The ESL One: Road to Rio North America group stage is done and dusted. We did not go without some serious casualties with perhaps the most reputable name tob e left out in the cold being Evil Geniuses.
Coaching change does nothing for Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses’ debut with new coach Wilton “zews” Prado was a total failure. The team was among the favorites to win ESL One: Road to Rio North America but could not even break out of the group stage. A dramatic loss to Gen.G on the final day sealed EG’s fate while simultaneously guaranteeing their opponents would win Group A and enter the playoffs at the semifinal stage.
With Evil Geniuses losing, the Cloud9 – 100 Thieves match did not hold any significance as to who would advance from Group A. However, 100 Thieves’ win means that they will actually get the tougher opponent in the quarterfinals, at least in theory. More on that in a moment. Triumph and Orgless, who quit mid-tournament, shared EG’s fate and won’t proceed with their ESL One: Road to Rio participation.
Made in Brazil’s revival caught in its tracks
The big-name casualty in Group B is Made in Brazil. The Flashpoint Season 1 finalists actually did well in Group B and ended up with a positive 3-2 record. Unfortunately for them, the final day loss to compatriots FURIA meant that things went down to a tiebreaker with Team Liquid and Team Envy, which was unfavorable for the Brazilians who ended up in fourth place and out of the playoffs.
BR @furiagg 2 - 0 BR @mibr pic.twitter.com/IjICkAvRwK
— Rivalry CS:GO (@RivalryGLHF) May 3, 2020
Envy and Liquid both secured their place in the last possible moment by beating the group’s bottom-dwellers Bad News Bears and Yeah Gaming, respectively. FURIA Esports meanwhile remain as the only undefeated team in the tournament and have lost just two maps so far.
The ESL One: Road to Rio North America playoffs
FURIA’s 100% record will not be tested until the semifinals arrive. First, we got to go through the quarterfinal stage where 100 Thieves won themselves into a clash with Team Liquid to produce FURIA’s opponent in the semis. Whether that would prove to be the tougher draw remains to be seen.
That leaves Cloud9 and Team Envy for the other quarterfinal pairing. Gen.G will be watching that one carefully as they will face the winner in the next stage. ESL One: Road to Rio resumes on Wednesday, Мay 6, with the Cloud9 – Envy match.
