The IEM Rio Champions Stage kicked off with a matchup between Outsiders and Fnatic. With the experience advantage of Outsiders and their uniquely unstoppable playstyle, they were the clear favourites. But nobody could’ve predicted the sheer dominance they showed on the server. They are the first team through to the IEM Rio Semi-Finals.
“I think he has a good balance between leadership and focusing on himself.”
Dastan on Jame’s Performance
Fiery Fame on Inferno
The game kicked off with Outsiders on the Inferno defense. While usually not a great map for Outsiders, they got off on the right foot in this game as they completely shut down Fnatic’s attempt at a B-split in the pistol. Fnatic got a round past the defense as they managed to avoid the overstacked A site in a bonus round, but fame’s heroics kept Outsiders in the game. Towards the middle of the half, with both teams having exhausted 2 timeouts, Outsiders came into their own and ran away to a 10-5 lead, not giving Fnatic any relief throughout the half.
As the second half started off, Fnatic found their flow in the defense and tied the game up at 10-10. But that was where Fnatic faltered, allowing Outsiders to take the lead once more. Their slow style was too much for Fnatic to handle and the CIS squad closed the map out 16-11.
The 19-year-old rifler, fame, was under question before this match with some thinking that he might falter under pressure. But with clutches and multi kills all across the map, he proved essential to the Outsiders performance and topped the server in map 1.
Map 2 – Unstoppable Outsiders take over Mirage to lock in IEM Rio Semi-Finals
What put a nail in Fnatic’s coffin was the tremendous T-side Outsiders put up on Mirage. That performance, built on the back of FL1T and n0rb3r7, put Outsiders in the IEM Rio Semi-Finals. And it all started with a 1vs2 clutch in the force buy that kicked off a 6-round streak from the CIS squad. Fnatic stayed in the half till 6-5, but Outsiders took 4 more rounds away from the Defense to secure a dominant 9-6 half.
In the second half, Fnatic could barely find an edge in. Though they won the force buy, they could not close down the rounds even though they brought it down to 1v1 and 1v2 clutches. Outsiders shut down their attack at every step as they took the series 16-8.
Who will join Outsiders in the Semi-Finals?
After that performance, Outsiders cement themselves as a favorite in this topsy-turvy major. With their next opponent likely to be Cloud9, they have an actual shot at making another finals. Jame and Qikert back in the finals, that would be a sight to behold.
You can stay updated with all the latest IEM Rio Major live scores here.
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