ULF Esports sweeps Mandatory, ascends to VCT EMEA 2026

The second-last day of VCT EMEA Ascension has ended, as ULF Esports ULF Esports Europe Rank #4 audaz Soner Ekiz s0pp Efe Tur nekky Anıl Dağdeviren echo Ömür Serkan Şenol Favian Enes Yiğiter secured the first EMEA Ascension slot in VCT 2026 by sweeping Mandatory Mandatory Europe Rank #15 Enzo Enzo Mestari mikee Michael Lim keloqz Cista Wassim TakaS Jonathan Paupard 3-0. It was a dominant game for the young Turkish squad, who ran through plenty of experience on Mandatory to earn a VCT slot.

In terms of recent form, ULF were the team in this matchup that won both games in the group stage and earned the first playoff slot in Group A, defeating both Joblife Joblife Europe Rank #17 chiwa Egor Stepanyuk loan purp0 Semyon Borchev CyvOph Clement Millard loan starxo Patryk Kopczynski Kada Thomas Johner stonezy Albert Makushev and DNSTY DNSTY Europe Rank #12 waddle Wadir Taraki Tag Alessandro Voci Famsii Ramses Valentino Erasmus Koivukangas Ticey Theo Cranshaw Creamydreamy . Mandatory fought harder to get here, getting sent to the elimination game in Group B by Twisted Minds Twisted Minds MENA Rank #1 Zimo ExiT Abdullah Al-Twaijri Sand Mark Emad , only to sweep both FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #32 and the rematch against Twisted Minds to get to this match. ULF was the relatively new Turkish squad trying to make their mark, while Mandatory had plenty of former tier one talent and experience tier two talent, including an former Ascension winner in TakaS .

The maps were set, as ULF picked Haven and Ascent while Mandatory picked Sunset and Abyss, leaving the potential final map as Corrode.

Starting on Haven, both teams ran double-Duelist compositions, but ULF opted for Neon while Mandatory ran Yoru. ULF won a 2v2 fight to win the first pistol, but Mandatory got early kills on the ULF bonus round to stop that potential conversion and earn a round win. Enzo nearly pulled out an unbelievable 1v3 clutch with an Odin, but ULF took advantage of some Mandatory mistakes to extend an early lead. Favian was styling on Waylay alongside s0pp on Neon, with Mandatory struggling against the aggressive defense from ULT. It looked like another easy post-plant win for ULF, but gravity assisted a 1v2 from HyP in a comedic round win.

Even with that mistake, s0pp still ended off the half strong, helping ULF reach halftime up 8-4 with 18 kills. ULF won its second pistol on Haven off a nekky triple kill, and ended Haven perfectly to win map one 13-4.

Sunset had to be a bounce-back from Mandatory, as the team chose a double-Sentinel composition with Chamber and Sage. ULF instead opted for double-Initiator with Sova and Breach, but were unable to keep their pistol wins going as HyP won a tight 1v1 clutch to earn Mandatory their first lead of the series. ULF did stop the bonus conversion, and a chaotic late round take led to a nekky triple kill and a 2-2 tie early on Sunset. Once again, s0pp stood out on Neon to retake the lead, keeping the pressure on Mandatory to chain together their first streak of the series.

That streak started with some tight round wins, but Enzo was the catalyst as Mandatory entered the half up 7-5. The team kept that momentum up by winning the second pistol, but ULF won the eco round to stop the run. Mandatory kept the lead by winning round 16, but the lead eventually disappeared late into Sunset. Both teams started trading rounds, and s0pp broke ankles on Neon to tie the map 11-11.

Overtime was on the cards for Sunset, and ULF looked in control the whole time. Even after stretching the game past 13-13, ULF were flawless in the final round to win Sunset 15-13 and take a dominant 2-0 series lead.

Ascent was the first opportunity for ULF to win the series, running double-Initiator with Sova and KAY/O while Mandatory stuck to double-Duelist. ULF won a fast pistol round, but were unable to win the bonus. The attack side looked clean from ULF, not letting that bonus round loss change the plan. ULF extended the lead to 5-1 before a rescue round from HyP won Mandatory a thrifty. That win mattered a lot, as Mandatory won four rounds in a row to tie the map 5-5. Mandatory's momentum proved hard to stop, ending the half up 7-5.

However, Mandatory's last 7-5 halftime lead disappeared quickly, and they had no choice but to do better on Ascent if the team wanted to earn the first VCT EMEA 2026 Ascension slot. ULF won the pistol to cut the lead away fast, and won a clutch to convert the pistol and snatch the momentum away. It took until round 18 for Mandatory to win their first attack round, down 10-8. This was the final call for Mandatory to start the reverse sweep, but it never came to be. ULF won Ascent 13-8 and the series 3-0, sweeping their way into VCT EMEA 2026.

It was a perfect end for ULF and their star duelist s0pp, who easily was the best performer in the sweep. Playing both Neon and Jett, he ended the series with a 1.38 rating, 74 kills, 298 ACS, and an absurd 22 first kills. The next best player in the lobby for that final stat was Enzo with 8 first kills, showing how aggressive s0pp was in the victory.

There still remains one more game for VCT EMEA 2025 Ascension, as two teams will be ascending into VCT from this tournament. The final match of the tournament is 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 against DNSTY, which also means that there is an opportunity for two Turkish tier two teams to ascend into VCT 2026 after ULF's win.