FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #39 SEIDER Mathias Seider al0rante Felix Brandl YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes has claimed the final spot in the main event of the VCT EMEA Ascension, winning the play-ins grand final 3-1 over S2G Esports S2G Esports Europe Rank #88 Muj Serhat Yüksel AsLanM4shadoW Ali Osman Balta jeyj7y Soner Eren Kent aimDLL Hüseyin Kabişteke russ Batuhan Malgaç .
EMEA Ascension's extended format accounts for a total of 18 teams, split evenly between the main event and the play-ins. The second-best team for every region fought in the play-ins, battling it to be the 10th team among the nine regional champions in Ascension's main event.
The play-ins kicked off with a group stage, where three groups of three each played a round-robin, where the best-placed team moved to the playoffs. GTZ Esports GTZ Esports Europe Rank #179 Cal Callum Burgoyne nanotekkk Hryhorii Antoniuk H4te Rodrigo Ribeiro Kayn Tiago Teixeira Dos Santos Hiiro Eric Brassac were the only team to win their group outright, going 2-0 against S2G Esports S2G Esports Europe Rank #88 Muj Serhat Yüksel AsLanM4shadoW Ali Osman Balta jeyj7y Soner Eren Kent aimDLL Hüseyin Kabişteke russ Batuhan Malgaç and MOUZ MOUZ Europe Rank #2 xuss Tselmeg Tsolmon Obnoks Nico Garczarczyk iluri Ilari Puranen Fizzy David Figueiredo starki Krzysztof Lewandrowski , while FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #39 SEIDER Mathias Seider al0rante Felix Brandl YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes and Team Queso Team Queso Inactive mezoky Boom Daniel Jiménez went through due to a larger round differential.
S2G later joined the play-ins playoffs thanks to two victories in the last chance group. They then matched against Queso in the semifinals and won 2-0 (Ascent 14-12; Split 13-7), placing them in the grand finals. FOKUS joined them after a tough 2-0 against GTZ (Lotus 13-5; Pearl 13-10), where they had to stop a comeback on their opponents' Pearl pick.
The grand final between S2G and FOKUS was the tightest affair of the play-ins, as the two locked horns in a four-map affair. The former stole FOKUS' Lotus pick 13-9, but lost to a much rouger 13-4 on Split that leveled the series. After taking a gruelling 14-12 on Fracture, FOKUS cruised to victory on Haven, rounding out the match with a 13-4.
Someone really wants to return to the VCT.EMEA Ascension takes a beat until June 30, when it returns with the group stage of the main event. FOKUS are placed in Group B, where they'll first play Apeks Apeks Europe Rank #11 hype Tautvydas Paldavicius kaajak Kajetan Haremski MOLSI Michał Łącki soulcas Dom Sulcas AvovA Auni Chahade in a single round-robin format. The best two teams of each group move to the double-elimination playoffs.
The completed Ascension groups are:
Group A
- CGN Esports CGN Esports Europe Rank #13 elllement Dragan Milanović aNguiSt Ross Pendleton DaviH David Cruz BennY Benjamin Domgörgen Vince Vincent Kranz (DACH)
- Digital Athletics Digital Athletics Europe Rank #193 DeadInk Utku Onur Aydin DeepMans Yiğithan Kesici KILICARSLAN Kılıçarslan Atila mini Muhammed Salman (Turkey)
- Acend Acend Europe Rank #9 ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi Br0die Jack Emmott baddyG Kamil Graniczka chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Vuubit Roope Eilola (East)
- DSYRE DSYRE Europe Rank #4 caydeN Yari Olmi Tag Alessandro Voci wackie Rikardo Birjukov waddle Wadir Taraki Filu Dawid Czarnecki Musyka Mirco Caiazza (Italy)
- SAW SAW Europe Rank #12 Fragger Henrique Correia brk Bruno Ferreira GrTw Tiago Costa Addicted Eduardo Torres Cunha20 David Cunha (Portugal)
Group B
- Apeks Apeks Europe Rank #11 hype Tautvydas Paldavicius kaajak Kajetan Haremski MOLSI Michał Łącki soulcas Dom Sulcas AvovA Auni Chahade (Polaris)
- Case Esports Case Esports Europe Rank #76 (Spain)
- Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #14 TakaS Jonathan Paupard beyAz Beyazit Körpe nataNk Nathan Bocqueho Wailers Wailers Locart logaN Logan Corti (France)
- Team Falcons Team Falcons MENA Rank #1 Akai OuTLaW Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Salem SpYzera Abed Doughan Moh Mohammad Bin Oti KHaaLiD Khalid Al Talib (MENA)
- FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #39 SEIDER Mathias Seider al0rante Felix Brandl YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes (Polaris; Play-Ins)
The winner of the 2023 Ascension tournament will receive a two-year stay in the VCT alongside the partnered teams, which will come with similar benefits and equal chances to qualify for international tournaments.