The playoff stage of the IEM Rio Major is on the horizon and the teams battling it out for the $500,000 prize have solidified their spot in the final matches of the tournament.
Several heavy hitters have been eliminated, but the strongest in Rio have made their mark. There’s no room for error now; losing a best of three sends players packing and the winners through to the semi-finals.
Teams like FaZe, Team Liquid, and Vitality have been eliminated, leaving room for new teams to etch their name in the CS:GO history books. All the times listed below at in CET.
Here are the brackets for the quarter-finals of the IEM Rio Major:
Bracket A
- 6:00pm Thurs – Outsiders vs. Fnatic
- 9:30pm Thurs – Cloud9 vs. MOUZ
Bracket B
- 6:00pm Fri – Heroic vs. Team Spirit
- 9:30pm Fri – FURIA vs. NAVI
Home crowds will flock to see FURIA make their way through the playoffs and to see the devastatingly powerful NAVI clash to see who progresses to the semi-finals.
The next matchup will feature the underdog Fnatic squad with Major veteran Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson hoping to relive his glory days against the CIS titan-killers Outsiders.
Bracket B of the IEM Rio Major playoffs will start with the rag-tag, international MOUZ squad against the in-form Cloud9 roster. The start of the Challengers stage was a shaky endeavor for C9, but now, they’re tearing through players left, right, and center.
The final match of the quarter-finals will showcase the top Danish squad, Heroic against the underdog Spirit roster.
Each team is on a tightrope, with one slip-up sending them home. The playoffs have a collection of experienced rosters, with a handful of inexperienced young guns ready to leave their imprint on Counter-Strike.