Day two of the EMEA Stage 1 playoffs saw two teams qualifying to Masters London through the upper bracket. FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #6 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal ground out a 2-1 win over Eternal Fire Eternal Fire Europe Rank #4 Izzy Baran Yılmaz audaz Soner Ekiz Favian Enes Yiğiter echo Ömür Serkan Şenol nekky Anıl Dağdeviren in a Turkish derby, while Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #3 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu mounted a 9-3 comeback in the second map to take a 2-0 over FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #2 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski CyvOph Clement Millard Veqaj Sylvain Pattyn Alfajer Emir Ali Beder .

FUT emerges victorious in scrappy map three over Eternal Fire

The first match for London pitted the top two Turkish squads against each other, with s0pp and coach Vlad of FUT facing off against their former teammates that they won EMEA Ascension with as part of ULF Esports ULF Esports Inactive audaz Soner Ekiz nekky Anıl Dağdeviren Favian Enes Yiğiter .

The series began on Eternal Fire's pick of Pearl, where they beat Team Heretics 13-8 yesterday. Starting on their defense, they again showed their strength on the map with strong site holds and forward fights; a full Classic eco round in round eight also helped in what ended as an 8-4 defense half. An echo 1v3 in the second pistol round ensured a simple victory, bringing Eternal Fire up to 10-4 and then 13-5.

Ascent was even more dominant in the opposite direction. The Neon-Phoenix duo of s0pp and xeus blew past Eternal Fire's defensive setups on both sites to go up 9-3 on their attack side of the traditionally defense-sided map. Like Pearl, a double pistol round for FUT promised a quick end as sociablEE found a 3K in the final round to win the map 13-4.

On the final map of Split, Eternal Fire started out completely in control. FUT repeatedly attempted to take the A site and were repelled each time by the opponents in chaotic teamfights as Eternal Fire took a 5-2 lead. s0pp's Neon Judge led FUT to a Thrifty win in round 10, but two strong A floods with ultimates in the final rounds gave EF an 8-4 lead at halftime.

Going into the second half, however, EF found themselves running into the same issues that they gave FUT in the first. FUT had A on absolute lockdown, drawing the score all the way back to 10-10 and then seizing the lead at 11-10. echo collected a 4K to get EF to 11, but FUT won the final brawls to close out the map in regulation 13-11. s0pp ended with a server-high 24 kills in the map and 59 in the series with 17 total first bloods.

FUT will return to the global stage in London for the first time since Champions 2024 with an entirely different roster as they move on to the upper final. Eternal Fire go down to the lower bracket, with their next opponent being the winner of Team Liquid versus Gentle Mates.

Vitality achieves first-ever win over FNATIC to return to the global stage

FNATIC and Vitality faced off once again in a week two rematch for the second Masters spot. After eight losses to FNATIC over the past five years, Vitality finally defeated the Group Omega first seeds for the first time ever to earn their place in London.

The first map was FNATIC's pick of Breeze, which was a mirror match of Harbor-KAY/O compositions. The only difference was Derke on Jett versus kaajak on Neon, but the Jett made all the difference; Derke ran rings around his former team on defense, racking up 20 kills in one half primarily using the Outlaw and the Operator. Vitality steamrolled to a 9-3 half, taking the second pistol for a crushing 13-4 victory. Derke finished the map with an extraordinary 26/8/4 KDA, 392 ACS, and 2.09 rating.

Haven was Vitality's pick. At first, the map seemed poised to go in favor of FNATIC. After winning an eco round off of punishing the Mid walkdown from Vitality, they assumed a 5-2 lead that quickly spiraled into a 9-3 attacking side. kaajak had a strong half on Neon, leading the server at 16 kills at halftime.

Vitality worked their way back to even round by round, first with the pistol and the bonus. A Thrifty for FNATIC in round 16 looked as though it would halt Vitality's momentum, but a 2v4 from Jamppi and PROFEK two rounds later quickly brought Vitality to 10-10.

Vitality pressed forward and even had two chances to win in regulation, but FNATIC stood their ground to overtime. With both teams struggling on defense, victory favored Vitality, who won the first defense round to take match point and then closed out the map 15-13.

After a 2-3 group stage, Vitality are now 2-0 in the upper bracket, qualifying to their first international event since Masters Bangkok. FNATIC will join the ranks of the six other teams in the lower bracket fighting over the final Masters spot, set for a match against the winner against Heretics vs. BBL.

The EMEA Stage 1 playoffs turns to the lower bracket tomorrow with the following matchups:

• Team Heretics vs. BBL Esports (Lower Round 1)
• Team Liquid vs. Gentle Mates (Lower Round 1)