Spirit and Vitality bank comfortable wins on the Rio stage

Spirit and Vitality both cruised into the semi-finals with consummate ease in a day overshadowed by FalleN's retirement.

We're seeing a very different version of Spirit at this event as tN1R seems to have had his shackles removed - be that because of hally's absence or just a tactical change - and he is repaying the faith shown in him with yet another extraordinary performance.

The Belarussian put a typically flat on stage MOUZ to the sword with 1 KPR over the whole series, and delightfully, 1 KPR exactly on both maps. This team with tN1R playing this is a serious threat, as every other team has a three-headed hydra and until now Spirit had just the two heads to play with; tN1r's resurgence makes them one of the most skilful and deadly teams in the entire world, and a meeting with Vitality could be beautiful.

MOUZ have consistently struggled to 'level up' in the playoffs, and torzsi today especially seemed to really struggle with the pressure, finding just 14 kills over the series. You need more than that from your AWPer to stop the rifle duo that Spirit possess.

In the end, it was very simple for Spirit. They had far more trouble with RED Canids.

Vitality were similarly unfazed as they cruised past what is usually a very tough NAVI team.

ZywOo was essentially unstoppable in this game, and seemed to just go wherever he wanted and kill everything in his path. He had 30 kills in a 17 round Mirage game. What are you supposed to do? You can't even criticise NAVI for that.

We'd be remiss not to mention the excellent, year-rolling-back performance of apEX, who ended Dust 2 with a 21-6 scoreline. When the IGL, and de facto 5th man, is dropping over a 3 K/D on one of the best teams in the world, you have to be a little scared for the rest of the competition.

makazze has been remarkably consistent for the past few months, and it's telling that he was the bottom fragger in this game. Very few can keep him quiet, even fewer can make him look so average.

This was a remarkably easy day at the office for Vitality, and Spirit, in truth.