Team Liquid earns final Masters Toronto slot with 2-1 win over BBL

Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Unranked penny Erik Penny paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak Serial Maikls Zdanovs has defeated BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Unranked Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan MAGNUM Martin Penkov 2-1 in the lower bracket of the VCT EMEA 2025 Stage 1 playoffs, securing the final Masters Toronto slot available. BBL Esports are eliminated from both the Stage 1 playoffs and Masters Toronto contention, and will return in Stage 2.

The series started on Haven, with Liquid picking a double Sentinel composition while BBL chose double Duelist. The Iso and Yoru from BBL faced off against the Cypher and Deadlock from Liquid, with kamo as the solo Yoru securing the first pistol. To start the game, the first half was the preferred start for both teams, as BBL used the Iso from LewN to nullify the value from the Cypher.

Even as Liquid started to get more active on the defense to try and counter the set plays from BBL, they were shot down. BBL entered the half up 8-4, with all the pressure on Liquid to at least match their opponent on their attack side.

Liquid started by winning the attack pistol off an ace from kamo, turning a 4v5 into a 3v1 post-plant.

A smart drop from A heaven by BBL denied Liquid a bonus round conversion, and BBL had quick rotations to stop fast pushes to try and prevent the double Sentinel post-plant from Liquid. BBL had the opportunity to reach 11 round wins, but lost a 4v2 post-plant after a team-flash messed up a drop from A heaven. That forced BBL into an eco round, and Liquid took the momentum right back to tie the match late at 11-11.

After conditioning frequent B hits on the attack side, nAts called an impeccable final round where his team faked a B hit, allowing him to lurk through and backstab his opponents while clearing C site. He even cleaned up as Liquid planted to win the map 13-11, securing a comeback to lead the series. The IGL and star fragger nAts ended Haven with a 1.23 rating, 23 kills, and 175 ADR.

Next up was Split, with BBL deciding to play Sage and Deadlock while Liquid moved back to their standard Split composition with no Sentinels whatsoever. BBL started their attempt to bounce back with a pistol win, with Jamppi on Breach holding A site nearly on his own. BBL were unable to convert the bonus round, but did a lot of damage to weaken the Liquid economy. The half snowballed in favor of BBL, as their defensive setups with Deadlock and Breach were tough for Liquid to play around.

BBL were dominant, heading into the half up 10-2. They won the second pistol round, but Liquid won after forcing on what normally would be their eco round. Liquid started to win rounds to challenge BBL, but it proved fruitless as BBL won Split 13-7. The star on Split was sociablEE , who moved from Yoru to Sage and dropped 19 kills, a 1.39 rating, and 174 ADR.

The series came down to Fracture, with both teams running their variation of the Breach/Tejo composition. BBL opted for the Jett pick while Liquid went with Neon. Liquid managed to get the first pistol off a great round from paTiTek on Breach, and went on a run throughout the rest of their attack half. Keiko was on fire playing Brimstone, ending the attack half with 17 kills, as Liquid ended the half up 9-3.

BBL won the second half pistol to keep their hopes up, and converted the bonus off key kills from MAGNUM to truly make the comeback real.

Masters Toronto qualification seemed within reach for BBL, but just as the game was about to reach a tie, Team Liquid won two key rounds to end whatever momentum BBL had built. Serial on Tejo was the catalyst to get Liquid to match point, then kamo got another ace as Liquid won Fracture 13-8 and bought their tickets to Toronto.

Across the whole series, nAts once again led his team statistically. Playing three different agents in the series, he ended the match with a rating of 1.27, 56 kills, +12, and 167 ADR.

With this win, Team Liquid will face Team Heretics in the lower final of the Stage 1 playoffs, with an opportunity to get a higher seeding at Masters Toronto.