IEM Rio opening round matchups revealed

ESL have unveiled the opening round's matchups for the upcoming IEM Rio 2024 and the Asian representatives, The MongolZ and Rare Atom, are placed in different groups. Rare Atom have been placed in Group A along with the likes of reigning Major champions, Natus Vincere (NAVI), Liquid, FaZe, MOUZ and Complexity amongst others while The MongolZ, who are in Group B, have Vitality, Virtus.pro, Eternal Fire, G2, HEROIC etc. in their group.

The MongolZ will begin their campaign against Virtus.pro and if The MongolZ win their opening game against Virtus.pro, the Asian team might go head to head with Vitality in their qualification game, should apEX and co. get past 9z in their opening game.

Rare Atom, the other Asian team in the event, have a rough bracket in Group A, starting against NAVI and if they do manage to take down NAVI, they are scheduled to face the winner of the Liquid - Complexity game next.

The event starts with a double-elimination group stage where qualification and elimination matches are played out in a bo3 setting. The group winners will advance to the semi-final while the second and third placed teams from each group will start in the quarter-final.

IEN Rio 2024 begins on 7th October 2024 and will go on for a week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The $250,000 USD event sends the winner home with a cash prize of $100,000 and a direct invite to next year's IEM Katowice 2025.