancient, which is arguably a heavily CT-sided map. Not one to give up easily, the North American squad put up a fight till the bitter end, even taking the lead at 13-12. However, 13 would be all that they got as Team Spirit won four consecutive rounds to close the series.

The tournament now moves on to the Champions Stage which will begin on November 10, 2022. The remainder of the major will be streamed live at twitch.tv/esl_csgo and the many community streams on the platform.