The IEM Rio playoffs begin today and guess what - FURIA are in the Semis!

FalleN lead FURIA have been exceedingly mediocre as of late. The addition of skullz in July made little difference to the team’s overall performance, but on home turf, they are showing dominance over the competition with wins over EPL Champs NAVI and playoff frequenters MOUZ and FaZe.

FURIA will face either reigning Rio and Cologne victors Vitality, or the ‘arena chokers’ in MOUZ, depending on who gets the W in the match-up later today.

On the opposite side of the bracket, Virtus.pro face NAVI in the opening quarter-final. The latter bested Imperial and Team Liquid before falling to FURIA in the upper bracket final, while VP had a slightly easier route to the playoffs facing 9z, Astralis, and a revenge win over The Mongolz who sent them to the lower bracket to begin with.

G2 however, went out in last place.

Snax and co. are the definition of inconsistent. Coming off their trophy lift at the BLAST Fall Finals, they are now departing Rio without a single map won.

A team with such super-star power shouldn’t be struggling in these matches, but with NiKo’s uncertain future circling above like a bird of prey all may not be well in the G2 camp.

Lastly, FaZe have once again disappointed, being eliminated by MOUZ in a tight 2-1 decider. With their only top 4 result since IEM Chengdu being at BLAST Fall Final, perhaps it’s time for Karrigan’s squad to consider ‘internal restructuring’.