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Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek and company continue an impressive run of form that began at the RMR in Malta.

9z have sent hometown heroes Imperial down to the 0-2 pool of the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage, steamrolling through the CT side of Mirage before eventually closing out the map in the second half. Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's troops will head into day two of the Major with it all to play for, just one best-of-three separating them from elimination and the chance to continue playing in hopes of making it out of the group.

Meanwhile, GamerLegion scored an upset victory over Vitality in the 1-0 matches, trouncing the French-Danish combine with a strong showing on Vertigo. The siuhy-led squad continue to impress after coming together just three months ago, already having beaten G2 and pushed FaZe to the limit at the RMR and now making it to the qualifying matches for the Legends Stage after day one in Rio.

dgt topped the board for 9z with a 1.21 rating

Imperial kicked off the first three rounds of Mirage with man advantages, but failed to convert their leverage into round wins as 9z recovered and took the lead. Similar situations unfolded as the first half carried on, 9z either repeatedly recovering from losing an early pick, or completely dominating the round from start to finish to run up a domineering 13-2 lead by halftime.

The Brazilian fans were given a treat in the second half pistol courtesy of FalleN, who scored an ace with the Dualies to much applause. It seemed as if momentum could be on Imperial's side from that moment on, with the team adding another five rounds to their tally in rather one-sided fashion, but 9z finally put a halt to the streak with two rounds of their own to attain match point.

A heroic quad kill from FalleN helped to stall out Imperial's execution for a brief moment longer, but 9z managed to take things over the line shortly after to cast the Brazilian team down to the 0-2 pool.

IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers StageBest of 1 9zMatchpage 16 11 1st November 2022 Imperial 16Mirage 11

Vitality got off on the right foot on Vertigo, running up a 6-0 lead on the CT side. Everything changed after a timeout from GamerLegion came through, and suddenly it was the underdogs who were dictating the pace, relentless aggression completely shutting Vitality out of the remainder of the half for a 9-6 lead.

Vitality added another three rounds to their tally following a pistol win at the start of the second half, but were again put on the back foot by Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand and siuhy. The pair led the charge in closing out the game for their team and conceding just one additional round in the process, leaving Vitality reeling following the rather one-sided defeat.

IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers StageBest of 1 VitalityMatchpage 10 16 1st November 2022 GamerLegion 10Vertigo 16 Group Challengers Stage 2W - 0L Bad News Eagles GamerLegion MOUZ 1W - 0L OG fnatic 1W - 1L FURIA Vitality Evil Geniuses BIG 9z Outsiders 0W - 1L Cloud9 Grayhound 0W - 2L IHC Imperial 00NATION FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Imperial #18 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Vitality #2 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek Age: 20 Team: GamerLegion Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 559 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Age: 31 Team: Imperial Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1610 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.60 Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand Age: 25 Team: GamerLegion Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1089 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.63 GamerLegion #25 Kamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' IvanNicolas 'Keoz' DgusIsak 'isak' Fahlén G2 #6 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov 9z #28 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer