Team Spirit, Team Vitality punch tickets to IEM Rio semifinals

Field Level Media|published: Fri 17th April, 22:07 2026

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

Team Spirit and Team Vitality kicked off the playoff stage at the $300,000 Intel Extreme Masters Rio event with quarterfinal victories Friday, moving into the final four in Brazil.

Spirit blanked MOUZ 2-0 and Vitality did the same to Natus Vincere. While the losing sides were eliminated, Spirit will meet Team Falcons and Vitality will oppose FURIA in the semifinals Saturday.

Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams are competing this week 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 advanced 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.

In the single-elimination playoffs, all matches are best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

On Friday, Spirit defeated MOUZ 13-5 on Dust II and 13-8 on Mirage. Andrey "tN1R" Tatarinovich of Belarus paced the winning side with 39 kills and a 1.86 match rating. Dorian "xertioN" Berman of Israel had 25 kills to lead MOUZ.

Meanwhile, Vitality rolled past NaVi 13-4 on Mirage and 13-6 on Dust II. Frenchman Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut starred for Vitality with 44 kills and a 1.92 rating. Ukraine's Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov had a team-high 25 kills for NaVi.

Play continues Saturday with the two semifinal matches:

--Team Falcons vs. Team Spirit

--FURIA vs. Team Vitality

IEM Rio prize pool:

1. $125,000

2. $50,000

3. $30,000

4. $20,000

5-6. $12,500 -- MOUZ, Natus Vincere

7-8. $7,000 -- G2 Esports, Aurora Gaming

9-12. $5,000 -- RED Canids, 3DMAX, B8, HOTU

13-16. $4,000 -- Gentle Mates, Team Liquid, Passion UA, Legacy