Caption

When you hear that a quarter-final is a rematch of last Major’s final, you’re expecting that to be pretty Earth-shattering stuff. Like, what has gone wrong with seeding, ‘the real final was the quarter-final’ stuff.

This is not the case.

Vitality are no longer the de facto best team in the world, and The MongolZ no longer look like a team who can make the final; but that doesn’t stop this being an important and intriguing game - because when you’re in the top eight, all of a sudden it becomes very real.

The MongolZ have looked miles better with controlez than anyone could really have expected, and actually might pose something of a threat to the top four if anyone has an off-day. We, as most of you did, expected the loss of Senzu to hurt them tremendously, and it sort of has, but…

Well, they’re still top eight, and they’re still winning games, and controlez is kinda frying. How he had a 1.06 on Chinggis Warriors is beyond us.

Vitality on the other hand are still there or thereabouts. They’re still a contender, they’re just no longer overwhelming favourites. They’ve lost to FURIA, G2, MOUZ and funnily enough The MongolZ in top fours in the last few months, and they have a soft underbelly nowadays.

That said, they’re still bloody good. They are better than The MongolZ. They can win the whole thing if they turn up. ropz/ZywOo/flameZ is still hilariously overpowered as a trio, especially when mezii is your fourth best player.

The MongolZ couldn’t dream of Vitality’s firepower (check out the Deep Dive from yesterday for more on that!) and are not as consistent a top team either. Their system is easier to punch holes in, and they have the worse AWPer.

This is one that should be a Vitality win - but they are not as unbeatable as they first appear.