“EWC want randomness,” said ESL, in response to the question of why we’re setting up the playoff bracket by drawing plastic balls out of a hat rather than seeding it by ranking.

Ask, and you shall receive - there was randomness indeed.

The bracket to decide this two-million-dollar event is lopsided to say the least, as most of the world’s top brass sit on the same side of the bracket. Out of Vitality, Falcons, Spirit, and NAVI, only one will see the grand final.

That being said, we can think of many asterisks to put on all of these teams. Be it imminent parenthood, fluky world championships, a coach actively working against them, or an inability to make changes to a stagnating roster, we’re not even sure we’ll see any of these four in the final. After all - FaZe are here as well.

These bombshells have a nasty cough, but they’re up against some quite interesting hydrogen-powered babies.

(Please just bear with this metaphor.)

Sure, teams like magic, or Astralis can’t realistically be considered championship calibre right now, but let’s not forget that MOUZ just took a trophy with PR, and teams such as FURIA or G2 can’t ever really be counted out.

Hell, we’ll even give a small chance to FUT, Aurora, or even GamerLegion. xfl0ud looked very interesting powering past MOUZ in the group stage, and bar the unfortunate loss in the opening best-of-one, Aurora kept it tidy to make it through.

And if you’re being honest with yourself, wouldn’t it just be fun to see GamerLegion take on Vitality in another Paris grand final?

No? Too bad - the balls are drawn, and RNGesus has spoken.