Five things to look out for at IEM Rio

While Vitality are likely to win yet again, there is still plenty to get your teeth stuck into at IEM Rio and plenty to enjoy.

Though, we're going to start with Vitality and get them out of the way.

1. Vitality's record

It says a lot when instead of talking about whether or not they'll win the trophy, we're discussing 'when they win the trophy, do they do it flawlessly?', but that is where we are at. Vitality are a flawless Rio and an opening series win at BLAST away from the consecutive map win record, and it's not all that unlikely either.

There's only three events before the Major for them, and they can be the best team of all time going into it. That'd be nice.

2. The floundering giants

MOUZ, Spirit and FURIA were complete locks for top five not too long ago, but all have looked massively shaky at periods, and Falcons aren't all too reliable either. While there's some notable teams missing from the chasing pack - not least FUT and Astralis - we need to see something a bit more dominant, exciting and reassuring fast in Rio to have any faith that any of them can challenge Vitality.

All four are likely to make roster moves with plenty of speculation abound - the most recent being karrigan to Falcons - and so we're not expecting much here, but we desperately want it or else it might be another simple win for Vitality.

3. Who won the NertZ/malbsMd swap?

We actually liked the moves for both of these teams and malbs has landed well on a dysfunctional Liquid team, while NertZ remains an excellent player capable of creating space for others and abusing it when it comes for him.

It's an unfair challenge when G2 are not playing with their full roster (tAk is in for huNter-), but Liquid have to play with ultimate, so it's not that unfair.

We think both teams will and do look better after the switch, but both probably need one more move to really start climbing the ranks. With a flailing top five, though, you never know what can happen.

4. Aurora's top three charge

Aurora have made a remarkable improvement since the addition of soulfly, and their charge towards the top of the rankings has been admirable. They've been much improved this year, and as we keep mentioning the fall-off of the teams above them, we're looking at them as a potential challenger to that top four.

They've shown their aptitude for such a role in the ecosystem, but failings on stage from their big players have historically held them back from the elite status they so desire. They've probably never been closer or had a better shot at getting there, so this is quite a big event for the Turks.

5. Are Legacy actually... good?

We have no idea.

Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe...

Legacy have had some incredible showings at big events this past 12 months, but we still have little to no clue as to whether or not these are random blips or the start of something interesting. Some big wins here and another top six apperance and we're probably on board.

Why couldn't they?