00NATION become first team eliminated from IEM Rio Major-cs case

The Brazilians twice had majestic comebacks thwarted by their Mongolian counterparts.

IHC have kept their Major hopes alive, besting 00NATION 2-1 in a thrilling series that produced some of the most compelling CS of the tournament so far.

00NATION will be left devastated after failing on home soil, their showing here in Rio a far cry from the level they displayed at the Americas RMR. Ultimately the woeful starts they produced on the last two maps were the cause of their demise, and the immense support from the crowd was not enough to get their comebacks over the line.

Imperial console coldzera after his elimination

The dream lives on for IHC, but they needed some heroic performances from the likes of Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren and Sodbayar "⁠Techno⁠" Munkhbold to get them the win. The fact that they squandered huge leads on Inferno and Overpass will be concerning moving forward, and they will need to capitalise on such advantages if they are to have a hope of making the Legends Stage.

IHC started brightly on their opponent's map pick of Ancient, cruising out to a 5-0 lead with Techno racking up multi-kill after multi-kill. 00NATION secured a four-round streak of their own once they had stabilised their economy, punishing IHC with spawn-based calls and often catching Tuvshintugs "⁠Annihilation⁠" Nyamdorj for the opening kill. The back end of the half saw rounds traded, with the Mongolians taking a narrow 8-7 lead into the second period.

The second half began in frantic fashion as IHC won the pistol, before Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David produced a throwback highlight with the Deagle to win the second. The teams traded streaks of rounds as the match appeared to be heading towards overtime, but a late 1v3 clutch on an eco-round from Tengis "⁠sk0R⁠" Batjargal seemed it might break the Brazilians. Break they did not, as Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal came alive in the final few rounds to help drive his team to a narrow 16-14 map victory.

The opening of Inferno was a back-and-forth brawl, with multiple rounds coming down to clutches and retakes. IHC managed to come out of this frenetic start on top and take control of the game, their fast-paced execute-heavy approach forcing 00NATION into save after save. The Brazilian squad never got a foothold, succumbing to a pitiful 3-12 half.

A teamkill from Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo on the second pistol summed up 00NATION's Inferno, but his team did recover to put together a string of rounds to put their Mongolian opponents under pressure. IHC did manage to grab a round on a Deagle-eco to get to 14, and supressed an apartments pop to get to 15, but the Brazilian machine that was 00NATION's T side was not to be stopped as they rolled inexorably to overtime.

It felt like 00NATION would inevitably ride the hype of the crowd to victory but instead they crumbled at the vital moment, IHC finding back-to-back CT rounds for the first time in the match to allow them to close it out 19-16 on their T side.

It seemed the failed comeback had crushed 00NATION as they were largely toothless on the first half of Overpass, a ponderous and indecisive offense netting them a mere two rounds. Eduardo "⁠dumau⁠" Wolkmer produced a miracle ace to give his side momentum on CT, and the Brazilians managed to mount another unlikely comeback, forcing overtime yet again against the odds.

As with Inferno, 00NATION simply couldn't carry their comeback into OT. IHC cruised to a 19-16 victory, eliminating the home team and sending themselves to the 1-2 pool.

IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers StageBest of 3

00NATION

Matchpage 1 2 1st November 2022

IHC 16Ancient 14 16Inferno 19 16Overpass 19

00NATION	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmerdumau	70 - 75	-5	89.2	1.12
Santino 'try' Rigaltry	64 - 65	-1	69.0	1.11
Bruno 'latto' Rebelattolatto	67 - 64	+3	73.2	1.02
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	65 - 68	-3	65.5	1.01
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	65 - 75	-10	71.9	0.93

IHC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenbLitz	93 - 67	+26	98.5	1.35
Sodbayar 'Techno' MunkhboldTechno	87 - 67	+20	90.0	1.27
Tengis 'sk0R' Batjargalsk0R	61 - 69	-8	67.5	0.92
Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayarkabal	55 - 77	-22	71.3	0.89
Tuvshintugs 'Annihilation' NyamdorjAnnihilation	44 - 54	-10	48.3	0.82