O PLANO and 9z qualify for IEM Rio Americas RMR
The second South American open qualifier for the IEM Rio Americas RMR has drawn to a close, seeing 9z and O PLANO narrowly secure their places after close wins over Case and Fluxo, respectively.
9z and O PLANO, despite being strong teams in the region, both struggled to make it far in the first South American open qualifier, with the squads bowing out in the round of 32 after losses to Isurus and ODDIK, respectively. However, this time around 9z and O PLANO had no interest in exiting early, as the two sides trudged through the dreary three-day-long qualifier.
Uruguayan star Franco "dgt" Garcia led 9z through the latter portion of the qualifier, with a 1.47 rating in the round of 16 versus Sharks and a 1.59 rating against B4 in the quarterfinals. dgt and the rest of 9z struggled early on in their qualification match versus Case, as their opponent locked down the opening map of Inferno 16-14. On their pick of Nuke, 9z found their footing, securing a solid 10-5 lead at the half before eventually closing out their pick with a 16-10. By the time the series reached the decider of Mirage, dgt returned to his form from earlier in the qualifier, sending Case packing 16-7 in large part thanks to his 1.61 rating, booking 9z a ticket to the IEM Rio Americas RMR.
Case9z| Case |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yan 'yepz' Pedretti |
52 - 51 | +1 | 82.0 | 67.1% | 1.04 |
| Rodrigo 'RCF' Figueiredo |
57 - 56 | +1 | 74.7 | 65.8% | 1.00 |
| Lucas 'honda' Cano |
44 - 51 | -7 | 58.4 | 65.8% | 0.91 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
47 - 53 | -6 | 64.8 | 65.8% | 0.89 |
| Leonardo 'leo_drk' Oliveira |
44 - 67 | -23 | 64.2 | 63.3% | 0.78 |
| 9z |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez |
57 - 47 | +10 | 88.9 | 74.7% | 1.28 |
| Franco 'dgt' Garcia |
63 - 43 | +20 | 79.1 | 75.9% | 1.26 |
| Lucas 'nqz' Soares |
65 - 47 | +18 | 71.3 | 75.9% | 1.20 |
 David 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado |
46 - 55 | -9 | 70.4 | 68.4% | 0.97 |
 Martin 'rox' Molina |
46 - 53 | -7 | 62.8 | 63.3% | 0.87 |
O PLANO reached their qualification match against João "felps" Vasconcellos' Fluxo after besting Arvum 16-11 in the round of 16, and Los Grandes 16-6 in the quarterfinals. O PLANO looked out of their depth at the beginning of the series on their pick of Dust2, as Fluxo dominated the first half, allowing kNgV- and company a mere four rounds on the offense. Not shaken by this unfortunate half, O PLANO began an impressive comeback which eventually brought the map to overtime, where O PLANO reclaimed the lead and secured their pick 19-16.
Despite the triumphant comeback by O PLANO, Fluxo still led comfortably on their pick of Vertigo in the first half, finishing their offense with a 9-6 lead. O PLANO dominated much of the early portion of the second half, eventually posting a 14-11 lead, posturing to finish the series 2-0. But Fluxo were not interested in that outcome, as they fought tooth and nail to secure victory 16-14, dragging the series to the decider of Nuke. Despite the exciting, back-and-forth nature of the rest of the series, Nuke did not deliver such a show, as O PLANO put themselves in the driver's seat, cruising to a comfortable 16-7 win to qualify for the Americas RMR.
O PLANOFluxo| O PLANO |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vito 'kNgV-' Giuseppe |
66 - 52 | +14 | 85.8 | 64.8% | 1.25 |
| Gustavo 'yel' Knittel |
72 - 54 | +18 | 82.3 | 71.6% | 1.18 |
| Caike 'caike' Costa |
66 - 59 | +7 | 68.7 | 68.2% | 1.02 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
50 - 58 | -8 | 73.9 | 75.0% | 1.01 |
| Guilherme 'piriajr' Barbosa |
53 - 53 | +0 | 72.2 | 65.9% | 1.00 |
| Fluxo |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinicius 'vsm' Moreira |
71 - 61 | +10 | 86.4 | 70.5% | 1.21 |
| Lucas 'Lucaozy' Neves |
58 - 59 | -1 | 72.6 | 72.7% | 0.98 |
| Adriano 'WOOD7' Cerato |
49 - 57 | -8 | 59.2 | 64.8% | 0.91 |
| Lucas 'lux' Meneghini |
49 - 61 | -12 | 60.6 | 64.8% | 0.90 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
48 - 71 | -23 | 68.9 | 55.7% | 0.75 |
The two sides finished their triumphant runs with a BO1 seeding match, in which 9z came out on top 16-8 thanks to a monstrous showing from Lucas "nqz" Soares, who posted a 1.83 rating in the match.
With that, there remains only a single South American qualifier for the Americas RMR. Notable South American squads that have yet to secure a spot at the RMR include Fluxo, Case, Isurus, and Sharks — a testament to the strength of the region. These teams, and many others, will have little time to prepare for their next outing, as the third and final South American open qualifier for the IEM Rio Americas RMR begins on August 25th.
