The first day of the group stage at IEM Rio 2023 was sweltering but without any sensation. Natus Vincere easily reached the final of Group A and secured a place in the tournament's playoffs, while Vitality lost their first match in the group.

Group A

Today, NAVI started their journey with a match against TheMongolz. Even though NAVI started well in defense on Mirage and reached a score of 6-1, the Mongols found a key to the defense of the “born to win” and ended the half with a score of 8-7 in their favor. But they did not cope with the attack from the opponents, and NAVI won with a score of 16-9!

At the same time, NIP took out Fallen and company on a Mirage 16-5.

Thus, IMPERIAL fell into the lower grid, where TheMongolz were already waiting for them, whom they also could not beat. However, they confidently shut down opponents on their Overpass map 16-3. Next was the pick of the Mongols Inferno, which they took 16-12. Finally, on the last map, in a tight fight on the Nuke map, TheMongolz beat their opponents 16-14!

The first BO3 confrontation was Ninjas in Pajamas vs. NAVI. NIP tried to impose their game but could not surpass s1mple with their new composition. Easy 2:0 for Natus Vincere (16-10 Mirage, 16-13 Ancient).

A little earlier, in their first match, Heroic met the Poles from 9ine. Heroic shut down the opponents without problems (Ancient 16-12).

In their second match to reach the final, the Danes met with BIG. As a result of 3 maps, the Germans from BIG proved to be stronger and advanced to the final against NAVI, which they will play tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Group B

Only the opening four matches were played in the second championship group today. The first was between Cloud9 and MIBR, where the former easily won their favorite Ancient 16-8.

The second match was already much more exciting and sweatier between OG and Vitality. None of the teams wanted to fall into the lower grid, so everyone fought to the end. However, Vitality proved to be a bit stronger on Overpass and won 19-17!

The guys from Furia and Fnatic also played a very sweaty match. However, the Brazilians turned out to be stronger and went further down the grid by winning on Overpass 19-15.

In the last match for today, FaZe and 9z met. As a result, from the beginning of the game, FaZe Clan began to gain rounds rapidly and defeated 9z on Overpass 16-3.

We remind you that IEM Rio 2023 will be held from April 17 to 23 in Brazil. The prize fund for the championship is $250,000. You should also know that the winner gets a ticket to IEM Cologne 2023!