Outsiders swept Heroic 2-0 in Sunday’s grand final to win the Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major in Rio de Janeiro.
Outsiders hung on for an opening 16-12 victory on Mirage before blasting Heroic 16-5 on Overpass to clinch the title after four days of Champions Stage action.
The champions won $500,000, 4,000 BLAST Premier ranking points and automatic berths in the BLAST Premier World Final, scheduled for Dec. 14-18 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, set for Jan. 31-Feb. 12 in Poland.
Russia’s Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev of Outsiders led all players with 52 kills and a plus-21 kills-to-deaths differential. Teammate and countryman Petr “fame” Bolyshev had 44 kills on a plus-16 K-D, and Dzhami “Jame” Ali, also of Russia, added 37 kills and a plus-14.
Rene “TeSeS” Madsen led the all-Danish Heroic lineup with 35 kills. Heroic settled for a $170,000 second prize.
The $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 24 teams — 16 from Europe, six from the Americas and two from Asia-Pacific. Eight teams were seeded straight into the second round, called the Legends Stage. The other 16 teams competed in the Challengers Stage for the final eight berths in the Legends Stage.
The Challenge Stage and the Legends Stage used the Swiss system, in which teams are reseeded after each round, with winners facing off in “high” matches the following round, and losers advancing to “low” matches. Early rounds consisted of a single map, while all elimination and advancement matches were best-of-three.
The eight-team Champions Stage consisted of a single-elimination bracket with all matches best-of-three.
Intel Extreme Masters XVII Rio Major prize pool:
1. $500,000, 4,000 BLAST Premier points — Outsiders
2. $170,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points — Heroic
3-4. $80,000, 1,250 BLAST Premier points — MOUZ, FURIA Esports
5-8. $45,000, 375 BLAST Premier points — Cloud9, Fnatic, Team Spirit, Natus Vincere
9-11. $20,000 — Team Liquid, BIG, ENCE
12-14. $20,000 — Sprout, Team Vitality, Bad News Eagles
15-16. $20,000 — FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas
17-19. $10,000 — 9z Team, Team GamerLegion, OG
20-22. $10,000 — Evil Geniuses, Grayhound Gaming, IHC Esports
23-24. $10,000 — Imperial Esports, 00 Nation
–Field Level Media
