The Australians join IHC as the the second Asian representative at IEM Rio.
Grayhound have clinched the final IEM Rio Challengers Stage spot on offer at the Asia Regional Major Ranking tournament. They took down Rare Atom 2-1 in the opening round, but fell to the lower bracket after suffering a close 0-2 defeat to IHC.
The Australians' all-or-nothing bout with JiJieHao International wasn't a walk in the park, but an outstanding CT half on Inferno ultimately sealed their place in Rio. Vadim "DavCost" Vasilyev's squad just couldn't replicate their Middle East Qualifier success at the RMR and exited the tournament without a Major spot.
The Grayhound tag returns to a Major's top-24 stage for the first time in three years, dating back to StarLadder Berlin where they placed 9-11th in the competition's Challengers Stage. The core of the team competed at the last two Majors under Renegades.
The teams who qualified for the IEM Rio Major so far are:
Legends StageTBD*Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Spirit
Cloud9
HEROIC
Vitality
OG
* Liquid vs. Evil Geniuses will decide one Legends spot
Spirit and Cloud9 will play for another Legends spot
HEROIC, Vitality, and OG will play in a third-place decider bracket for a Legends spot