The greatest team of all time win a second Intel Grand Slam in Rio

What we are witnessing right now is not normal.

Team Vitality's stranglehold on elite level Counter-Strike tightens and tightens, with arguments against them being the best team of all time becoming harder and harder to fathom. That taking a map off of them is an achievement, and a series off them as they go on to win the tournament a feat worthy of celebration, is testament to the Goliath they have morphed into.

They don't always win in dominant fashion, they are not always the prettiest team to watch, they are not always at their peak level; but what they are is capable of winning a game in every situation, no matter the odds against. They can win from behind, they can win on your map pick, they can win without their stars, and they can also just absolutely blitz you in 16 rounds and win like that.

Today's grand final was proof of that. They won map one from 11-8 in a grindy game that went to OT, held off Spirit on Nuke with 9 CT rounds after a poor first half with apEX going from 3-9 on the T side to 13-4 on the CT side, and then stomped Spirit on the sandy walkways of Dust 2. Three different styles of games, but the same result in all of them. Vitality just find a way to win.

ropz, as he so often does, levelled up massively in the grand final and dragged Vitality kicking and screaming to a map one win they probably didn't really deserve.

Spirit looked the better team for most of the map, but a stream of multikills from the Estonian kept Vitality in the game, and once it went to overtime, the outcome almost felt inevitable. Give Vitality a chance to get back in it, and they will not do the same.

magixx once more hit a groove on Nuke, reminiscent of his grand final performance in Spirit's Major win, but it wasn't enough to pull a weak performance from his star duo through and instead saw ZywOo and ropz dovetail for 43 kills. It seemed like Spirit were winning every clutch, but Vitality kept finding advantageous positions (which is sort of why Spirit were able to win so many clutches) and eventually that told.

zont1x after a poor first map won two - what felt like - very important clutches, and yet it mattered naught in the end.

At 2-0, Vitality raced into a 5-0 lead on the CT side of Dust 2, and what came next was as predictable as it was impressive. Vitality were ruthless, and trampled Spirit en route to a second Grand Slam.

Which is, quite frankly, ridiculous.