The RMRs have finished with a series of upsets leaving deadly rosters like G2 and Astralis in the dust, with the Challengers stage featuring some new squads to test the top dogs. Unexpected rosters like GamerLegion and Bad News Eagles pushed the top teams to their limits, forcing their way through to the Challengers stage.
Rio’s in for a big selection of exciting matchups, all battling it out to make it to the champions stage for the final series of games before the playoffs.
The Counter-Strike Major has a whopping $1.25 million prize pool, with 16 teams eventually making it through to see who comes out on top.
Before we even get excited about the prospect of the main event, teams have to trek it through the Challengers stage.
Here are all the opening matchups for the IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers Stage:
- OG vs. Greyhound Gaming
- Vitality vs. Imperial
- EG vs. IHC
- Cloud 9 vs. Fnatic
- BIG vs. FURIA
- Bad News Eagles vs. 00 NATION
- MOUZ vs. Outsiders
- 9z vs. GamerLegion
The first matches will commence on Oct. 31 and continue through to Nov. 3. All Counter-Strike teams that have three wins, will progress to the next stage of the major, with all the others being eliminated from the Rio tournament.
