Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's men threw away an 11-4 lead on Overpass before being relegated to the 0-1 pool.

FaZe's Major title defense started poorly as they conceded a significant CT side lead to Cloud9. The Russian squad executed a fantastic defensive comeback on Overpass (16-14) to edge the map and claim their first best-of-one win at the event as well as a spot in the 1-0 club.

Meanwhile on the secondary stream, BIG faced off against the Danish core of Sprout. Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali's team was the surprise package of the European RMR, but failed to bring their momentum into the match on Vertigo (11-16) where the Germans comfortably took the victory on the CT side.

nafany led by example with a 1.85 CT rating during Cloud9's comeback

FaZe started their Major campaign with a fantastic defensive half on Overpass against Cloud9, started off by a Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard quad-kill in the opening pistol round which gave the early momentum to the European mix. The Norwegian veteran continued to top the scoreboard with a 2.06 rating an 19-6 K-D as he propelled his team to a dominant 11-4 lead before the break.

Cloud9 struggled on the T side, but salvaged three of the last four rounds to bring some momentum into the second half. Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov started to find impact on the CT side and allowed the Russian squad to claim eight consecutive rounds to claim the lead and steal the map 16-14.

IEM Rio Major 2022Best of 1 FaZeMatchpage 14 16 5th November 2022 Cloud9 14Overpass 16

BIG and Sprout fought a closely contested half on Vertigo, and it was the Danish core to barely come out ahead with an 8-7 lead. Laurențiu "⁠lauNX⁠" Țârlea was absolutely on fire for the defenders, but had to face off against Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische who led the way for the Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's men with a 1.58 rating and 109.1 ADR.

The Germans claimed their second pistol round of the match before cruising to a 16-11 victory on the back of two excellent performances by their in-game leader and Elias "⁠s1n⁠" Stein on the CT side.

IEM Rio Major 2022Best of 1 SproutMatchpage 11 16 5th November 2022 BIG 11Vertigo 16 Group Legends Stage 1W - 0L MOUZ Spirit BIG Cloud9 0W - 0L Ninjas in Pyjamas Natus Vincere ENCE HEROIC Outsiders FURIA Vitality fnatic 0W - 1L FaZe Sprout Bad News Eagles Liquid Sprout #30 Ismail 'refrezh' AliFritz 'slaxz-' DietrichRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossVictor 'Staehr' StaehrLaurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 27 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1983 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.70 Florian 'syrsoN' Rische Age: 26 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1765 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Ismail 'refrezh' Ali Age: 24 Team: Sprout Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1039 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Håvard 'rain' Nygaard Age: 28 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1654 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Elias 's1n' Stein Age: 20 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 256 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.64 BIG #15 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaElias 's1n' Stein Laurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea Age: 17 Team: Sprout Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 321 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 919 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.69 Cloud9 #5 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 32 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.91 Maps played: 2055 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.69