Five things we learnt from IEM Rio

Another tournament, another win for Vitality. On paper, we learnt nothing - but in reality, we have quite a bit to discuss following IEM Rio, and its impact on the rest of the year.

1. Vitality are beatable… until they aren’t.

We finally saw Vitality bleed, and it was, as it has so often been, Falcons who toppled them. There’s just one issue - that was an essentially meaningless group stage game (in that all it did was put Vitality in the quarter-finals, simply delaying the inevitable) and in the playoffs they once more looked infallible. Was this just a blip in a half-dead rubber, or a sign of the creaking foundations holding up Vitality?

If we had to guess, we’d suggest the former - but Falcons’ ineptitude in the semi-final against a Spirit team they’d beaten comfortably in the groups means we’ll never know if kyxsan really had the secret sauce to beat Vitality on stage.

2. Changes are happening, but way too late

Why did MOUZ wait until April to change their roster? Why are Falcons changing now? Are Spirit seeing the light? Who knows, but it’s way too late. These changes could and should have happened months ago. Everyone knew they had to catch Vitality and instead chose to tread water.

In MOUZ’ case, they’ve waited until there’s no time to sign a real replacement or sell Jimpphat, making it an even dumber move. Spirit found the move they need to make by accident (spoiler alert: when multiple IGLs have the same issue, it might be a coaching problem!) and even then they might need more.

Why have we waited until Major slots were locked in?

3. Aurora - a paper contender

It was fun seeing Aurora as a contender for a little bit, and we mused on whether their rise to the top four was about genuine improvement or more to do with the fall-off of the big boys. With Spirit, Falcons and MOUZ all improving at this event, we saw Aurora back where they belong as the ‘best of the rest’ but not a real contender.

Which is a shame, but it’s not like they were ever a true threat to Vitality either. soulfly has been a legitimately excellent pick-up so far, but they probably need either a woxic or Wicadia upgrade (or XANTARES to become a stage demon at 31) to truly threaten.

Sorry, Turkish fans.

4. Form is temporary, m0NESY is permanent

molodoy took the world by storm last year and seemed to be the best contender to ZywOo’s throne by virtue of being the only aggressive AWPer left in a world of cookie cutter clones. Everyone else was trying to be ZywOo and doing it worse, while molodoy carved his own path and was one of the best in the world.

The issue is that he has fallen off a little bit after the initial explosion, likely as people actually look for his repeeks now, and the drop off is remarkable. Meanwhile, m0NESY has refound his form and reminded us that he’s not just flavour of the month, and his style is repeatable, sustainable and he has the raw skill to do what molodoy does whilst having that to fall back on.

That’s not a slight on molodoy - m0NESY is better than nearly everyone. In Rio, he was better than literally everyone. A magnificent player.

5. A crisis in North America… sort of

Passion UA were absolutely awful without Senzu, and chief among that was nicx, who has never looked more out of his depth than he did in Rio. The final map against B8 looked like a level 4 FACEIT player in a level 10 lobby. It’s not surprising that the weakest member of the every continent team comes from North America, but it is something of an indictment of the region.

Similarly, Liquid are rubbish, and NAF is still struggling. EliGE wasn’t much better in far better roles, and frighteningly, ultimate ended as their highest rated player. malbsMd must be wondering why on Earth he joined this team, and quickly Googling ‘best Guatemalan teams CS2’ on the flight home.