The group stage of EMEA Stage 2 has concluded, and eight teams are set for playoffs.
The final week of matches played out as follows:
-
Natus Vincere
Natus Vincere
Europe
Rank #17
chloric
Caide Heaton
ExiT
Abdullah Al-Twaijri
Ruxic
Uğur Güç
hiro
Emirhan Kat
CyvOph
Clement Millard
2-1
KOI
KOI
Inactive
-
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #6
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Veqaj
Sylvain Pattyn
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
2-0
Apeks
Apeks
Inactive
-
Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Europe
Rank #4
koshmaras
Martynas Namikas
Wo0t
Mert Alkan
RieNs
Enes Ecirli
benjyfishy
Benjamin David Fish
Boo
Ričardas Lukaševičius
2-0
GIANTX
GIANTX
Europe
Rank #26
grubinho
Grzegorz Ryczko
westside
Miłosz Duda
Flickless
Karel Maeckelbergh
ara
Hanceriuc Eduard-George
-
Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Rank #1
Jamppi
Elias Olkkonen
PROFEK
Dawid Święć
Derke
Nikita Niko Sirmitev
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Sayonara
Ștefan Mîtcu
2-1
Gentle Mates
Gentle Mates
Europe
Rank #7
Proxh
Yusuf Emre Tunc
starxo
Patryk Kopczynski
bipo
Taranvir Singh
marteen
Martin Pátek
Minny
Patrik Hušek
-
BBL Esports
BBL Esports
Europe
Rank #5
Crewen
Ali Eren Sargin
Lar0k
Yusuf Kaan Kanber
Loita
Utku Kart
Rosé
Eren Erzan
lovers rock
Umut Pekdoğan
2-0
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #8
s0pp
Efe Tur
xeus
Doğan Gözgen
yetujey
Eray Budak
KROSTALY
Okan Alaçam
sociablEE
Volkan Yonal
-
Karmine Corp
Karmine Corp
Europe
Rank #25
dos9
Zhumagali Dastan
LewN
Burak Alkan
Avez
Hazem Khaled
SUYGETSU
Dmitry Ilyushin
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
2-1
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #24
purp0
Semyon Borchev
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak
Going into the week, there were five teams in contention for the final three playoff spots. In group Omega,
Natus Vincere
Natus Vincere
Europe
Rank #17
chloric
Caide Heaton
ExiT
Abdullah Al-Twaijri
Ruxic
Uğur Güç
hiro
Emirhan Kat
CyvOph
Clement Millard
and
Karmine Corp
Karmine Corp
Europe
Rank #25
dos9
Zhumagali Dastan
LewN
Burak Alkan
Avez
Hazem Khaled
SUYGETSU
Dmitry Ilyushin
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
sat with 2-2 records, with
KOI
KOI
Inactive
having an outside shot at playoffs with their 1-3 record.
NAVI quickly defeated KOI, shutting down their hopes and securing playoffs for themselves and Karmine Corp. KOI put up a fight, keeping it close on map one and even taking map two in overtime. Come map three of Ascent though, NAVI dismantled KOI, who was running the same agent composition as
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #6
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Veqaj
Sylvain Pattyn
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
, whom NAVI dealt with earlier in the stage.
With NAVI's win, group Omega was locked in, making Karmine Corp's game against
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #24
purp0
Semyon Borchev
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak
essentially moot. However, that didn't stop either team from putting on a show. Karmine Corp debuted their new player
pyrolll
, and with an insane performance from
SUYGETSU
, found the upset win over Team Liquid in a match that went to overtime on all three maps. Despite the big win, Karmine Corp will still start in the lower bracket of playoffs as the fourth seed.
Over in group Alpha,
Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Europe
Rank #4
koshmaras
Martynas Namikas
Wo0t
Mert Alkan
RieNs
Enes Ecirli
benjyfishy
Benjamin David Fish
Boo
Ričardas Lukaševičius
and
GIANTX
GIANTX
Europe
Rank #26
grubinho
Grzegorz Ryczko
westside
Miłosz Duda
Flickless
Karel Maeckelbergh
ara
Hanceriuc Eduard-George
dueled for the first seed, while
Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Rank #1
Jamppi
Elias Olkkonen
PROFEK
Dawid Święć
Derke
Nikita Niko Sirmitev
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Sayonara
Ștefan Mîtcu
and
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #8
s0pp
Efe Tur
xeus
Doğan Gözgen
yetujey
Eray Budak
KROSTALY
Okan Alaçam
sociablEE
Volkan Yonal
contended for the last playoff spot.
For the former affair, Heretics took an easy win for the first seed, with RieNs ' performance pushing him up to the highest rated player of the group stage. Additionally, the win marks Heretics' third stage of EMEA without losing a match in groups, a 17 match streak that started with Wo0t 's arrival on the team last year.
For the latter affair, the power was in FUT's hand to secure their playoff spot, as they were in a win-and-in situation. Vitality on the other hand had to both win their match and pray for FUT's loss. They did their part in a hard fought win over Gentle Mates, leaving it up to FUT vs.
BBL Esports
BBL Esports
Europe
Rank #5
Crewen
Ali Eren Sargin
Lar0k
Yusuf Kaan Kanber
Loita
Utku Kart
Rosé
Eren Erzan
lovers rock
Umut Pekdoğan
to decide who would get their shot at playoffs.
In Stage 1, the Turkish derby featured the longest ever map in VCT with the 48 Ascent game, where BBL edged out FUT on both maps. This time around was a similar story, save for the two hour long bout. FUT did their best to keep up, but BBL stayed ever so slightly ahead, as was the case all year long.
LewN has been a monster all year for BBL.With their loss, FUT, the perennial rock of consistency in EMEA will miss playoffs, and Vitality will take their shot at a run to Champions.
The bracket is set for playoffs.
FNATIC also took a quick win over
Apeks
Apeks
Inactive
this week, which secured a trip to Champions Paris. For Apeks, it unfortunately concludes their time in VCT EMEA having not found a single match win all year.
Stage 2 will continue with playoffs over the next two weeks, where EMEA's last three Champions representatives will be determined.



