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ESL decided to organize the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI — Fall online series of CS: GO tournaments in a new and entirely different format, compared to the previous traditional IEM events.
Previously we already covered some of the structural peculiarities and some of the general expectations of the IEM RMR Fall events.
Format
The global and integral IEM event was canceled, and then the organizers decided to split it into the series of separate regional tournaments, one for each geographical region: North America, South America, Europe, CIS, Asia, and Oceania.
The new geographical differentiation model was previously implemented and tested by the tournament operator with the couple of the online ESL events in 2020, such as the ESL One Road to Rio series of tournaments, like the past ESL One: Road to Rio — Europe event, when the major ESL One: Rio 2020 championship was canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Being a part of the regional major rankings system, or the RMR-class series of events, means that in every tournament, the best CS: GO teams compete for the opportunity to qualify for the next major CS: GO championship — the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, starting on October 26.
CIS
Yesterday was the final day of the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI — Fall: CIS CS: GO tournament. The entire event was played out in less than four days. The online CS: GO event featured twelve best CIS teams fighting for the $50,000 prize pool and the opportunity to earn valuable RMR points.
These points were required for the qualification to the upcoming PGL Major Stockholm event. By the tournaments` rules, only five of the best teams were said to acquire the precious RMR points.
Groups
There were first and second open and single closed qualifiers before the main event. The competing teams were split into two groups, with six squads in each. The teams in every group played each other using the round-robin format, when they played each other once, and only on one map.
The teams, who placed first and second in each group, went straight on to the IEM XVI Fall CIS Division Playoffs phase.
The third placed teams had to go through the tiebreaker match for the fifth place. A few of the tiebreaker matches in the overtime format were also played between the other remaining teams, to decide the exact order of the finishing squads.
Group A
Group A consisted of the best CIS CS: GO teams, such as Natus Vincere, Entropiq, Team Spirit, Nemiga Gaming, AVE, and Akuma. The second group B was comprised of the other top squads, such Gambit Esports, Virtus.pro, INDE IRAE, Team Unique, K23, and ForZe.
Half of the participating teams were taken from the regional RMR standing table, while the other squads fought their way into the main tournament through the preceding closed qualifier event.
After the group matches and the tiebreakers were out of the way, teams such as Na’Vi and Entropiq became the two top teams. They qualified in the playoffs from the first group. The listed CIS squads went directly to the semifinals stage of the IEM Fall CIS event. Some of the most intense group matches happened in almost every group’s round.
Nemiga Gaming faced Na’Vi team in the second round in the Bo1 series on Nuke. The Nemiga Gaming vs Natus Vincere game was close, and it ended up with the 16:14 score in favor of the Ukrainian CS: GO team.
In the third round of group A matches, Na’Vi faced Entropiq, and the game on the same map finished with the exact close score — 16:14 in favor of the top CIS team in the Natus Vincere vs Entropiq game in the groups.
The fourth round became really interesting, when Nemiga finished the game in their favor with the 19:17 score against the likes of the AVE squad. Even though the Belarus-originating organization managed to clutch three times more than their opponents from Russia, in the end, the team managed to clinch the victory only in the overtime phase of the Nemiga Gaming vs AVE match.
In the fifth and final round of the intended group play, excluding tiebreakers, the top Ukrainian multigaming esports organization managed to get their fifth victory in the group.
Natus Vincere vs Team Spirit game ended with the 16:10 score on Mirage. Team Na’Vi topped the group A, but the second place team was still undecided, so the series of the tiebreaker matches needed to be played.
During the group A tiebreakers, Entropiq, the esports organization from the Czech Republic, with their Russian CS: GO team, coached by the legendary Counter-Strike player, Dmitry “hooch” Bogdanov, managed to overcome other contenders. The team became the second best squad in the group A, only after the unbeatable Natus Vincere.
Two tiebreaker rounds and four overtime-like sets needed to be played in order for Entropiq to overcome the opposition. Two Entropiq vs Team Spirit and Entropiq vs Nemiga Gaming games finished in favor of the first team. The final standings of group A were set and done.
Group B
The other two CS: GO organizations came to the playoffs stage from the second group B, where teams such as Gambit Esports and Virtus.pro were the most dominant ones, among the other top contenders on the list.
Unlike the unstoppable Na’Vi organization from Ukraine, both of the Russian squads managed to lose at least one map, and still topped the final group B standings, with the 4:1 map score each. Nevertheless, both CIS squads had to go through at least one round of the challenging tiebreaker series.
In the first round of the group B play, Gambit had most of the trouble, compared to the other teams, when dealing with their opponents from the INDE IRAE squad. The Gambit Esports vs INDE IRAE game on Inferno ended with a somewhat close 16:13 score in favor of the second best CS: GO team in the world.
In the second round of group B matches, team VP had the easiest game, breezing past their opponents from Team Unique. The Virtus.pro vs Team Unique matchup ended 16:6 on Overpass.
Team Gambit, on the contrary, had to once again fight their way through this stage against the experienced Kazakhs — Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev and Rustem “mou” Telepov, one of the two initial founders of the old-school K23 tag.
Their Gambit Esports vs K23 match on Overpass finished 16:13 in favor of the Russian multigaming esports organization, which is managed by the famed 38-year-old former professional CS 1.6 player — Konstantin “groove” Pikiner, one of the most recognizable Counter-Strike figures on the CIS scene.
The third round of the matches in the second group B of the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI — Fall: CIS tournament was very exciting, mostly due to the clash of the two Russian titans — Gambit and VP team.
The intense back and forth Gambit Esports vs Virtus.pro matchup on Mirage map managed to finish in the overtime phase, when the Virtus.pro team took the last rounds in their favor — 22:20 for the Russian bears. The INDE IRAE vs Unique matchup finished 16:14 on Mirage — clutch win for the IEE boys.
At the same time, the ForZe team, which is sponsored by the Russia and USSR’s iconic Spartak Moscow football club, managed to overcome Gambit Esports squad. The ForZe vs Gambit Esports match ended with the 19:16 score on Vertigo.
Interestingly, INDE IRAE were once again the victorious team, this time, in the game against the VP squad. The INDE IRAE vs Virtus.pro matchup finished 16:14 on Mirage.
Team IEE continued their spree in the last round, as the Russian squad managed to fight on par with the K23 team, during the fifth and final round of the group play. The K23 vs INDE IRAE match finished 14:16 in favor of the Russian CS: GO team of Vadim “DavCost” Vasilyev, who recently competed for 1WIN team for about half a year, until June 2021.
Also during the fifth round, VP and Gambit trashed ForZe and Unique. Virtus.pro vs ForZe — 16:5, and Gambit Esports vs Team Unique — 16:4, scores listed on Inferno and Overpass maps, respectively.
Both winning teams, Gambit Esports and Virtus.pro, were granted place in the semifinals, during the first tiebreakers round, which was indeed quite interesting. Gambit Esports vs INDE IRAE finished 4:0, then Gambit against VP — also 4:0 to top the group.
And the second place in the final standings of group B was decided when the Virtus.pro vs INDE IRAE tiebreaker finished 4:2 in favor of the 21-year-old Timur “buster” Tulepov’s squad.
During the group stage, teams such as Gambit Esports and Team Spirit managed to guarantee their spots in the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 event. This occurred due to the series of circumstances, which happened in both groups.
After the second game day, it was evident, that both of the teams were through to the major, not only due to their personal results, but especially due to the fact, that the other contenders, such as K23 and ForZe teams, managed to loose all three of their opening matches at the IEM Fall CIS 2021 tournament.
This sequence of events meant that two of the losing teams lost their chances of acquiring the necessary RMR points and thus, the ability to qualify for the upcoming Major championship in Stockholm, Sweden.
Playoffs
The playoffs of the IEM Fall CIS event were played using a single elimination format, with the Bo3 series of maps to decide the winner of each match.
During the first game day of the IEM tournament’s final knockout phase, two of the semifinal matches and also the additional fifth place decider match were played.
Gambit Esports vs Entropiq
The day started with the first game, which featured Gambit Esports vs Entropiq matchup. The hooch’s squad was looking like clear underdogs against the likes of the best Russian team and the second CS: GO squad in the world rankings.
The Entropiq team, which finished second after Na’Vi in the tournament’s first group, were already through to the semis — a big achievement itself. Moreover, the Russian squad at this point already gained enough RMR points to get the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 slot, when they previously overcame Nemiga Gaming in the group’s tiebreaker series.
As the semifinals stage of the event was finally played using the more common Bo3 series of maps, the opening semifinal match started with the first Mirage map, which was picked by Entropiq team.
Gambit Esports immediately showcased their dominance, and their much bigger desire to win on the first half of the first map, finishing the Terrorists side 15:0 in their favor, and then closing the game in the final pistol map of the first half, when they already were on their map point. Mirage quickly finished 16:0 in favor of Gambit. They displayed outstanding performance and even better composure.
The second map, prepared to be played in the series, was Vertigo, which was picked by Gambit. Playing as CTs, they finished the first half 11:4 in their favor. After switching sides and winning the initial pistol round, Gambit closed the game with the 5:0 score.
The winning team had two times more opening frags than their opponents. 16:4 score — Gambit through to the grand finals of the IEM Fall 2021 CIS event. Entropiq were out of the event.
Team Spirit vs INDE IRAE
The next match on the schedule was the fifth place decider — the matchup Team Spirit vs INDE IRAE. One of the better known CIS multigaming esports organizations against the clear underdogs of the ESL’s tournament. Seems like Spirit already won. What can possibly go wrong with this fair looking statement?
Well, the very exciting first map of the Bo3 series was Ancient, picked by Team Spirit. And the final result of the first map decided the outcome of the whole series. Total parity and the equal 15:15 map, with 7:8 and 8:7 scores, and 7:5 on the overtimes in favor of the Spirit team.
The final score was 22:20 in favor of Team Spirit. INDE IRAE’s players managed to take four clutches against none of the opponents, but Spirit were the better team in the opening duels. The highlight player was Abdul “degster” Gasanov, who’s clutch play and multiple AWP frags on the safety side appeared to be the deciding factors.
By the second map, the IIE team, even though it was their pick, Mirage, were so let down by their loss on the initial first map, that they apparently could not compose themselves, and they allowed Team Spirit to easily win the second map. Spirit took 15 rounds playing as Counter-Terrorists in the first half.
After the switch, INDE IRAE, in their final effort, managed to grab the pistol round and the second one in their favor, but then, they lost the game and the match, on the second half of the second map, as the opposing team was already sitting comfortably on the map point during the entire second part of the map.
Speaking of players, degster was once again the top fragger on the map. He scored 61 kills on two maps in total. Unlike Entropiq, who were also previously through to the Major, Team Spirit managed to keep their motivation, and competed hard till the very end.
Natus Vincere vs Virtus.pro
The second pair of the semifinalists list in the tournament was a classic matchup of the two rival esports organizations — Natus Vincere vs Virtus.pro. Unlike the first two games of the day, well, maybe except the 22:20 Ancient in the previous match, the matchup between the two teams was going to be the most interesting one to watch out for.
The Bo3 semifinal match between the two famous CIS squads started on Inferno, the Virtus.pro team pick. The first map of the matchup happened to be very close. First, VP squad grabbed ten rounds on the T side, but Na’Vi mirrored the score after the switch.
The overtime finished with the 4:1 score in favor of the popular Ukrainian esports organization, and the Na’Vi team ended the first game 19:16 in their favor. Most of the highlight moments came from the best CS: GO player in the world — Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev.
The Ukrainian sniper showcased his skills with the AK rifle, when he killed four people two times, first, during the enemy eco round and importantly, second time during the overtime rifle round and the tense 16:16 score.
Mirage was the second map of the series between these two top contenders at the IEM CIS tournament. Here, Natus Vincere squad started on the attacking side, and the team managed to win 10 rounds against the 5 wins of their opponents. After the switch, the viewers witnessed a 6:7 score in favor of the Ukrainian team.
The final score was 16:12 and Na’Vi went through to the grand finals of the event to meet their current rivals — Gambit Esports team. There were two final matches reserved for the last day of the CIS event.
Virtus.pro vs Entropiq
The Virtus.pro vs Entropiq match, the game between the two Russian CS: GO squads, was the third place decider match of the IEM Fall 2021 CIS event, organized by ESL Gaming.
This time, it looked a lot more like the Entropiq team were overall in a much better shape compared to their previous inexpressive showcase. The competing teams went through the whole cycle of the maps in this full Bo3 series of Counter-Strike.
