In the second day of Group A play in the EMEA Kickoff event, Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #22 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjy David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius advanced to the playoffs over Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #8 MAGNUM Martin Penkov tomaszy Tomás Machado N4RRATE Marshall Massey marteen Martin Pátek sh1n Ryad Ensaad , and FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #3 MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban eliminated GIANTX GIANTX Europe Rank #24 purp0 Semyon Borchev Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin to stay alive. An array of blowout maps may have dampened the excitement, but the matches set up huge stakes for the rest of the event.

Heretics decimate KCorp

Heretics and KCorp formed new rosters and battled in the offseason, and Heretics were dominated at their own event. This time around, Heretics were hungry for revenge. Back-to-back 13-4 victories sent them to the playoffs of Kickoff, just one win away from an international berth.

The Boo brothers once again lit up the scoreboard, but it was a complete and dominant team effort by the team with a substitute player.

Heretics had all the reads on Split. They maneuvered into defensive stacks wherever KCorp wanted to go and completely shut down any aggression. In contrast, Heretics walked into completely open sites on the first two rounds of their own attack.

MiniBoo dominated the server with as many multikills as all of KCorp combined to go along with a perfect 5-0 opening kill record. Heretics easily converted their opponent's map pick 13-4.

Despite a dominant showing from KCorp on Lotus earlier in the group, Heretics still picked into it. KCorp started their attack with a quick 4-1 start, but then the defensive adjustments came through from Heretics, and the attackers got no more rounds. Heretics took Rubble control early which allowed them to rotate their players to defend the other side of the map while funneling their opponents, and KCorp never broke open that setup.

Heretics did not let their foot off the gas as they ran away with a second straight 13-4. MAGNUM finished with zero kills in an absolute dud of a performance both individually and as an IGL.

With the win, Heretics secured a top-four berth in the playoffs, one win away from a miraculous first international appearance. A homeground “international” debut from the Spanish organization would be an unprecedented turnaround for a team that looked completely lifeless last year.

FUT eliminate Giants

Both FUT and Giants had high expectations coming into 2024. Both teams reached last year's Champions event and retained their cores through the offseason. Unfortunately, both also lost in the opening matches of Group A to set up an elimination duel that would send one team into a month-long break just days after a six month offseason.

Against Heretics, FUT brought two agent compositions that had never been seen on the played maps before. Coming into Split, they calmed things down but still brought a cNed Chamber in to play.

A pistol win got Giants' attack started on the right foot, but FUT made sure to end the half right. A round 10 thrifty win from FUT broke open the floodgates for an 8-4 halftime lead. Giants completely crumbled to lose the map 13-6.

FUT were led by a consistent kill per round average from a rookie yetujey . Cloud continued the tournament trend of being Giants only consistent performer. His map leading 20 kills couldn't bail out a disastrous team effort.

Continuing their mission to leave no agent composition left unplayed, FUT chose chaos on Icebox by bringing Phoenix, Chamber, and Fade, all unconventional picks forming the core of a five agent lineup never before seen in tracked professional games on any map.

Giants looked like they were going to run away with their attack before another 10th round thrifty from FUT broke things open. Despite dominating the gun rounds, it took a 1v3 Sheriff clutch from Cloud to salvage a halftime advantage for Giants.

On a map which revolves around extremely open and difficult spike plants, FUT's composition gave them very few tools to work with on their attack. Nearly every round was an uphill struggle to get any space to plant, and Giants easily rolled to a 13-8 victory.

Facing elimination, FUT came into Sunset firing on all cylinders. They repeatedly launched successful attacks on the B site for six rounds in a row before Giants found the solution of adding extra B defenders and retaking A. It took until the final round of the half before FUT finally got to seven.

Giants ran out of steam in a second half rout, leading to a 13-7 FUT victory. Every member of FUT finished with more kills than all of Giants except for MrFaliN who sat at the bottom but IGL'd his team to victory.

Giants have been eliminated, and will not play until Stage 2 in April. FUT survive to face off against KCorp for a shot at the Play-In stage.

Banner image by Michal Konkol/Riot Games