The ?? ??? ?? ??European squad's victory marks the end of the first Swiss stage round.

fnatic defeated Cloud9 in a surprising match on Inferno to celebrate their return to the Majors with a victory at IEM Rio 2022 Challenger Stage. The Russian squad will continue their Brazilian adventure from the 0-1 pool despite coming into the fixture as heavy favorites.

Vladislav "?nafany?" Gorshkov's men stared down the barrel of a one-sided defeat with a 5-14 deficit, but successfully came back to force overtime thanks to the heroics of Dmitry "?sh1ro?" Sokolov and fnatic stubbornness to attack the B site.

roeJ topped the scoreboard for fnatic on Inferno

Nico "?nicoodoz?" Tamjidi kickstarted the match with four crucial frags in the opening pistol round, setting fnatic up to take the early lead. An Timofey "?interz?" Yakushin 1v3 clutch allowed Cloud9 to get their first on the board, but that lifeline was quickly shut down after a successful pistol stack on the B site brought the momentum back on the side of the Europeans.

Cloud9 failed to get back in the match until the end of the half, taking the last three rounds to salvage a 5-10 half. Fredrik "?roeJ?" J?rgensen was the star on fnatic's
CT side, but nicoodoz and Freddy "?KRIMZ?" Johansson also performed admirably.

William "?mezii?" Merriman and company temporarily took back control of the game with another pistol round win and were on course for a comfortable victory until sh1ro came online. The Russian AWPer dominated the CT side, pushing Cloud9 to an impressive 10-round winning streak before a last-ditch push from fnatic forced overtime.

Ultimately, the European squad swept through the defensive half of extra time, securing their advancement to the 1-0 record and their first victory at a Major since IEM Katowice 2019.

IEM Rio Major 2022 Challengers StageBest of 1 Cloud9Matchpage 17 19 31st October 2022 fnatic 17Inferno 19

?Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	37 - 19	+18	104.5	1.68
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	22 - 26	-4	81.4	1.10
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	18 - 19	-1	43.7	0.99
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	20 - 24	-4	60.2	0.84
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	22 - 28	-6	66.5	0.79

?fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidinicoodoz	26 - 21	+5	79.8	1.21
Fredrik 'roeJ' J?rgensenroeJ	32 - 25	+7	79.2	1.18
William 'mezii' Merrimanmezii	21 - 25	-4	64.0	1.01
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	20 - 26	-6	66.8	0.90
Dion 'FASHR' DerksenFASHR	16 - 24	-8	61.9	0.86

Nico 'nicoodoz' Tamjidi Age: 22 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 768 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.62 Fredrik 'roeJ' J?rgensen Age: 28 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 937 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 fnatic #19 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' J?rgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 28 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1828 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.64 Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 909 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.53 Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 910 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.69 Cloud9 #5 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov William 'mezii' Merriman Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 560 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 Timofey 'interz' Yakushin Age: 22 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 892 KPR: 0.58 DPR: 0.58