Two dominant defensive halves were enough to get Cloud9 to the Rio Major.

Cloud9 traversed the Swiss System with a 3-1 record, beating B8, G2, and 1WIN on their way to Major qualification. In the deciding series, they dispatched of 1WIN in a two-map affair, winning Vertigo (16-12) and Overpass (16-13).

This is the first time the Cloud9 organization has qualified for a CS:GO Major since IEM Katowice 2019, where they were represented by the roster featuring the likes of Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist, Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey, and Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta, before leaving CS:GO.

Ax1Le played a crucial part in closing out Vertigo

1WIN struck first on the Terrorist side of Vertigo, but Cloud9 swiftly answered back with a second round forcebuy. A back-and-forth ensued, with both teams winning forcebuys in the opening exchanges. Cloud9 won the early skirmish, gathering momentum that propelled them to a 12-3 lead at the interval. Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov had a particularly good half, ending on 23 kills as the favorites moved to the offense. Cloud9's second pistol round put them in an assertive 14-3 lead, with their win looking certain. They had to work for it, however, as 1WIN won nine rounds on the defense, before Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov's huge triple-kill secured the map.

Cloud9's struggles on the offense continued on the second map, going down early after losing the pistol round. An unlikely win with pistols got them back to a 2-6 deficit but they lost the next round straight away to enable 1WIN to run away with the half. Cloud9 inability to string rounds together made their job even harder, as they needed to fight back from a disadvantageous economic position time after time. 1WIN made the most of that, taking a 12-3 lead into the second half.

Once on the defense, Cloud9 looked like a completely different team. They started the half with a six-round streak, not allowing their opponents a single plant in the process. Aleksandr "⁠glowiing⁠" Matsievich delivered 1WIN's first round on the Terrorist side with a triple, with Cloud9 taking control straight back to win the map 16-13, losing just one round in the half to book their place in Rio.

IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe RMR ABest of 3 Cloud9Matchpage 2 0 7th October 2022 1WIN 16Vertigo 12 16Overpass 13

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	50 - 32	+18	96.6	1.38
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	43 - 25	+18	71.3	1.35
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	48 - 44	+4	101.8	1.32
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	33 - 29	+4	52.5	0.98
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	35 - 38	-3	65.1	0.97

1WIN	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aleksandr 'TRAVIS' TimkivTRAVIS	42 - 45	-3	81.7	1.05
Denis 'deko' Zhukovdeko	45 - 38	+7	73.0	1.02
Igor 'lollipop21k' Solodkovlollipop21k	38 - 40	-2	71.3	0.95
Aleksandr 'glowiing' Matsievichglowiing	28 - 46	-18	63.5	0.72
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	15 - 41	-26	36.3	0.51

Below is a list of teams confirmed at the IEM Rio Major:

Legends Stage
FaZe
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Natus Vincere
ENCE Challengers Stage
9z
FURIA

TBD
Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Spirit
Cloud9

FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Ninjas in Pyjamas #11 Patrick 'es3tag' HansenFredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Aleksandr 'glowiing' Matsievich Age: 28 Team: 1WIN Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 546 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 Spirit #15 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovBoris 'magixx' VorobievPavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovIhor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 978 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 G2 #5 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov ENCE #18 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Cloud9 #6 Timofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' GorshkovAbay 'HObbit' Khassenov 9z #50 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist Age: 29 Team: EYEBALLERS Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1934 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Evil Geniuses #22 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJadan 'HexT' Postma Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 28 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1205 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Natus Vincere #2 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy 1WIN #33 Aleksandr 'TRAVIS' TimkivDenis 'deko' ZhukovEgor 'flamie' VasilyevIgor 'lollipop21k' SolodkovAleksandr 'glowiing' Matsievich B8 #69 Arseniy 'cptkurtka023' DerevinskiyDenys 'amster' LiashenkoAlexey 'alex666' YarmoshchukMykyta 'Hkta' RevaArtem 'r1nkle' Moroz Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis FURIA #7 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu Timothy 'autimatic' Ta Age: 26 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1189 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey Age: 28 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1493 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.64