Five teams open with sweeps at $300K IEM Rio event

Field Level Media|published: Mon 13th April, 21:21 2026

A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home. Jordan Woodruff

Team Vitality, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, FURIA and Aurora Gaming opened with sweeps in Groups A and B on the opening day of group play Monday at the $300,000 Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2026 tournament in Brazil.

G2 Esports, Natus Vincere and MOUZ also posted victories Monday.

Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams are competing in this week's competition for a top prize of $125,000.

The double-elimination group stage began with two groups of eight teams, with all matches best-of-three. The group winners advance to the playoff semifinals, with the group runners-up entering the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams entering the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoffs start Friday with all matches best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

In Group A's upper-bracket quarterfinals, Team Vitality swept Red Canids, Team Spirit followed suit against Team Liquid and Team Falcons did the same to 3DMAX. G2 Esports fell behind Gentle Mates, which opened with a 13-8 win on Inferno, but rebounded with wins on Mirage (13-8) and Overpass (13-3) to clinch the match.

In Group B's upper-bracket quarterfinals, FURIA swept Passion UA and Aurora Gaming swept HOTU. Natus Vincere opened against B8 with a 13-0 victory on Ancient, but B8 forced a decisive third game with a 13-4 win on Inferno. Natus Vincere then secured the match with a 13-5 triumph on Dust II.

Also in Group B, MOUZ lost the opener to Legacy 13-9 on Dust II, but rebounded with victories on Inferno (13-10) and Mirage (13-4) to reach the upper-bracket semifinals.

The tournament continues Tuesday with eight more matches:

Group A upper-bracket semifinals:

--Team Vitality vs. G2 Esports

--Team Spirit vs. Team Falcons

Group A lower-bracket quarterfinals:

--Red Canids vs. Gentle Mates

--Team Liquid vs. 3DMAX

Group B upper-bracket semifinals:

--FURIA vs. Natus Vincere

--Aurora Gaming vs. MOUZ

Group B lower-bracket quarterfinals:

--Passion UA vs. B8