The second day of the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Playoffs saw one of the hottest Play-In teams continue their run while the group stage's biggest shock kept the momentum up after almost three weeks on the sidelines.

Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #7 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan LewN Burak Alkan Avez Hazem Khaled SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin N4RRATE Marshall Massey downed the Enterprise Esports Enterprise Esports Europe Rank #1 MAGNUM Martin Penkov iluri Ilari Puranen Lime Jacob Foster paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kozzy Denis Stefan Aionitoaei hype train in three maps to continue its mid-season resurgence, while FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #3 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal defeated BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #6 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Loita Utku Kart Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan 2-1 in a Turkish derby to qualify for Champions Shanghai.

Karmine Corp derails the Enterprise hype train in three maps

Enterprise's story has been hard to ignore over the last few weeks. The team, consisting of one of the region's most hyped-up young Duelists in kozzy and former VCT players MAGNUM and paTiTek , has taken VCT EMEA by storm. EP entered its matchup against KC with a 47-5 record in 2026, including a perfect 6-0 against VCT teams across EMEA Clash and the Play-Ins.

Karmine Corp, on the other hand, has been the story of Stage 2. After picking up just one win through the first two splits of the year, the team has reinvented itself seemingly overnight under coach-turned-head coach ZE1SH . Les Bleus went 4-1 in the group stage to earn a bye into the playoffs, and kept up that pace against EP.

On Haven, KC's winningest map in all competitions this year, mirror Phoenix-Neon comps engineered one of the more defense-sided Havens we've seen all year. KC entered halftime up 8-4, but stumbled out of the gates in the second half, nearly losing the lead before closing things out 13-10.

Filthy four from Avez .

A day after stealing Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #2 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu 's Abyss, EP picked Abyss, sticking with its Astra-Harbor double-Controller comp. KC, in its first appearance on the map since its return to the map pool, stuck with the Astra-Omen comp it last used in Kickoff. While the match was all-square after KC's attack half, EP's own attack proved to be too much, with kozzy dropping 14 of his 25 kills on that side of the map en route to a 13-9 win.

KC will have walked out of the map-ban process with some confidence, and with good reason. In their last seven appearances on Lotus, the decider map, the team had taken six wins in all competitions. With N4RRATE on Chamber and LewN on Neon, KC blitzed EP out of the gates just one day after the Tier 2 champs did the same to Vitality. A run of six straight rounds gave Les Bleus attackers the early lead, and they never let go. A 9-3 lead was closed out smoothly after winning the second-half pistol to close out the map 13-6.

FUT qualifies for Shanghai at BBL's expense

In an all-Turkish brawl, FUT continued its winning ways, which it will now look to carry over to Masters Shanghai after being the first team in the region to qualify thanks to a hefty lead in the Championship Points standings. BBL, after going a dominant 4-1 in the group stage, suffered just its second loss of Stage 2, with both coming at the hands of FUT.

After FUT narrowly toughed out a 13-11 win over Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #14 purp0 Semyon Borchev nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin kamo Kamil Frąckowiak trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Kicks Kimmie Laasner the day before, BBL picked the map and seemingly had the read on how to beat FUT. While FUT had the same unorthodox Neon-Raze comp with IGL sociablEE on Breach, BBL pulled out a Yoru-Waylay comp reminiscent of the meta that dominated last year's Champions event.

On Yoru duties, lovers rock could not put a foot wrong on Summit. He recorded a map-high 29 kills, with 11 coming by way of the Operator. While FUT still found some success in its retakes behind some sharp shooting from the likes of KROSTALY , it struggled on its own attack, getting shut down in a 13-8 loss.

This year, FUT is 11-2 on Haven. The double-dive, Jett-Waylay comp that it has settled into has given opposing teams fits this year, with BBL just the latest victim. If lovers rock was the man to be feared on Summit, it was his counterpart s0pp on Haven. The former ULF Esports ULF Esports Inactive audaz Soner Ekiz nekky Anıl Dağdeviren Favian Enes Yiğiter went band for band with lovers rock, dropping a map-high 29 kills with a perfect 7-0 record in first engagements to lead FUT to an easy 13-6.

Gira, s0pp, Gira!

Red-hot after a dominant win, FUT kept its foot on the gas. While the team has struggled to find its identity on Ascent this year, going through a few comp changes, it had no issues with BBL's double-Sentinel on this occasion. Against a Cypher-Deadlock comp that gives fits to many teams, FUT claimed seven rounds on attack before executing a clean sweep on defense to win the map 13-5.

Up next

Karmine Corp and FUT Esports have sealed their spots in Barcelona to square off for a spot in the Grand Final, but FUT has already qualified for Shanghai. With the win over BBL, FUT has guaranteed a top-three finish, and with the top spot in the Championship Points standings already claimed, will go to Shanghai.

KC and FUT will have a week to prepare for each other while the lower bracket gauntlet begins. Enterprise will take on the winning team between Liquid and fellow Challengers side Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt Europe Rank #5 musashi Alessio Xhaferi azury Luca Sammer Jamelinho213 Ryad Bentot Fizzy David Figueiredo MONSTEERR Ondřej Petrů , while BBL will take on either Vitality or Turkish squad Fire Flux Esports Fire Flux Esports Europe Rank #4 batujnax Mehmet Batu Özaslan hezacoil Berkay Doğar Kachoww Samet Arıcı DeadInk Utku Onur Aydin reazy Kaan Ürpek .

EMEA Stage 2 will continue with the following matches: