Natus Vincere overcome MOUZ in IEM Rio 2024 Grand Final
24 October 2024
About ten days ago, we wrote an article about the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Rio 2024 in the build-up to one of Brazil’s (and South America’s) premier Counter-Strike event, and a major event in the world of Counter-Strike and international esports overall. We introduced the qualified teams and briefly went over the tournament set-up, which largely followed a Best-of-3 format. IEM Rio 2024 kicked off on Friday, October 11th, and by Sunday, October 13th, it was Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere (often referred to as simply NAVI) who crowned themselves Major champions once again.
Group A runners-up
The Intel Extreme Masters 2024 in Rio de Janeiro started with two groups, each consisting of eight teams. The opening matches were all played in a Best-of-1 format, while all the other matches during the event used a Best-of-3 format. The Grand Final was the only match to be decided in a Best-of-5 format.
Eventual champions Natus Vincere were slotted into Group A, together with other big names like Team Liquid and home side FURIA Esports, amongst others. The Ukrainians got off to a good start against Brazilian side Imperial Esports, beating them 13-2 in the opening match of the IEM Rio 2024. NAVI then advanced to the Group A Upper Bracket Semifinals, where they disposed of Team Liquid in three games, thanks to a convincing comeback after losing the first map (Inferno).
The Group A Upper Bracket Final was between NAVI and FURIA Esports, neither of which had lost a game up until that point. The Brazilians were clearly better prepared for the clash as they made quick work of it: 2-0. NAVI got a lifeline though, as both finalists from the upper brackets in Group A and Group B qualified for the Playoffs. This meant that both NAVI and FURIA progressed, together with German organization MOUZ (Group A Lower Bracket champion), French side Team Vitality and Norwegian esports organization HEROIC (Group B Upper Bracket finalists), and Russian team Virtus-pro (Group B Lower Bracket champion).
Incredible comeback to seal victory
Funnily enough, neither of the Group Stage champions would end up making it to the IEM Rio 2024 Grand Final. FURIA fell in the Playoff Semifinals against MOUZ, while Group B champions HEROIC lost 1-2 to Natus Vincere in the other Semifinal. This resulted in a Grand Final between the Germans from MOUZ and the Ukrainians from NAVI.
NAVI initially looked like they were going to deal with MOUZ rather quickly, building up a 2-0 lead after the first two maps (Inferno and Dust II), but the German organization hit back. They won map 3 (Mirage) 13-6 and then took a 10-2 lead on map 4 (Ancient), making a fifth and final map all but certain. NAVI had other plans though, and they showed why they are the deserved IEM Rio 2024 champions by making an incredible comeback on Ancient to take home the third and decisive fourth map after all.
“We spoke about it the whole tournament, no matter how much you’re down, you can still win,” said NAVI player Justinas “jL” Lekavicius, after the IEM Rio 2024 Grand Final, “But it also works both ways, no matter how much you are up, you can also still lose, so keep focus.”