Imperial eSports vs. Cloud9: IEM Rio Major 2022 match analysis

Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major is the second big Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament of the season, which is held under the auspices of Valve. The dream of every esportsman is to break through to the main stage and, if not triumphantly win this tournament, and then at least prove himself in the arena against the strongest teams of the entire planet.

Today Cyber-sport.io will analyze the match between two teams of Imperial Esports-Cloud9. It is worth saying in advance that this game was a worthy meeting, with additional rounds, with its own drama and triumph, in general, this game had everything that we love in CS.

Each team has its own unique story before this match. Cloud9 - the team that everyone considered one of the favorites of the entire tournament, the team that throughout the year does not fall below the TOP-8 tournaments in which it participates and dreams of winning the major, wants to help Hobbit do it for the second time and forever write their name in the history of CS:GO. And these very favorites of the tournament, unexpectedly for all the fans, start with two losses in the group and fight the Imperial Esports team for relegation, with a team that certainly did not deserve to be relegated. 

First map - Overpass 

The Imperial team started on the offensive side, while the guys from Cloud9 started on the defensive side. The pistol round was not particularly memorable, because it was a classic exit on the B side, where the special forces easily shot all the terrorists and took the first round into their piggy bank, the score was 1-0 in favor of C9. 

The second round tugged a little on the nerves of C9 fans, because the initial force led to the fact that the teams were left in a 3vs3 situation with the bomb planted, but a perfect elimination from C9 and they would not lose anyone in that round, 2-0. Let's skip the semi-economic round from the T side and move on to the first full-fledged weapon round. 

In this round, Imperial decided to play a late one with a move to B, after a couple of thrown grenades and exchanges, the situation again comes down to 3vs3 with 9 seconds left in the round, FalleN puts a bomb, loses one teammate, he is traded, Vini also dies from AWP, which played the most important role in this round, the excellent play of sh1ro. 

Well, after the death of Vini, FalleN remains out of work, 4-0. Further, starting with a score of 5-0, they got together and took five in a row, thereby equalizing the score in rounds. After a couple of minutes, the score will be 7-5, Imperial spend all money and will not keep it for the last round, the score after the first half is 9-6. A good start for the defense side.

The second half was very interesting, Imperial led 12-9, then 15-11, and were one step away from victory, but as you understand, a miracle happened, Hobbit and the company took 4 in a row and moved the game to overtime, where Imperial could no longer resist, great map and final score 19-15. Cloud9 +1 map.

Second map - Vertigo 

Fallen's team will start on the CT side, while Ax1le and company will start on the attack side. The pistol round is a classic entry to B, which was destroyed without much effort by the special forces, only one Vini fell and everyone else survived. Imperial starts with 1-0. They started so confidently that they felt resistance only in the 7th round, where Imperial, having lost two of their players, will not even go for a knockout, they simply decide to save their devices, and the score is 6-1. 

However, that one round was still the only one that C9 won, they lost 1-10 and only turned the game around to finish the half with a decent 5-10 record. After switching sides, the game didn't change much, Imperial continued to smash, reaching a pleasant score of 15-8, but guess what happened next? That's right, a crazy series of rounds, and C9 eventually equalizes! 

Tell us who expected overtimes on the second map, and write in the comments. The overtimes on this map were much cooler than on the first; the teams went toe to toe, constantly catching up with each other, and did not let go until 19-19, where Axel will make a triple kill and Imperial will not return to the game, 22-19, such a tough win for C9.

A tense game and phenomenal CS:GO from two strong teams, I don’t presume to judge who should have gone further, but C9 wanted more today. Thanks to FalleN for the fantastic game and team he put together; do you think he'll still play or was that his last dance? Share your minds with Cyber-sport.io. Subscribe and follow the latest eSports news!