Vitality edge out G2 as Falcons smash Spirit - IEM Rio Day Two

We're not sure what the bigger shock was; Vitality dropping a map, or donk having a four kill map against Falcons.

G2 picked up the first map in dominant fashion, with HeavyGod - whom we described as looking lethargic yesterday - having a superb performance. He was joined by MATYS and NertZ who were also excellent, as you need more than one superstar performance to beat the best team of all time. G2 also had two chances to win the series outright 2-0, but you can't put Vitality away that easily.

ZywOo and flameZ combined for 17 kills on Mirage, but then 56 on Inferno. You don't get two bad maps in a row from those two.

Dust 2 was similarly close, but once more, Vitality showed why they don't lose, seemingly ever. ropz and mezii had one of their grand final performances, which shows how close G2 ran them, even without huNter-.

Things didn't go quite so well for Spirit, who were soundly beaten by a Falcons team finding their form just days after it being reported that they're going to change their IGL. Oops.

donk went 4-16 on Mirage in his lowest rated map ever, and just 17 kills in the whole series, with the two AWPers dropping 30 each. Who says CS2 AWPing is dead?

FURIA bested NAVI in one of the best maps of the year, including a monumental comeback from 8-1 down.

Just like yesterday, NAVI swapped stomps in the opening two maps, smashing FURIA on Mirage and getting hammered back on Dust 2, but Nuke was a completely different story.

NAVI picked up nine rounds on the T side, including eight of the first nine rounds, with makazze in particular flexing his muscles and Aleksib not far behind, but Aleksi completely fell apart on the CT side as FURIA stampeded the defence straight back and forced OT. NAVI's CT woes continued into OT, as FURIA grabbed three more on the bounce to take the series against what has been the de facto second best team in the world of late.

MOUZ' group stage exit in Rotterdam appears to have been nothing but a blip, as they coasted past Aurora with the supposedly outgoing Brollan leading the charge. Still time to change your mind fellas.

In the elimination games, Liquid predictably capitulated against 3DMAX from a great position, losing map one in OT from 8-4 up before offering very little on Ancient. Everyone's favourite punching bag ultimate was actually probably Liquid's best player throughout the series and offered them hope in hopeless rounds, but man advantages did not look clean at any point in the series, with one particularly egregious round loss on Ancient.

It was joy for one Brazilian team as RED Canids outlasted a lacklustre Gentle Mates team, but despair for Legacy who were 2-0'd by a HOTU team who did not look very good yesterday.

They got smacked around by n0rb3r7, man. Legacy make zero sense.

B8 dispatched of a disparate Passion UA team in two, in what was a pretty depressing watch. nicx had 0 kills on Mirage until the final round, where he picked up two kills in a losing round, which basically summed up Passion UA's whole game.