Imperial Esports Replace Rare Atom at IEM Rio 2024

Rare Atom were initially invited to participate in the 16-team Brazilian Counter-Strike esports tournament after winning the Asian qualifier in early August. There, Rare Atom defeated ATOX Esports and TYLOO in the upper bracket final and the grand final to secure an invite for their first S-Tier competition of 2024.

The visa issues are a huge blow for the Chinese lineup who are in need of experience competing at the top level ahead of their Asia RMR campaign, set to start in the middle of November.  

Rare Atom’s replacement, Imperial Esports are set to appear in IEM Rio 2024 following a decent showing at ESL Pro League Season 20. There, the Brazilian lineup finished second in Group C and ended up exiting event in ninth-12th-place following a 0-2 loss against one of the tournament favourites, Team Spirit.

IEM Rio 2024 will mark Imperial Esports’ fifth S-Tier event of the year, as they’ve previously attended the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, ESL Pro League Season 19, and IEM Cologne 2024, yet never placed higher than top-12.

By replacing Rare Atom, Imperial Esports will take the Chinese team’s place in Group A, where they’ll face off against Natus Vincere in the opening round of the group stage. Besides NaVi, Group A features other strong contenders in FaZe Clan, MOUZ, FURIA Esports, Complexity, Team Liquid, and paiN Gaming.

Despite showing some pulse of late, Imperial Esports are not expected to do well in Rio. Crypto bookmakers have Imperial Esports priced as 67.00 underdogs on the outright betting markets, behind paiN Gaming at 51.00 and ahead of 9z Team at 76.00.

According to the outright markets, Natus Vincere (3.25) and Team Vitality (3.50) are the leading candidates to win, while G2 Esports (7.00), MOUZ (8.00), and FaZe Clan (9.00) join the list as dangerous outsiders.