Vitality blanks Spirit to win IEM Rio grand final

Team Vitality completed a spotless run through the playoff stage at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio event, defeating Team Spirit 3-0 in the grand final Sunday in Brazil.

Vitality followed 2-0 wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals with their latest shutout to claim the $125,000 first prize. Spirit settled for $50,000 in second place. Team Falcons defeated FURIA 2-0 in another match to determine third place.

Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams began the week with a prize pool of $300,000.

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 were best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

The match was closer than the 3-0 scoreline suggested, at least in the early going. Team Vitality needed overtime for a 16-13 win on Mirage, then took Nuke 13-10 before a 13-5 victory on Dust II to finish off Team Spirit.

Robin "ropz" Kool of Estonia posted 62 kills and a 1.38 match rating to guide Team Vitality. Close behind was Frenchman Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut (59 kills, 1.36 rating).

Team Falcons beat FURIA 13-11 on both Dust II and Mirage in the third-place match. Bosnia and Herzegovina's Nikola "NiKo" Kovac led Team Falcons with 45 kills and had a 1.33 match rating, while teammate Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov of Russia had 42 kills and a 1.37 match rating.

IEM Rio prize pool:

1. $125,000 -- Team Vitality

2. $50,000 -- Team Spirit

3. $30,000 -- Team Falcons

4. $20,000 -- FURIA

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

--Field Level Media