NAVI finally get one over Vitality to make semis in Atlanta

Are Vitality... finished?

No, obviously not - but it's a big step that they've lost a playoffs series to NAVI, who previously seemingly could not beat them no matter what.

The first two maps of this series were fantastic viewing - sort of; Dust 2 was filled with highlights, like ZywOo's dualies quad (after a one kill first half), b1t's 1v2 and Aleksib's 'inhuman reactions' flick on mezii, who did seem to have a knack of finding himself on the end of ridiculous shots. It did also, though, have lots of saving.

ZywOo went from one kill to 19 in the second half, which is largely how Vitality just nicked Dust 2 in round 24. It was his opposite number, w0nderful, who dragged NAVI over the line on Anubis with a superb performance. Five opening kills, eight multikills and over a kill per round helped see off a Vitality team who didn't look entirely comfortable on Anubis - though it should be said, neither did NAVI.

He was a demon once more on Inferno, w0nderful, as NAVI ended the game in remarkably anti-climactic fashion - which we're sure was a form of catharsis for Aleksib and co. ropz ended Inferno on just one kill - 1/20th as many as w0nderful, who was everywhere. Only flameZ hit double figures for Vitality, which was unthinkable a few months ago.

NAVI obliterated Vitality on Inferno, and deservedly move on to the semis.

An incredible first map performance from piriajr got paiN ahead in Atlanta, but nobody could step up and repeat it in the final two maps as GamerLegion held strong and earned themselves a shot at Legacy.

piriajr ended Overpass 33-8, including a devastating first round ace, flanking three GamerLegion members setting up for the B pop. Worryingly, nobody else on his team had more than 16 kills on this map, and nobody did for the rest of the series.

vsm had a pretty awful day at the office in truth, and his six kill haul on Nuke was one better than he managed on the map they won. PR had a field day on the defense, and Nuke was as one-sided as Overpass. vsm also bottom-fragged on Inferno, his time with 11, but it wasn't really his fault they lost this map. You'd be hard pressed to find a paiN player who did live up to the hype.

REZ, on the other hand, was superb on Inferno, and could probably have beaten paiN on his own.