The first week of action has wrapped up in EMEA Stage 1, with powerhouses returning to regional play with an air of dominance, while one rebuilt team begins its new era with a bang. One of the biggest viewing points of the first week was watching out for how teams coped with Valorant's post-Santiago Yoru nerfs, with each team taking their own approach to setting up comps. Here's how the matches played out in week one:

• FNATIC 2-1 Eternal Fire
• Team Liquid 2-0 Karmine Corp
• Team Vitality 2-0 GIANTX
• FUT Esports 2-1 Gentle Mates
• Natus Vincere 2-1 Team Heretics
• BBL Esports 2-0 PCIFIC Esports

With all 12 teams in the region tucking one match under their belts, here's a view at how the Group Alpha and Group Omega standings look:

Group Alpha

1. Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #9 purp0 Semyon Borchev wayne Wayne Chang MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin kamo Kamil Frąckowiak (1-0)

Team Liquid, one of the region's most well-suited teams to playing double-Duelist, continued to play MiniBoo and kamo in those roles, with the former on Neon and the latter on Phoenix. In the team's opening match against Karmine Corp, Liquid dominated 2-0, with in-game leader nAts on Killjoy for both maps.

The team put together a well-rounded performance, led by Controller player wayne , who had a joint-match-high 1.26 rating, while kamo had a series-high 38 kills.

2. FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #5 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal (1-0)

FUT has been one of the region's busiest teams post-Kickoff, with no fewer than nine changes made to its roster. In the end, none of the core members who started the 2023 season with FUT took to the stage in its opening match of Stage 1 against Gentle Mates. In a back-and-forth three-map series, FUT's approach to the new meta appeared to be the xeus -Waylay and s0pp -Neon pairing. Controller player sociablEE , who was picked up from NAVI, had a stellar debut for his team, leading with a game-high 53 kills and 1.30 rating while also having the second-most first kills of anybody in the lobby with 10.

3. Natus Vincere Natus Vincere Europe Rank #26 Filu Dawid Czarnecki chloric Caide Heaton ExiT Abdullah Al-Twaijri Ruxic Uğur Güç hiro Emirhan Kat ComeBack Berkcan Şentürk stand-in (1-0)

Along with FUT, NAVI has been busy in adjusting its roster, moving veteran Shao to the reserve roster, parting ways with sociablEE, and signing prospects chloric and ExiT . However, in the team's 2-1 win over Team Heretics, ExiT was not available due to visa delays, meaning NAVI relied on academy player Kolosha , who played with the team during EMEA Clash. In-game leader chloric, making his debut after previously playing in the North American Challengers and Collegiate scenes, had a dazzling debut with one of the early contenders for clutch of the year.

NAVI sealed a 2-1 win over Heretics, seemingly settling into a solo-Duelist comp with Chamber and a go-to Initiator, while hiro is on flex duties.

4. Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #12 koshmaras Martynas Namikas Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius (0-1)

In Team Heretics' loss to NAVI, a similar approach to the new meta was taken on, with ComeBack on Chamber for all three maps to suit his comfort level on the Operator, Wo0t as the Duelist, and benjyfishy as a secondary Controller across all three maps. ComeBack's 52 kills across all three maps paced the team, but the goal heading into week two will be how best to utilize the solo Duelist comp — woOt had a match-high 12 first kills, but also suffered 12 first deaths.

5. Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #8 starxo Patryk Kopczynski bipo Taranvir Singh marteen Martin Pátek GLYPH Conner Garcia Minny Patrik Hušek (0-1)

Gentle Mates, arguably boasting the world's best Yoru player in marteen , continued with its double-Duelist approach, with bipo on Neon and marteen splitting reps on Phoenix and Waylay. After picking up Pearl, the Mates struggled on Bind and Haven, giving up a 7-0 run to open the final map of the series and begin Stage 1 with a loss.

6. Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #118 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan LewN Burak Alkan Avez Hazem Khaled SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin N4RRATE Marshall Massey (0-1)

To open Stage 1, Karmine Corp reintroduced former player N4RRATE as part of a Tejo-centric double-Initiator approach. With Avez in the IGL seat, KC put him on Tejo, N4RRATE on Fade, and SUYGETSU on Vyse for both maps in the team's 2-0 loss to Liquid. In an approach that seems more suited for the meta one year ago, it remains to be seen if KC can reinvent itself in-game to catch up to the evolving meta.

