The fifth day of action at the Esports World Cup continued with the semifinals, hosting a pair of blockbuster EMEA and APAC matchups.

To kick off the day, Masters Toronto winners Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Unranked PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov took on FNATIC FNATIC Europe Unranked crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder in the fourth-ever meeting between the two teams. Previous meetings at Masters Copenhagen and Masters Tokyo predated the teams' meeting in Toronto, which saw Paper Rex lift its first international trophy over FNATIC.

On the other end of the bracket, one of the biggest international matchups of the 2024 season took to the stage, as Masters Shanghai finalists Gen.G Gen.G Korea Unranked Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) Suggest Seo Jae-young (서재영) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) and Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Unranked MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius clashed. The Korean squad was victorious in Shanghai to capture APAC's first-ever international trophy, while a group stage meeting at Champions 2024 saw Heretics come out on top.

FNATIC vs. Paper Rex

The three-map series began on Paper Rex's pick of Sunset, which was also the opening map of the teams' matchup in the grand final in Toronto. A similar outcome prevailed this time, with Paper Rex riding the momentum of yet another 8-4 attacking half to round out the other side. f0rsakeN had yet another performance to remember on Sunset, logging a map-high 25 kills. FNATIC, taking a double-Duelist approach, played Alfajer on Neon. He finished with a game-high seven first bloods.

The second map of the series was Ascent, a map banned by Paper Rex in the previous meeting. Alfajer played Chamber, the agent he gained praise for while in Toronto. Paper Rex, meanwhile, continued with its unorthodox Viper-Omen comp, which put f0rsaken on Fade and PatMen on KAY/O. The zero-Sentinel comp could not perform on the defender-sided map. FNATIC made the map theirs, winning nine rounds on their attacker side. Three on defense was all that Paper Rex could manage, meaning a dominant 13-3 outing for FNATIC brought the teams to a third map.

Split, the decider map, saw both teams field zero-Sentinel mirror comps with Viper-Omen, Yoru-Raze, and Fade. Another dominant attack half from FNATIC meant that FNATIC faced a 9-3 halftime deficit. The triple-headed monster of kaajak , Chronicle , and Alfajer combined for 45 kills on attack, outnumbering Paper Rex's 27 combined on defense. While PRX won five of the first six rounds of the second half, they had too much ground to make up, falling to the EMEA giants 13-8.

FNATIC moves to the grand final, where they will either meet Gen.G for the second time in 2025, or take on familiar regional foes Team Heretics. Meanwhile, Paper Rex will meet the losing team from the other semifinal in the third-place match.

Gen.G vs. Team Heretics

One of 2024's most heated matchups-turned-friendships took center stage for the right to take on FNATIC in the grand final. After the first series of bans, Team Heretics picked Ascent, a map that Gen.G has struggled with consistency issues. Team Heretics' double-Duelist comp, pairing MiniBoo 's Yoru with Wo0t 's Jett, put Gen.G on their heels. Team Heretics ended their attack half with a 7-5 lead. On defense, Team Heretics made use of the defender-sided map to cruise to a 13-7 win.

Gen.G picked Haven, one of the staples of their map pool since the start of the 2024 season. The Korean squad played up on the defensive side, picking up seven rounds. t3xture , on high-speed Duelist Neon, went a perfect 7-0 in first duels on defense, and kept the same energy shifting onto attack. After winning the pistol, their first of the match, and the following anti-eco, Gen.G snowballed their way to a 13-8 win on the map, forcing a map three.

Lotus, a popular map for both sides, was played in both of the teams' previous two meetings, with Gen.G victorious in Shanghai and Team Heretics winning in Seoul. The map was as tight as it could possibly be, with both teams managing just six rounds on attack. The teams moved to overtime, where successful push-and-pull attacks saw teams exchange attack rounds through two sets of OT. Team Heretics eventually managed to fight against the tide, earning a defense round to close the lid on a 15-13 win.

Gen.G will have felt they could do better in the pistol rounds, as they finished with a 5-1 deficit in the series. Team Heretics will move on to the grand final to play FNATIC, whom they are familiar with as regional foes in EMEA. Gen.G will play in the third-place match, also against a familiar foe in APAC giants Paper Rex.