FURIA Ready to Dominate IEM Rio on Home Soil

The team’s in-game leader Andrei “⁠arT⁠” Piovezan says FURIA are expecting to go all the way in the ongoing IEM Rio 

With a 19-15 win over fnatic on Ancient, FURIA begins their journey at IEM Rio 2023 on a high note. Moving onto the upper bracket semi-finals, the Brazilian squad is poised to take on FaZe and end their two-year drought of winning against Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his lineup.

.@FURIA start their #IEM Rio 2023 Campaign off with a 19-15 win over @FNATIC on Ancient! 👏 pic.twitter.com/t8FZ4b8EVN

— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) April 17, 2023

FURIA’s in-game leader Andrei “⁠arT⁠” Piovezan talked to HLTV after the match about his team’s expectations in the tournament. The Brazilians were unbeaten in the American RMRs for the Paris Major 2023, can arT’s carry that momentum to IEM Rio and challenge for the title? The rifler believes they can. 

“Yeah, I think so. When we went through the RMR we lifted some of the pressure off of us because we had a lot of pressure going on from social media and the players, especially after the EG loss and we had to turn it back. We needed the 4-0, it was a very good first step towards that, and starting this tournament with a win is something we really wanted so we could keep the momentum going.”

arT also talked about FURIA’s win over fnatic. They had also beaten them in the ESL Pro League playoffs. Did FURIA develop some sort of understanding of fnatic’s playing style?

“I don't think we have some kind of read, but it depends on the map. I think Ancient is very good for us, I don't know why, but we play it on the server we feel comfortable against them. The matchup for us is good, it's just with their playstyle and our playstyle fit for us. Overall when we play other maps it's a little tougher, I would say. It's hard to say because they are a very explosive team as well, and it's hard to know what's going to happen. Sometimes it's very rough for us, sometimes it's fifty-fifty. Today fortunately was like that, but we were a little better.”

FURIA are set to face FaZe in the next round. How excited are they to play against a side they won only once in their last five meetings? 

“Definitely, we have not won against FaZe in a long time, and I really feel like playing them now. It's going to be a really hard match, of course, they are one of the best teams in the world right now, but beating them would mean a lot to us. I think this matchup is very good for getting our confidence if we win, and it'd be really nice going forward in that tournament.”