The first round of the EMEA Kickoff lower bracket played out today, with FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #19 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam baha Baha Gözmen AtaKaptan Ata Tan and PCIFIC Esports PCIFIC Esports Europe Rank #53 al0rante Felix Brandl cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qpert Mateja Mijovic NINJA Patryk Koczyba seven Johann Hernandez exiting the tournament in joint last place. Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #33 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan LewN Burak Alkan sheydos Bogdan Naumov Avez Hazem Khaled SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin defeated FUT in a chaotic 2-1, while ULF Esports ULF Esports Europe Rank #8 audaz Soner Ekiz d3mur Demir Boğa sturNN Eren Oduncular nekky Anıl Dağdeviren Favian Enes Yiğiter stunned PCIFIC in a convincing 2-0.

Karmine Corp knocks out FUT in scrappy 2-1

Karmine Corp and FUT both found themselves one loss away from elimination after chaotic but close losses to Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #26 purp0 Semyon Borchev wayne Wayne Chang MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin kamo Kamil Frąckowiak and FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder in the first round of the middle bracket. Another chaotic series this time went the way of Karmine Corp, keeping the French organization alive in the lower bracket.

The series began on Karmine Corp's pick of Haven, where FUT debuted a Viper composition with Waylay and Fade against Karmine Corp's unorthodox Yoru and Phoenix. Early on, Karmine Corp held the advantage, shutting down FUT's attack and going up 6-1. However, the half soon turned on its head after a 2v4 from yetujey and MrFaliN , ending at a much closer 7-5 in favor of Karmine Corp.

Converting numbers advantage situations continued to be an issue for Karmine Corp in the second half, starting with another 2v4 for FUT in the pistol round to draw the score at 7-7. Things stayed even until a low buy 3K from SUYGETSU gave Karmine Corp the leg up they needed to get to map point at 12-9.

Yet another 2v4 for FUT in the following round spurred them on to overtime, but Karmine Corp managed to stave off FUT and close it out 14-12. dos9 and Avez were the top fraggers for Karmine Corp, with dos9 finding a server-high 25 kills and Avez opening up rounds on Phoenix with seven first kills.

FUT took the next map to Split, where they seized their own early advantage with a 5-1 start. Karmine Corp recovered the half towards the end by leaning into successful B site executes, but both pistol rounds going FUT's way secured them a 9-5 lead. From there, FUT's double-Duelist attack proved too much for Karmine Corp to stop as FUT took the map 13-8.

Pearl was the decider. While both sides had made their fair share of errors throughout the first two maps, Karmine Corp looked more comfortable and coordinated than their opponents on Pearl, fighting together on their site holds and retakes to a 7-2 lead in the first half. FUT found their footing towards the end, leading to another 7-5, but a double pistol round win made things easy for Karmine Corp as they converted a 9-5 to a 13-7 win.

dos9 continued to stand out, ending the series with a 56/41/30 KDA and a 1.22 rating, while LewN racked up the most frags with 58 total kills and 14 first kills.

Karmine Corp holds on to their last life in the lower bracket and will next face Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #3 Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish ComeBack Berkcan Şentürk Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius on Thursday, February 5. The winner will eliminate the loser and go on play the loser of Natus Vincere versus FNATIC.

ULF runs over PCIFIC 2-0 in Ascension derby

The second match of the lower bracket pitted the two most recent EMEA Ascension-winning organizations against each other, albeit with ULF having two stand-ins and PCIFIC having a fully different roster than the one that originally ascended. After struggling in their opening matches, ULF found their first win in VCT with the aggression and individual prowess that defined their run through Ascension.

For the first map, ULF chose to play Split for the first time this season and opted into a double-Initiator composition with Waylay, Breach, and Fade against PCIFIC's KAY/O and Fade. Even with only one Duelist, ULF suffocated PCIFIC with fast site hits, leaving PCIFIC unable to respond as ULF led 9-3 at halftime.

PCIFIC won the second pistol round, but a sneaky flank from Favian denied the bonus round and led ULF to an easy 13-5 win.

d3mur ended the map at the top of the scoreboard as Waylay with 17 kills and 244 ACS, while audaz had the highest rating at 1.42 due to his 3-0 FK/FD ratio and consistent midround impact.

PCIFIC selected Abyss for the third time in a row as the second map of the series, which was another first-time showing on a map for ULF. Opting into unorthodox Waylay-Jett composition, the young Turkish squad's game plan continued to be one of brute force and overwhelming aggression. The Duelists Favian and d3mur led from the front, racking up 14 kills and three first kills each to secure ULF a 9-3 attacking half.

Individuals from PCIFIC narrowed the gap to 10-8 after a 1v4 from seven and a 2v4 from NINJA and al0rante , but the deficit proved too much to overcome as ULF eventually closed out the map 13-8, earning themselves a resounding 2-0 win.

ULF set themselves up for a battle versus Team Liquid on Thursday, where the winner will go on to challenge the loser of Team Vitality versus GIANTX.

EMEA Kickoff will carry on tomorrow with the middle bracket:

• Natus Vincere vs. FNATIC (Middle Round 3)
• Team Vitality vs. GIANTX (Middle Round 3)