We told you Spirit owned the semi-final matchup and Falcons would "probably still lose." Falcons walked out and ground donk's Spirit into the carpet 2-1 - the one team we swore they couldn't put away. We're starting to take this personally.

Not that there was anything comfortable about it. Monte, NAVI, Vitality, Spirit - every single playoff series dragged to a deciding map, and Falcons won the lot. The team led by the worst gun in the building is somehow one best-of-five from a Major.

Across the bracket stands the actual feel-good story: FURIA, the world #5 to Falcons' #4, hauling FalleN to one more final. They've been the cleaner side by quite a lot - B8, MOUZ, BetBoom, 9z and Aurora all seen off without much sweat. And Brazil has already left a mark on Falcons this season: Legacy snatched the CAC trophy out of their hands a few weeks back. Now a second Brazilian team is the only thing standing between Falcons and redemption.

Recent history actually belongs to FURIA - 2-0 at Rio, 2-1 in Rotterdam. But Falcons got the last word at PGL Astana, edging it 2-1 the masochist's way: two overtime nailbiters, 17-19 on Dust2 and 20-22 on Nuke, with FURIA's lone map (Mirage, 13-9) the only thing keeping the series respectable. If you like your grand finals decided by a single round, seemingly like every other game in the playoffs stage, then this final’s for you.

As ever, m0NESY is the best man on the server, his 1.25 just shading molodoy's 1.16 in the AWP duel - exactly the edge that keeps winning Falcons the rounds that matter. KSCERATO (1.18) is FURIA's reply, and a good one. The real comedy is at the back: both teams are captained by men who couldn't hit water from a boat. karrigan idles at 0.80, FalleN at 0.92 - the two lowest guns in the building, one of whom is now guaranteed to lift the most prestigious trophy in Counter-Strike by the end of the day. We did try to warn you about karrigan.

It being a best-of-five, this opens with just one ban apiece, and Falcons have a genuine dilemma. FURIA's love affair with Inferno is no secret - but so is Falcons' refusal to touch Overpass, a map FURIA would happily pick up. They can only remove one. FURIA, meanwhile, will almost certainly do what they always do and bin Ancient, conveniently one of Falcons' favourite maps. From there, it's settled on the coin-flip maps in the middle.

It's the final act, and it’s genuinely difficult to make the call - the last two times we wrote Falcons off, well, you know what happened there. FURIA are the better story and, on paper, the better team; Falcons are simply the side that refuses to lose a decider right now. One of them lifts the trophy tomorrow. Pick your fairytale - we're done trying to guess.