The group stage of EMEA Ascension 2025 is over, whittling eight teams down to four for playoffs.

The format for the group stage featured GSL-style double-elimination groups, dividing the eight teams into two groups of four. Each group eliminated two teams and advanced two others to playoffs.

These teams were eliminated in the group stage:

In playoffs, the first seed from each group will face the second seed from the other in a single best-of-five match, with one Ascension slot awarded to the winner of each. Below are the four teams remaining in the tournament.

Group A

1. ULF Esports ULF Esports Europe Rank #4 audaz Soner Ekiz s0pp Efe Tur nekky Anıl Dağdeviren echo Ömür Serkan Şenol Favian Enes Yiğiter (2-0)

ULF entered Ascension as the first seed and a strong contender to ascend after winning Challengers EMEA Stage 3 in September. Their campaign began with a clean 13-9, 13-8 sweep over Joblife, who replaced Team RA'AD Team RA'AD MENA Rank #2 Shalaby Mohamed Shalaby Shniider Yousef Osama Kero Kerolos Talaat Depyro Nour Sherif SkaNoodles Yousef Mohamed Yassien Yassien Ahmed after RA'AD's removal from the event and had Kada and stonezy standing in for chiwa and purp0 on account of visa issues.

Their second match was a rematch of the Stage 3 grand final against DNSTY. They dropped their only map thus far on Sunset in a close 13-11, but recovered with a 13-10 on Abyss and a 13-9 on Ascent despite losing both pistol rounds to send themselves to the playoffs. Statistically, Favian leads the team overall in the flash Initiator role with a 1.25 rating, 1.26 K:D, and 0.48 APR.

nekky clutches up against DNSTY to gain the lead for his side on Abyss.

2. DNSTY DNSTY Europe Rank #12 waddle Wadir Taraki Tag Alessandro Voci Famsii Ramses Valentino Erasmus Koivukangas Ticey Theo Cranshaw Creamydreamy (2-1)

After taking a fairly one-sided 2-1 win over Enterprise and falling to ULF, DNSTY found themselves locked in a high-stakes decider versus Joblife. Despite losing the first map and five total pistols over the course of the series, the team distinguished themselves on Lotus and Abyss with two comfortable 13-8 map wins to secure their playoff spot.

waddle ranks the highest on the team by rating in the event with a 1.21 rating and a 1.31 K:D on Initiator, while Tag trails on Sentinel with a 1.10, although he leads by total clutches with six. Creamydreamy also stands out in his own way, leading the APR standings by a wide margin with 0.69.

Tag runs rings around ULF in a 1v3 ace.

Group B

1. BBL PCIFIC BBL PCIFIC Europe Rank #2 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Loita Utku Kart Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan (2-0)

With three of the same five players on the roster as their previous Ascension appearance, the EMEA Ascension 2024 runner-ups came out swinging with a dominant 13-6, 13-9 showing against FOKUS.

The group winner's match pitted them against Twisted Minds in a much closer affair, with the third map going 13-11 in BBL PCIFIC's favor. lovers rock had a standout series, going 28/11 on Haven and 59/40 overall, while Loita currently leads the team across the tournament with a 1.25 rating and 1.30 K:D.

Lar0k and Loita mow down all five from Twisted Minds in tandem.

2. Mandatory Mandatory Europe Rank #15 Enzo Enzo Mestari mikee Michael Lim keloqz Cista Wassim TakaS Jonathan Paupard (2-1)

The only team of the four to lose their opening game after a contested 2-0 defeat to Twisted Minds, the all-French squad rallied on the brink of elimination with a quick win over FOKUS, securing themselves an immediate rematch in the group decider. Flipping the script, Mandatory swept Twisted Minds with relative ease, booking their tickets to a fateful match against ULF.

TakaS nails four sharp shots to fend off FOKUS by himself.

The dynamic Duelist duo of keloqz and TakaS was on fire throughout the group stage, ranking first and second respectively by ACS, ADR, and KPR. keloqz in particular, who previously played for the likes of G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive and Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #5 Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish ComeBack Berkcan Şentürk Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius in the past, leads in an astounding six statistical categories with a 1.34 rating, 266 ACS, 1.66 K:D, 80% KAST, 169 ADR, and 1.00 KPR.

Playoffs

Only two matches are left to play in EMEA Ascension as all four teams stand one win away from VCT EMEA. The schedule for the remaining matches is as follows: