Honestly, beating Vitality in the quarters might not feel as liberating to NAVI as we all think. By doing so, they’ve cast a looming shadow over their own performance in the IEM Atlanta playoffs, and created the expectation with everyone that they’ll go all the way.

Any other tournament without Vitality where they would fall before the finish line might still catch them some flak, but here it is quite literally a requirement.

Suffice to say, they do seem like they are going all the way, though. In their semi-final against BetBoom they looked pretty convincing, even though Boombl4’s men managed to make them sweat here and there.

The veto saw Ancient, Nuke, and Dust2 come out of it, and realistically, Ancient was the only map BetBoom actually looked good on. Not that they got to play Dust2…

The first half saw teams go back and forth, and for a second, we thought the match might actually get interesting, but when, after halftime, ESL gave us B1ad3’s words of encouragement to hear - which consisted of “we’ve got five rounds, that’s good enough” - we remembered the flattering look CT side Ancient can give teams and we knew it was over. 13-8 for NAVI on BB’s pick.

On Nuke, things got worse, with NAVI absolutely picking BetBoom apart and them looking kind of lost. It didn’t really help that NAVI got to start on CT there as well, carrying the momentum into their T-side and finishing off BetBoom 13-6 to win the series and grab their spot in the final.

If you wanted some butt-clenching, edge-of-your-seat CS, then you had to tune in to GamerLegion against Legacy.

That series saw us go to Ancient first as well, GL’s pick, where Legacy also benefited from the CT-side looks-boost, along with a won T-side pistol. Didn’t win them the map, however, 13-9.

Up next was Legacy’s pick, Mirage. Honestly, good stuff there from Legacy, no remarks to be had. They made GamerLegion look stupid and stomped them in 13-3 fashion. Easy peasy.

Which brings us to the decider map, which was - oh, God, it’s Inferno, isn’t it? As any decider on Inferno goes, this one was the real eye-catcher.

Both sides had great rounds and beautiful plays, but with some clutches from REZ and a strong AWP from hypex, the proverbial cat was in the proverbial bag.

Again, the first half looked competitive, but GL ran away with it in the second, and mercilessly finished Legacy off 13-6 - marking the first big event final appearance for this GL roster.