Group Omega

1. Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #10 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu (1-0)

After suffering a setback in Kickoff, Vitality began Stage 1 dominantly, with the long-awaited VCT debut of Sayonara finally arriving. With Derke on Neon across both maps of a 2-0 win over GIANTX, the team took on a double-Controller comp on Haven and a double-Initiator comp on Pearl.

Vitality's next match of Kickoff is an eye-catching one, as it pits old friends with new foes as Derke and Chronicle go up against FNATIC.

2. BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #3 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Loita Utku Kart Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan (1-0)

BBL started the year perfectly at Kickoff, but faltered at Santiago, crashing out of the playoffs with a 1-2 record. In its bounce-back effort, BBL was matched up with PCIFIC, the team that it started its Kickoff campaign against. Lar0k , who in his short time in VCT has become one of the region's most topical players, shifted from Duelist to flex player for BBL, while lovers rock handled duties as the primary Duelist player in a double-Controller approach to Split and Breeze.

After taking down one Turkish team to start the stage, BBL will go up against another in Eternal Fire next week.

3. FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder (1-0)

In a match that was shaping up to be one of the best of the week, FNATIC traded punches with Eternal Fire in a 2-1 win, highlighted by two overtime maps leading into a blowout decider map for the EMEA blue bloods. FNATIC debuted a Harbor-Viper Breeze comp while flexing double-Duelist comps on Breeze and Bind with Alfajer on Iso and Waylay while kaajak played Neon.

On the decider map of Lotus, FNATIC dominated 13-2 with kaajak playing Waylay in a solo Duelist comp that flexed elements of vintage FNATIC, with Killjoy, Viper, and Omen rounding out the rest of the comp.

4. Eternal Fire Eternal Fire Europe Rank #4 Izzy Baran Yılmaz audaz Soner Ekiz Favian Enes Yiğiter echo Ömür Serkan Şenol nekky Anıl Dağdeviren (0-1)

EMEA's newest team impressed in its first test. Taking on the old ULF Esports ULF Esports Inactive audaz Soner Ekiz nekky Anıl Dağdeviren Favian Enes Yiğiter team's slot with four ULF players, Eternal Fire took FNATIC to three maps, seemingly running out of juice on map three, being blown out. Sentinel player echo , finally eligible after starting the year under 18, led the way for the Turkish squad, finishing with team-high marks with a 1.06 rating and 54 kills. Another tough matchup awaits EF, as BBL Esports is their assignment for week two of play.

5. PCIFIC Esports PCIFIC Esports Europe Rank #310 al0rante Felix Brandl cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qpert Mateja Mijovic NINJA Patryk Koczyba seven Johann Hernandez (0-1)

PCIFIC, for the second regional event in a row, was tasked with squaring off against BBL, the squad that has five former members of the old Ascension-winning BBL PCIFIC BBL PCIFIC Inactive core. In a 2-0 loss, PCIFIC showed signs of being tougher than its 0-3 Kickoff record suggested, pushing BBL to a tight 13-11 finish on Split and still seeming in the game on Breeze. After winning the pistol round to start defense, PCIFIC failed to hold its ground against a BBL force-buy, hijacking the rest of the map and the series.

6. GIANTX GIANTX Europe Rank #7 Cloud Kirill Nehozhin grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko westside Miłosz Duda Flickless Karel Maeckelbergh ara Hanceriuc Eduard-George (0-1)

Since breaking out in Stage 2 last year and clinching a Champions Paris slot, GIANTX has seemingly struggled to adapt, finishing 7th-8th at Kickoff. In a Group Omega that seems to have three powerhouses vying for the four playoff slots, GIANTX will look to work past the likes of PCIFIC and Eternal Fire for a playoff spot that will be fought for fiercely.

Up next

EMEA Stage 1 will continue next week with the following matches:

• PCIFIC Esports vs. GIANTX
• BBL Esports vs. Eternal Fire
• FNATIC vs. Team Vitality
• Team Liquid vs. Team Heretics
• FUT Esports vs. Natus Vincere
• Gentle Mates vs. Karmine Corp