After a surprisingly fun time at PGL Bucharest - yeah, who knew tier two is actually fun? - it’s time for the big dogs to make their return at IEM Rio.

There’ll be a lot of intrigue around MOUZ, especially given recent rumours about the future of their IGL, Brollan. After getting knocked out of EPL in embarassing fashion, and then 0-2’d at BLAST Open, a result here is very much needed for their confidence ahead of the Major.

Which screams to us that they’re getting grouped again.

Spirit are also an exciting prospect, even though they’ll have S0tF1k behind them instead of hally.

Actually, that might just be a benefit to them.

They’re also in dire need of a win, with EPL also ending in a poor defeat for them, and BLAST going better than MOUZ, but still not great.

Other standouts at the event include NAVI, Falcons, and Aurora, who have all proven they’re good this year… just not quite good enough to take down Vitality. NAVI are probably the closest, but the lack of a cutting edge prevents them from actually getting the job done.

FURIA, though, FURIA are a big prospect to actually beat them. Likely supercharged by the chance to win in front of their home crowd, you’d hope that they’ve taken their time off between events to fix whatever the hell was wrong with them for the past couple of months. If they can come back swinging - and more importantly, stop flashing each other - they could easily be the team to rain of Vitality’s parade.

Because that’s the thing with this event - it really is the precursor to another Vitality parade. The team has the chance to win their second ESL Grand Slam in Rio, something no team has ever done before.

We already know that no team can really match Vitality at the moment, but that extra hit of motivation for them could be truly devastating for any team in attendance.

RED Canids, we feel sorry for you for what’s about to happen, but that’s your fault for getting in the way of destiny.