Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius and FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #6 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban have eliminated FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Rank #5 Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) and LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN Latin America South Rank #1 Demon1 Max Mazanov tex Ian Botsch kiNgg Francisco Aravena aspas Erick Santos C0M Corbin Lee from Masters Shanghai. With these wins, Team Heretics and FUT Esports have secured their spot in the playoffs of Masters Shanghai.

Team Heretics scrap out close win over FPX

The map veto began with Team Heretics picking Sunset and FPX picking Lotus, leaving Icebox as the potential third map.

FPX ran Yoru and Harbor, two picks that they loved to run across most maps in the pool. Heretics ran their Shanghai standard, with benjyfishy on the Cypher and Wo0t on the Raze. After winning the first pistol, Heretics started to get a lead thanks to an ace from Wo0t. FPX fumbled some rounds as well, notably using a Yoru ultimate in a 3v2 to spot both enemies and still losing.

Heretics had solid plans for their post-plants and were able to play around the Harbor utility well. The lead ballooned to 10-1 until a 1v2 clutch from autumn took FPX into the half down 10-2.

A second pistol round loss for FPX proved too big a deficit to come back from, as Team Heretics cleaned up map one 13-4. Wo0t was the star on map one, with his aggression helping him get 27 kills in only 17 rounds.

Wo0t celebrates a round win at Masters Shanghai. (Image via Riot Games)

Lotus was next, with FPX returning to their triple controller comp. Life got a quick 4K to get his team their first pistol win of the series, and a bonus conversion set FPX off to a needed hot start. It took some eco round wins for Team Heretics to stop the bleeding, who fought back to enter the half only down 8-4.

FPX won a second pistol due to some key indecision from Heretics and maintained their momentum from their attack side to finish the map 13-6.

Icebox was the second time FPX ran triple controller this series, with Life moving onto the newest agent Clove. Starting on attack, Team Heretics got their first pistol win of Icebox thanks to a good post-plant on B site. Heretics looked drilled, constantly aware of how FPX played their defense with Clove. Life usually pushed alone near A site, and it would often be read by Heretics for a free kill. That led to Heretics converting their first bonus round, already putting FPX in a tough spot.

It took a thrifty for FPX to get their first defense round win to put them on the board at 5-1. They entered the half down 10-2 for the second time this series, once again needing a miracle to bring their playoff chances back. Life was able to get a 4K to win the second pistol round of Icebox, but a clutch defuse from Heretics prevented an FPX bonus conversion.

The triple controller allowed for some creative attack rounds, especially in mid, that helped mount a comeback. AAAAY and Autumn hit some big shots, taking the map to overtime. FPX had all the momentum coming back from a 10-2 deficit, but to win the series, they would need to win a defense round. The first attempt was a loss, but winning the attack round gave them another chance. The second try was another defense loss and attack win, owing to a BerLIN clutch flank through the enemy spawn.

The third overtime was the third round across the entire map that FPX had won a defense round, this time from an opening kill from Life and a clutch late flank from BerLIN once again. But on attack, Wo0t sliced his way to an ace with his Jett ultimate and took the map to a fourth overtime. Just as the map seemed within reach for FPX, they lost the final round due to a chaotic moment. FPX had to plant in a 1v1, with just over four seconds left, but an audible drop from Boo got BerLIN off the spike, and the FPX player could not see his enemy in their own Clove smoke. Team Heretics scraped out the win to beat FPX 17-15.

FUT Esports eliminate Leviatán thanks to a dominant Sunset

This was the matchup between the third seeds of EMEA and Americas where both teams were known for their great individual talent. While FUT Esports had lost to FPX and only beat Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #13 nizhaoTZH Tang Zehao (唐哲昊) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Shion7 Zhang Haozhe (张昊泽) Cangshu Zheng Yujun (手郑宇峻) Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) TvirusLuke Chen Cheng-ching SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) , Leviatán had stomped T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-O (김태오) Sylvan Ko Young-sub (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byung-chul (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) and lost a close game to Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) yoman Chae Young-moon (채영문) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) . Leviatán looked in prime position to lock up the final playoff spot, but FUT proved otherwise.

The map veto began with Leviatán picking Sunset and FUT picking Lotus, leaving Bind as the potential third map.

On their map pick, Leviatán struggled to start the series. FUT won the first pistol, converted their bonus, and just picked up momentum. The teams ran mirrored comps, but qRaxs on Gekko and yetujey on Cypher performed a step above their counterparts on Leviatán. It took until the final round of the first half for Leviatán to win their first round, heading into the half down 11-1. FUT won their second pistol and their anti-eco round, securing the map 13-1 before Leviatán even played a proper gun round on their attack side. qRaxs ended the map with 19 kills, four first kills, no first deaths, and 349 ACS.

To stay alive in the series, Leviatán had to beat FUT on Lotus. FUT changed their comp from what they ran regionally, picking up Breach when they previously ran no initiator with a Sage. FUT won their third straight pistol of the series, but Leviatán took hold of their attack half as soon as they got rifles in their hands. Specifically, kiNgg had one of his maps where he had the best aim in the lobby.

Leviatán looked strong despite losing the pistol round, heading into the half with a 7-5 lead. They managed to win the second pistol round on Lotus, and Leviatán reached map point up 12-6 thanks to aspas getting frequent first kills, ending the map with seven. FUT started to claw back the map due to players rising to the challenge, with both yetujey and cNed having their star moments. That sparked the team and took the map to 12-11 when kiNgg saved a round that looked like a guaranteed win for FUT and secured the map 13-11.

Bind began with Leviatán winning the first pistol round, with aspas finally turning up in a series he had been relatively quiet in. Leviatán went up 6-1, but then FUT took five straight rounds to tie the half thanks to flash utility from Omen, Skye, and KAY/O. With those flash setups, AtaKaptan on Omen was able to get plenty of kills on blinded opponents.

FUT celebrate their match win over Leviatán at Masters Shanghai. (Image via Riot Games)

FUT won the second pistol round on Bind and converted the bonus to put the pressure on Leviatán. Despite a weakened economy after winning the round after losing their bonus, FUT still had plenty of utility to assist their retakes. Mazino led the team in, landing key shots and assisting for easy plants, but the rest of Leviatán struggled to follow up post-plant. Round 18 was the turning point, as a Leviatán 5v4 post-plant with Viper ultimate crumbled into a round loss.

FUT were now the team to reach map point, and the chances for Leviatán to stretch the game to overtime ran out on round 24. Despite worse weapons, FUT clutched out to win the map 13-11 and the series 2-1.

The playoff section of Masters Shanghai begins on May 30, with all teams having a two-day break. Due to the new format, with number one seeds choosing their opponents, Team Heretics will face EDward Gaming on playoffs day one, while FUT Esports will face 100 Thieves on playoffs day two.