Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #2 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso have lifted their first VCT EMEA trophy with a 3-2 reverse sweep victory over Team Liquid in the grand finals of Kickoff, securing the region's first seed for Masters Bangkok.

Looking back through The Golden Hornets' history, they had a rough opening year in the VCT. Vitality barely placed inside the top six in 2023, and last year seemed to be following an even worse trend: Vitality finished in the top 10 after a five-way tiebreak in Stage 1.

The bees pressed on and showed up with results, going from the top 10 to the top two. In Stage 2, Vitality lost only to FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #6 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder throughout all their matches, resulting in a second-place finish and their first trip to Champions.

This year, a new Vitality entered the Arena. One unburdened by past trials, with changes inside and outside the server making for a new and renewed team.

This Vitality finished what its past iteration started, but failed to finish. This Vitality ran through its three upper bracket matches with just one map loss. This Vitality reverse swept Liquid and crowned themselves EMEA champions, becoming just the fourth team to lift that trophy.

Vitality on stage at VCT EMEA Photo by Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games

And, for half of today, it seemed like it wasn't even close to happening. The first two maps played out similar to each other.

Liquid started out ahead, pummeling their opponents and shutting down any attempts to even creak the door open. That led to a 9-3 halftime lead both on Split and Haven. Vitality would get a few rounds on both maps, but Liquid kept themselves in the game enough that it never seemed like they lost total control of the match.

Liquid took Split 13-10 and Haven 13-7. But something flipped between Haven and Lotus. This time, Vitality were the ones to jump to an enormous lead before switching sides. They took 10 of the first 12 rounds, and the map 13-6.

On Bind, the Golden Hornets did not let up. They still won the first half — in fact, the 7-5 scoreline was the smallest halftime lead up until this point in the game — but eventually took the map in an equally-strong 13-7 victory.

The final map was crushing. If the writing wasn't already on the wall, it was once Derke got an ace on round three. Much like Vitality in the first two maps, it seemed that whatever Liquid tried after that fell flat. There was no standing up to the Golden Hornets, who won the final map 13-8 and took the trophy home for the first time.

A number of players had standout performances throughout today's match, but none of them stood out quite like the Vitality players did on Bind and Fracture. On Bind, three of Vitality's players got a 4K; Less got two. On Fracture, after that ace, every player had their own highlight.

IGL Sayf , in particular, put on his best show. He racked up 22 kills and four assists for a 1.59 rating. Those 22 kills included two 4Ks, a 3K, and two 1v1 clutches in one of the most dominant individual performances of the match.

Vitality's reverse sweep victory also gives Derke and Less special accolades. The former is the only player to win two EMEA finals by reverse sweep, following his 2024 Stage 1 win over Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius . For Less, this win makes him the only player to lift two trophies in two major regions.

Vitality celebrate at VCT EMEA We've never seen a Vitality like this. (Photo by Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games)

But this loss is not a reason for Liquid to be disappointed. Or, at least, it should not be. Their five-match win streak in the lower bracket was the Dark Horse's longest since 2021. Liquid's win over Heretics in the lower final also signalled their return to LAN for the first time since Champions 2023.

And what better way to do it than facing off against the World Champions? Shortly after the final was over, the Masters Bangkok draw show placed EMEA's #2 against EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) in the first round of the swiss stage.

Vitality, in the post-match group interview, named Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #3 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid as the opponent they most wished to face in the opening round. While that match was initially drawn, the Americas team had to be moved down due to draw rules, and the Golden Hornets will instead open against T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) .

The EMEA rosters have about two weeks to prepare for Thailand. The region will be represented by a Vitality roster unlike any the French organization has ever shown, and by a Liquid roster who seems in its best form for the first time in two years.

Only time will tell if China and America can stand up to these two names.