Overpass was picked first by Entropiq, and they managed to lose their pick to the Russian bears. VP grabbed eleven rounds on the defense, 11:4, and finished the job after the swap, with the 5:3 score in their favor — 16:7 on the first map for the favorites.
The list of clutch highlights from the Virtus.pro team this time included performances from the same old buster, and following the Kazakh player and popular Twitch streamer were Dzhami “Jame” Ali, and Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev of Uzbekistan. SANJI was the one who finished the first game for his organization.
Virtus.pro then lost their own pick of Vertigo. Entropiq’s tactics were brilliant — 14 rounds on the T side and 2:0 afterwards, as the Russian squad, led by hooch, managed to break the tempo of their opponents, and finish the second map with the 16:1 score in their favor. Strong answer, and three times more collective rating of the winning team, compared to the losing squad on this particular map.
The deciding map for the third place match in the IEM Fall CIS 2021 championship was Ancient. It was left as the third and final map after the voting. Entropiq wasted no time here, and started strong in the first half, with 10 rounds on the attacking side.
Then, the underdogs managed to clinch the third place in the event in their favor, by making the score 6:1 after the switch, and ending the game with the 16:6 score. Amazing third place match and performance by both squads, but the most interesting show was prepared ahead.
Gambit vs Na’Vi
Natus Vincere vs Gambit Esports was the final game of the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI — Fall: CIS CS: GO tournament. The match was played during the grand finals of the ESL-hosted event.
Gambit picked Overpass and crushed the Na’Vi team on the first map of the series. The second top CS: GO team in the world managed to beat the first one. Gambit Esports took 9 rounds to 6, playing on the Terrorists side. Then, Gambit scored 7 rounds to the opposing team’s only one win in the second half — 16:9 in favor of the Russians.
Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov was the highlight player of the map. He managed to grab 3 kills with his M4A1-S and USP-S, after the bomb was planted by the enemy team, when the score was 10:6 in favor of his squad. Sokolov was also the first one on the server’s scoreboard during the first game. He finished the map with 22 kills and 1.79 rating.
Mirage was second map of the final Bo3 series of the IEM Fall 2021 CIS tournament. The second map was picked by the Natus Vincere team.
Gambit took 7 rounds on the T side. The score was 7:8 before the switch. The Russian organization won the IEM Fall CIS championship afterwards, scoring 9 rounds as the defenders to the Na’Vi’s only three wins. Mirage finished with the 16:11 score. The map score of the final series switched to 2:0, and team Gambit Esports became the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVI — Fall: CIS 2021 champions.
sh1ro was the best player of the match. The Gambit fragger scored 23 kills on the second map of the final, and 45 in total during the match. The Russian AWPer became the top player of the entire IEM CIS tournament. Sokolov was given the MVP award. His average rating during the event was equal to 1.45.
Results
Team Gambit finished first at the IEM event. The Russians earned $17,500 for their efforts. According to the final standings of the tournament, they are now through to the PGL Major 2021 as the Legends.
Second were the Natus Vincere team, with $12,000 prize money. The Ukrainian organization is also through to the upcoming Major event in the legendary status.
$8,000 and third place were earned by the underdog Entropiq squad. The third CIS team is also going to the Major in Sweden as the Contenders.
Team Virtus.pro finished only fourth, taking $5,000. They will also start their PGL journey in the Contenders role.
Team Spirit was the last squad finishing in the top 5 zone, to get some of the RMR points, but only $3,000 of prize money. Due to their previous achievements, the Russian team, which finished in the top 3 of the overall RMR ranking table, earned valuable points at the previous CS: GO events.
Spirit previously successfully competed at the other tournaments, such as the StarLadder RMR championship, known as the StarLadder CIS RMR 2021 event, and also in the EPIC CIS League Spring 2021, part of Epic League series by Epic Esports Events. Thus, Team Spirit became the Challengers of the next Major event.
Excellent showcase from the INDE IRAE team. The complete underdogs of the tournament, the squad managed to finish ahead of other prominent organizations, such as Nemiga Gaming, Team Unique, AVE, K23, Akuma, and ForZe. In contrast, the last place finish seems like a very disappointing result for the legendary ForZe tag and for many of their loyal fans.