Despite a rocky start at the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR, Cloud9 has shown impressive resilience in their journey to the IEM Rio semi-finals.
The Russian team faced a demanding schedule, with less than 48 hours between their loss to FaZe in Copenhagen and their opening game in Rio against MIBR. However, they quickly overcame MIBR and earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory against OG to qualify for the playoffs.
FURIA, the hometown favorites, couldn’t maintain their lead on Inferno and eventually conceded their map pick to Cloud9. Though FURIA gained a substantial lead on Vertigo, the Russian team, led by Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov, made a remarkable comeback on the Ancient decider, securing a 16-12 victory and a place in the semi-finals.
Looking back at their performance on Vertigo, Cloud9’s Abay “HObbit” Khassenov expressed the need for improvement, stating that they must adapt and fix their strategies to outwit opponents. Cloud9 will have two days to prepare for their semi-final match on Saturday against the winner of the Vitality and BIG quarter-final.
Prior to their success in Rio, Cloud9’s journey began with a disappointing showing in the Last Chance Qualifier, losing to Monte, G2, and ENCE. They managed to secure wins against B8 and BIG, but were unable to defeat FaZe in the Major-qualifying matchup. The Russian team’s tenacity since arriving in Brazil has secured them a top-four finish at the very least.
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