MIBR’s loss to FURIA on the final day of the group stage meant that they finished fourth in Group B behind their fellow Brazilians, Team Liquid and Team Envy.

FURIA wins the derby

Four teams had a chance to qualify for the three spots on offer in Group B of the North American bracket of ESL One Road to Rio, and it was MIBR who drew the short straw in the end. FURIA completed the sweep by winning every single match, completing a 2-0 victory over FalleN’s men on the final day.

Much to the bafflement of many observers and commentators, MIBR continue to pick Inferno in high-stakes series with little to show for it, as they lost their own map pick once again, albeit in a close and chaotic game where both sides had their chances. With 9 rounds on the T side, MIBR seemed like the favorites, but FURIA managed to win seven out of the first eight rounds on the offense with KSCERATO spearheading the operation, and though MIBR rallied back to 14-14, the terrorists converted the last two to take a lead in the derby. Vertigo continued in the same all-out aggressive fashion, with both teams trading crazy rounds back and forth early on in the proceedings, but FURIA’s 8-7 win in the first round quickly snowballed again as they won six in a row on the attackers’ side, eventually closing out the series 16-10 to clinch the direct semi-final spot at ESL One Road to Rio.

Regional Major blues

MIBR still had a chance to advance on tiebreakers despite the loss, but Team Envy’s comeback win over the already eliminated Bad News Bears has consigned them to elimination at the first event which determines the participants of November’s Rio Major. Their 7-8th finish has netted them 950 Regional Major Rankings points – to compare, the teams which advanced to the playoffs will get between 1100 and 1600 at the end of the day.

On Wednesday, 100Thieves will play against Team Liquid in the quarterfinal to set up a series against FURIA in the semis, while Team Envy will square off with Cloud9 for a date with suprise package Gen.G on the other side of the bracket. Meanwhile, ESL One Road to Rio will continue on Tuesday with games in the CIS and EU brackets.

Photo credit: HLTV