Heartbreaks from IEM Rio Legends Stage in photos

Time Stamp: November 9, 2022 2:05 PM

The spectacle at IEM Rio Major 2022 continued to deliver with the event’s second stage, as several highly-ranked teams failed to advance to the playoffs after suffering defeats to underdogs. To take a look back, we have collected some of the most emotional moments captured by HLTV.org’s photographers Radosław “⁠MAKKU⁠” Makuch and Josip “⁠brcho⁠” Brtan.

FaZe, Vitality, and Liquid came into the event as some of the biggest favorites to lift the trophy, but their journeys ended in heartbreak as none of them made it past the second Swiss group. The reigning Major champions led by Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen failed to claim a single win and were joined in the 0-3 club by Ninjas in Pyjamas. Meanwhile, the journeys of teams such as Liquid and BIG almost resulted in a playoff spot, but losses on the last day of the stage shattered their hopes of reaching the knockouts.

FaZe were eliminated from the Major without a single win

The reigning Major champions were unable to put up a title defense

broky had a poor tournament individually and only averaged a 0.95 rating

NIP suffered a shock exit of their own

Aleksib’s first Major with the Ninjas ended in disappointment

Brollan left Brazil without a win and a loss against his old team fnatic

Vitality failed to advance to playoffs despite being among the favorites to lift the trophy

apEX didn’t manage to lead his team through the Legends Stage

Vitality’s loss to ENCE came as a surprise to many

Sprout were eliminated despite Zyphon’s fantastic performances throughout the event

s1n’s Major debut ended with a loss to NAVI in the 2-2 match

gob b and tabseN failed to push BIG over the finish line

Liquid were eliminated by Spirit in the last match of the Legends Stage

YEKINDAR had a relatively quiet tournament

EliGE couldn’t hold back the tears after the match

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