IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR kicks off with 16 teams fighting for the 6 spots at the Major. After an amazing EPL season where all 3 NA teams looked solid, and the Major being in the heart of South America, the Americas teams are looking to perform.
Liquid is by far the best team in NA this season. Ever since the Yekindar addition, the team has been stellar. And after their EPL Grand Finals appearance, they are easily a top 5 team in the world. Taking the top seed at the IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR should be a walk in the park for them.
With the Major being held in Rio, the pressure is on all the Brazilian representatives to perform beyond their limits. While MIBR is the most legendary brand in the country, they are far from the front of the pack in terms of performance. Furia’s two big guns, KSCERATO and yuurih continue to be world-class riflers that keep Furia in every single game. The team is Brazil’s best and has been for almost 4 years.
The fan favourites though are definitely Imperial. What started off as “the last dance” has become yet another Fallen pet project. FNX is no longer on the roster and has been replaced by chelo from MIBR. The team finished second at ESL Challengers Melbourne behind paiN gaming, but one must expect these veterans to perform better at the RMR than they did last major.
Then there’s TACO’s team, 00nation. Unlike the others, TACO has almost always tried to move forward in his career. First with the move to Liquid, and then becoming an IGL when Brazil needed it the most. Not only has he moulded dumau and l4tto into solid players, but he has managed to extract the full potential from try, something most IGLs have failed to accomplish. Along with coldzera, the team is looking to cause some damage at IEM Road to Rio Americas RMR.
And finally, we come to paiN gaming. The team that once housed saffee, managed to land on their feet even after the star awper departed to Furia. While initially looking lacklustre, with the addition of zevy and skullz the team has found their groove again and was able to beat Imperial in a LAN grand finals. They have made the run-through an RMR before, they can surely do it again.
Complexity’s EPL group stage has instilled hope in the hearts of NA fans. Beating ENCE and Astralis in Bo3 matches was on paper an impossible task. But the halzerk-infused Complexity managed to pull through, giving us two NA squads in the playoffs for the first time in ages.
And that NA luck carried on with EG, who picked up 2 key wins in the group stage and were in contention for a playoff spot till the very last game of the group.
paiN zevy – the Brazilian awper has been tearing it up in paiN so far. Averaging a 1.23 rating across his tenure in the team, he is the player to watch on paiN.
00nation try – The development of try has been the biggest feather in TACO’s cap. The Argentinian who used to dominate the SA scene has finally replicated that performance on the international stage.
IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR B kicks off on October 4 with a match between Bad News Eagles and Eternal Fire being the first on the docket.
