What the fuck just happened?

Don't ask CYPHER, he's no more clued in than the rest of us.

"It feels like a dream, I've got no idea what's going on. I can't believe it."

"It's unbelievable to even think we've made a Major, never mind beating FaZe and ENCE-" CYPHER's voice breaks from excitement, even ten minutes after the final game.

He can barely get the end of the sentence out, but he does manage to blurt out "in a fucking arena".

Fair to say he's excited.

The miracle run

Who can blame him? When they met FaZe in a 0-1 game, it seemed like they'd be in trouble - but the first of their magic tricks was to overcome the former Major champs.

They pulled another rabbit out of the hat against ENCE, though, and that's simultaneously the moment it started to become real, but also become a bit... well, surreal.

CYPHER told us the moment he started to believe was when they beat FaZe, but even then, it's a crazy thing to think about.

Michal Konkol

"As soon as we beat FaZe, we knew we could fucking do it. We knew we were going to own everyone who got in our way, mostly we did.

"We don't talk about Liquid. We don't talk about Liquid. Never happened," he smiled.

What is a great story without some strife, though? ITB had Team Liquid on the ropes on Overpass - a map that by all accounts, looked heavily Liquid-favoured pre-game - but failed to convert a strong start.

"Honestly, we just said move on from that game."

The final throes

And move on, they did. They had a third, final magic trick. The hat trick.

volt told BLAST.tv: "that game was the craziest way we could have qualified. It had everything, the reverse sweep, one-sided maps for us, I don't know what to say, it was unreal."

fnatic came out of the blocks and it was fellow anglo gamer mezii who helped shut down volt and rallen.

"Me and rallen, for example, we started off really slowly, we couldn't really get into the game.

"Even though the second map was Overpass, and our win rate on it is really bad, we thought "we have to do it now. We can't just give up and lose"".

And bloody hell, did they "do it".

Michal Konkol

We're allowed to use that phrase in *this* article, surely.

"Aim wise, we're much stronger than them, and it kind of showed in those last two maps" was what volt told us, but it was more than that. It was a complete shutdown of the fnatic offence on Overpass.

ITB picked up 14 of the 15 rounds in the first half, to push it to their home map, Vertigo.

To give you an example of how comfortable they are on this map, when asked what volt told himself before map three to psych himself up, his answer was: "we're playing Vertigo. That's what I said."

He also said there was "no doubt" that CYPHER was the best A ramp player in the world on T side, with more than a smirk adorning his face.

Michal Konkol

For him, beating fnatic was "super insane" and he "didn't expect to ever play against fnatic at a Major, never mind knock them out to qualify for playoffs" after he left fnatic Academy earlier this year.

The results were explosive. ITB pulled off another crazy half, this time on the T side, as CYPHER and CRUC1AL tore fnatic to shreds.

CYPHER told us he was "just running at people and headshotting", and that that is all that ever goes through his head.

Methinks he might be selling himself a little short.

fnatic were down and out, and perhaps the most surprising aspect of this was that the win was so dominant on the decider, that the winning moment almost felt anti-climactic.

The next step

What won't be, though, is ITB in the arena. The lights, cameras and the pressure is entirely different, but CYPHER has a plan to deal with it.

Well, perhaps 'plan' is too grandiose a term.

"Honestly, the same way I did here. No pressure, just drinking coke with no pressure. Just running at people. Again."

CYPHER let us know that he "wanted to cry, lowkey" after the victory, but only after he'd made it clear that it's "always good to make French people cry".

Michal Konkol

That was in reference to him wanting a Vitality-less GamerLegion vs ITB final, which seems like he might be thinking a tiny bit too far ahead - there's a quarter-final still to come.

Both CYPHER and volt have similar ideas on who they want to play in the quarter-finals, as both used a very similar phrasing.

"Maybe we can get revenge on Team Liquid" was volt's offering, while CYPHER had the more assertive "I'm down for the revenge on Team Liquid".

Watch your back, North America. The English are coming. Even if they have to go through everyone else first.

And honestly?

They might just be able to do it.

God save the king.