GIANTX sweeps BBL for the final Champions spot

In the lower final of EMEA Stage 2, GIANTX GIANTX Europe Rank #8 Cloud Kirill Nehozhin grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko westside Miłosz Duda Flickless Karel Maeckelbergh ara Hanceriuc Eduard-George dominated BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #6 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan MAGNUM Martin Penkov in a 3-0 sweep to earn their place at Champions Paris. They are the sixteenth and final team to qualify, and will join Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #3 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak , FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder , and Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #2 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius in representing EMEA.

Just one day earlier, BBL were only one round away from qualifying to Champions, but a nAts ace denied them that opportunity. Just like in Kickoff and Stage 1, Team Liquid were the ones to gatekeep BBL from the international stage, forcing them down to the lower bracket to face GIANTX.

Few believed in GIANTX's chances at Champions. They had a rough Kickoff and Stage 1, but the additions of ara and Flickless breathed new life into the team, and they came out strong in Stage 2. Even so, with only one championship point before Stage 2, they would have to make the top two to qualify to Champions, an impossible-looking task with the top three of EMEA seeming so far ahead of the pack. Nevertheless, GIANTX leveled up in playoffs and completed the run all the way to the grand final, earning not only a spot at Champions, but a top two seed from EMEA.

In three out of four of GIANTX's playoff matches, they got absolutely stomped on the first map. They lost 13-5 against Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #14 ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky alexiiik Alex Hawlasek Ruxic Uğur Güç hiro Emirhan Kat , 13-4 against Team Liquid, and then 13-6 again against NAVI. So, when GIANTX came out and dominated BBL on map one with a 13-2 scoreline, it was clear they were a different beast today. Their Ascent defense was completely impregnable, with westside and Cloud holding down the B site, while ara's Operator shut down any A hits.

Map two of Sunset hardly went any better for BBL, as the first half ended with them down 3-9. Out of the five rounds they had won at that point, none of them had been consecutive, meaning they were never able to build any sort of momentum. All of GIANTX was firing on all cylinders, while BBL was constantly making costly mistakes.

Finally, in the second half of the map, BBL started showing some life. With their first pistol round of the series, they began making the comeback. A 2v4 from Jamppi and sociablEE helped close the gap down to 8-10, but that was the last round they would see before GIANTX closed out the map 13-8.

The last map of the series was Bind, where it finally looked like BBL was going to keep up with GIANTX in the first half. While they still lost the pistol, they managed to keep it close, and were even the better team on buy rounds in the half. However, two eco rounds kept GIANTX in the lead, ending the half with a 7-5 scoreline.

When GIANTX moved to the attack side, BBL were helpless, as Bind turned into ara's playground. In the end, the rookie that came in to revitalize GIANTX's season was the one to deliver the death blow to BBL, and send his team to Champions. With a 4k to cap off an incredible series and playoffs run, ara brought his team over the line to win map three 13-6, completing the 3-0 sweep.

For the first time since 2023, GIANTX will be featured at a global event, soon to take the stage at Champions Paris. For grubinho and the three rookies, ara, Flickless, and westside, it will be their first time on the international stage. Tomorrow, GIANTX will face Team Liquid in the grand final to decide who will win first seed and lift the EMEA Stage 2 trophy.