IEM Rio Major 2022 power rankings

We are just a bit more than a month away from the Rio Major. All the storylines (not from this season alone, but rather from the past couple of years) are about to align into what promises to be an epic conclusion. And there is much more at stake than just one title (although it is really big). Kinda like in Avengers: Endgame. What are the biggest tournament favorites and outsiders (no pun intended)? We’ll tell you!

No-brainers

NAVI

It’s always NAVI, isn’t it? In the past 12 months, the Ukrainian powerhouse has become…well, even more of a powerhouse, won pretty much everything there was to win and cemented its legacy as one of the greatest teams to ever play the game. But the chase for greatness never stops.

There are still so many things to achieve and records to break. For starters, there’s still a record of Astralis – Danish club has 4 Major trophies (NAVI just scraped the surface of this one). Then there’s s1mple who for sure wants to add another HLTV player of the year title to his list of individual achievements. And what better way to secure it than by winning a Major?

Right now NAVI are going through a rough patch: s1mple is busy with personal matters and struggling to maintain his superstar level of performance in every game, electronic is learning the ropes as the new IGL and sdy can’t always keep up with his extremely skilled teammates. But that doesn’t make NAVI any less dangerous. Okay, maybe a little bit, they’re still one of the heavy favorites.

FaZe Clan

This international squad has been on fire for the last 6 months, winning almost every top-tier event, including the Major. The team suffered a small upset on Blast, but it’s still ranked #1 in the world.

FaZe is an all-around team with little to no weaknesses. Superstar riflers? Check! Captain with experience? Check! The mentality of the winners? Check! As much as NAVI are set to make history, FaZe are willing to do the same.

On top of that, FaZe guys clearly have NAVI’s number as they managed to beat them in two tier-S finals in a row: Antwerp Major and IEM Cologne. And if you’re a favorite against the favorite, that makes you the favorite, right?

Decent shot

Vitality

When it comes to this French squad, the question is always “How good are ZywOo’s teammates this time around?”. The 21 year old sniper is already one of the biggest names on the scene. And as much as his shelf for individual trophies is overcrowded, he’s still yet to prove himself on a Major. Time to turn things around?

G2

G2 is always one step away from reaching something big. Their roster is full of incredible players capable of carrying matches on their own. But each of them seems to be doing their own thing. G2 is a mix of highly skilled individuals who can’t seem to figure out how the thing called “teamplay” really works. If they do, this will be one scary roster.

Maybe (but not really)

Team Liquid

NA roster showed glimpses of hope when YEKINDAR joined the party, but it’s still too inconsistent: at the beginning of the year the team was ranked #225! Now it’s top-3, and even though we admire the grind, there are way more stable and just overall better teams.

Outsiders

Jame Time calls for Jame actions. If Jame manages to outjame his Jaminess and Jame up his teammates, Outsiders have a decent shot of making it into the late stages. But this works both ways.

Cloud 9

The CIS roster had its reign during the online era, but its results began to decline as the LANs started to come back. In a single match, C9 can beat pretty much any team out there, but in the long run, they lack resilience and experience.