The final eight teams for Stage 3: Challengers 2, Europe's last open Challengers event, have been set. Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin , TENSTAR TENSTAR Inactive Br0die Jack Emmott KRAY Calum Knight Polvi Niko Polvinen xms Alexandre Forté doma Domagoj Fancev , Alliance Alliance Inactive , and Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #1 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu will play in the event's playoffs after passing through the closed qualifier stage.

The initial rounds of the final open qualifier didn't show many surprising results. Most teams that were expected to win did so, with few exceptions to the rule. Two of those exceptions were Megastitut Megastitut Inactive Goaster Tony Richard sh1n Ryad Ensaad iDex Sammy Van de Weghe KONEQT Cista Adel MARCTYLINHO Marcty Bienvenu 's loss to bref bref Inactive Fatiiiih Newzera Alexis Humbert mikee Michael Lim Kiiyo Yoan Marchesin Dawn Tristan Bornet and HEET HEET Inactive Kinguyen Nguyen Thach memset Laurent Werly b2kk Sofian Delimi Monstrum Jake Byrne waddle Wadir Taraki 's defeat against WiLD MultiGaming WiLD MultiGaming Inactive Targonca WheelzOnFire Norbert Horváth lcdFFF Zsolt Gabor Horvath Tishler Mihály Kállai dNEL Dániel Varga . The top 16 also had very clear winners, with MTP Esport MTP Esport Inactive Kraît Florent Rivière Killu Vieillard Giovanni NRK Pedretti Charles LowaN Noel Lohan Vbbooy Cossey Cédric pulling out the sole comeback upset against OG OG Inactive KONEQT Cista Adel uNKOE Benjamin Chevasson OniBy Theo Tarlier fxy0 Joey Schlosser LaAw Mathieu Plantin 2-1.

Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #4 koshmaras Martynas Namikas Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius looked reinvigorated all throughout the open qualifier and even entering the closed qualifier, starting it out 2-1 against Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas Inactive dimasick Dmitriy Matvienko chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Jady Yaroslav Nikolaev rhyme Emir Muminovic . Team Queso Team Queso Inactive mezoky Boom Daniel Jiménez also stole a win from Wave Esports Wave Esports Inactive SimonD4rk Alexandr Skovbel Click Haydem Ali Saiz Daniel Ruiz , while Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #1 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu and Alliance Alliance Inactive pressed on to try and cement their places in the top ranks of Europe.

The upper quarterfinals and semifinals was where the closed qualifier heated up. Heretics took down Finest Finest Inactive DESTRUCT1VEE Hakan Lekesizer Kicks Kimmie Laasner bonkar Malkolm Rench in a grueling match that lasted over four hours. Giants Gaming Giants Gaming Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Fit1nho Adolfo Gallego nukkye Žygimantas Chmieliauskas hoody Aaro Peltokangas Cloud Kirill Nehozhin managed a massive upset 2-0 against Vitality, while Alliance and TENSTAR TENSTAR Inactive Br0die Jack Emmott KRAY Calum Knight Polvi Niko Polvinen xms Alexandre Forté doma Domagoj Fancev took their expected wins. In the semifinals, to the surprise of everyone, TENSTAR swept Heretics, with fans claiming exhaustion played a part. Giants did the same to Alliance. Two new names had qualified for a VCT Challengers event.

The lower bracket lacked surprises until the final day. NIP, Vitality and Heretics were all on one, big, collision course on their side of the bracket. BIG BIG Inactive , Finest and Alliance occupied the other side. BIG prevented Finest's comeback and stayed alive 2-1. NIP and Vitality slugged on in a much longer match that lasted nearly four hours that saw Vitality eventually prevail.

The remaining match was between Alliance and BIG. Enzo "Enzo" Mestari's team spared no one, scoring back-to-back 13-9 results against their opponents and holding on to hopes of travelling to Germany. Vitality put on a show against Heretics, taking them down 2-0 on Breeze (13-2) and Icebox (13-9).

These four teams that emerged from this closed qualifier will play in the Stage 3: Challengers 2 Main Event between July 28 and August 1. The two best will go to the EMEA Challengers Playoffs, which seeds four teams into Berlin and awards much-needed circuit points.

The teams set to compete in Challengers 2 are: