IEM Rio to host bo5 grand-final

IEM Rio begins today with FaZe taking on FURIA and MOUZ taking on paIN at 07:30PM IST. In a conversation with ESL FACEIT Group's senior product manager of game ecosystems - Counter-Strike, Michael Parsons, HLTV learnt about an interesting change on how the grand-final will play out.

IEM Rio 2024 will feature a best-of-five grand-final, adding to the number of tournament organizers who have moved away from the best-of-three norm after Counter-Strike 2's release. Parsons added that all ESL Pro Tour Masters tournaments will adapt the same moving forward.

With fans traveling to our events from far and wide, we want to ensure that we deliver a suitable amount of guaranteed content to those who have purchased tickers.
Michael Parsons, Sr. Product Manager, Game Ecosystems Counter-Strike, ESL FACEIT Group

ESL's flagship events such as IEM Cologne, IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League have stuck to bo5 grand-finals and after Counter-Strike 2's release and the introduction of MR12s, tournament organizers have been more generous towards the bo3 structure given the shortened match lengths.

Starting with a double-elimination bracket across two groups where initial matches are bo3s, the top three teams from each group will head to a single-elimination bo3 playoffs where the winner walks away with a $100,000 USD cash prize and a coveted IEM Katowice 2025 invite.