The EMEA Stage 2 playoffs continued today with the first do-or-die matches of the lower bracket. Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #5 nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin GSR Ognjen Bondžić kamo Kamil Frąckowiak trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Kicks Kimmie Laasner destroyed Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt Europe Rank #6 musashi Alessio Xhaferi azury Luca Sammer Jamelinho213 Ryad Bentot Fizzy David Figueiredo MONSTEERR Ondřej Petrů in maps two and three to advance, while Fire Flux Esports Fire Flux Esports Europe Rank #3 batujnax Mehmet Batu Özaslan hezacoil Berkay Doğar Kachoww Samet Arıcı DeadInk Utku Onur Aydin reazy Kaan Ürpek claimed a statement win over Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #4 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu to send them home early and throw their Champions Shanghai qualification chances into jeopardy.

Team Liquid routs Eintracht Frankfurt in one-sided 2-1

Following a loss to FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 s0pp Efe Tur xeus Doğan Gözgen yetujey Eray Budak KROSTALY Okan Alaçam sociablEE Volkan Yonal in uppers, Liquid found themselves up against an SGE squad who had made it through play-ins after knocking out the likes of Team Heretics and Eternal Fire. All three maps in the 2-1 series were one-sided, with Liquid emerging victorious in back-to-back 13-1 maps to take the series.

SGE started fully in control on their map pick of Lotus. Liquid's attack side appeared somewhat disjointed, and SGE punished it accordingly by either picking them apart around the map or fully shutting down the A site to lead 8-4 at halftime. Fizzy won a 1v1 to secure SGE the second pistol, ensuring a comfortable 13-6 victory, while Jamelinho213 led in the fragging department with a 21/10/4 KDA and 198 ADR.

Split was the start of Liquid's recovery as they mounted a near-perfect 11-1 defense, taking deep lines on A to punish the lack of pressure exerted by SGE composition, which lacked a Viper or a Cypher. A kamo 4K pistol round confirmed a swift 13-1 as the Raze-Jett duo of kamo and purp0 combined for 35 total kills in just 14 rounds.

Liquid kept their momentum going on Ascent, this time with an unstoppable 11-1 attack half that quickly ended in another 13-1. SGE could find no answers to the opponent's repeated A splits as nAts in particular racked up kills, finishing with an astounding 21/5/10 KDA, 2.29 rating, and 396 ACS on Cypher.

With this result, SGE ends their year in the top eight of VCT EMEA as a Challengers squad, while Liquid stays alive and takes another step on the road to Champions. Liquid will return to the stage tomorrow, Aug. 23 in another elimination match versus Enterprise Esports Enterprise Esports Europe Rank #1 MAGNUM Martin Penkov iluri Ilari Puranen Lime Jacob Foster paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kozzy Denis Stefan Aionitoaei .

Fire Flux takes down Team Vitality, enters the top six

In the second match of the day, Fire Flux earned a hard-fought upset win over Vitality, moving forward into the top six of VCT EMEA and eliminating Vitality from playoffs.

The first map was Fire Flux's pick of Abyss. Fire Flux opted for a double-Duelist, double-Controller composition with Yoru, Waylay, Astra, and Viper, while Vitality adjusted their own Waylay to a Jett pick for Derke following a close 13-11 loss to Enterprise prior this week.

The first half was a close 7-5 affair; Vitality took an early 6-2 lead off of a pistol round and an eco round win in round five, while Fire Flux found answers with proactive fights on their defense to narrow the gap towards the end. Vitality surged in the second half as a 2v4 from Sayonara and Chronicle got them up to 12-6; Fire Flux made a solid comeback attempt but couldn't force overtime as Abyss went Vitality's way 13-11. Kachoww 's heroics were a big reason it got close as the Yoru ended with a server-high 27 kills, while Sayonara topped the board for Vitality with 23.

The second map was Ascent. Both teams went for fairly orthodox double-Duelist looks spearheaded by Jett, with Vitality putting Jamppi on Phoenix and Fire Flux putting DeadInk on Waylay. Despite winning the second round eco, Fire Flux struggled to respond to Vitality's attack in the buy rounds—a full defuse stick from hezacoil in round 12 scraped them their fourth of the half.

This time, Fire Flux made the comeback a reality, winning the pistol and breaking open sites with their double dash frontline to take it all the way to a 13-11 victory. The young superstar Kachoww again led the charge, finding 15 of his 25 total kills on the attack side and dishing out 205 ADR.

Split was the decider. The first half was a back-and-forth 6-6, but the second half was no contest; Kachoww went on an absolute tear on Fire Flux's attack with a 15/2 half as Neon, paving the way forward alongside DeadInk on Waylay to a 13-7 victory.

With this win, Fire Flux move forward to face BBL Esports tomorrow. Vitality can still qualify for Champions via championship points, currently holding the second most in EMEA behind FUT, but their fate is no longer in their hands; BBL and Liquid can both overtake them based on the playoff results, while FUT exiting before the top two would also take away one of the two available point spots.