In the all-EMEA grand finals matchup of Esports World Cup 2025, Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #2 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius reverse-swept FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder 3-2 to earn their first finals win in six attempts. After losing the first two maps dominantly, Heretics won the next three maps by scrapping it out and pulling ahead, while Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 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) swept Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov 2-0 in the all-Pacific consolation final to earn third place.

Team Heretics win Esports World Cup 2025 over FNATIC

This series was a long one, but it did not seem that way when it first began.

Starting on Lotus, Heretics opted for Neon instead of Raze, but also no Sentinel, instead running Breach while FNATIC ran Killjoy. FNATIC won the first pistol, and despite losing the bonus and allowing Heretics to take a 4-3 lead, they were clean for the rest of the defense side to end the half up 8-4.

The second half of Lotus began with another FNATIC pistol win, but when they converted the bonus, there was no chance of stopping them. When crashies , Chronicle , and kaajak were all in form as they were on Lotus, there was little Heretics could do, as Lotus ended 13-4.

No worries, as the best-of-five format allowed for some mistakes from either team. Next up was Sunset, a map that Heretics were known for being the best at when it was first released. Their composition had MiniBoo on Neon and benjyfishy on Vyse, while FNATIC ran their double Duelist with kaajak and Alfajer . FNATIC once again won pistol, won bonus, and spiraled their lead into something Heretics could not come back from. One of the standout moments of these first two maps was this nasty ace from kaajak, which only accentuated how poorly Heretics started these finals.

The half was 11-1 to Heretics, and the map ended 13-1. Even in their history of losing in grand finals, going down 2-0 in this fashion was the turning point for Heretics, but not in the fashion of rebuilding the roster, instead of crawling up the mountain of a 2-0 finals deficit.

Heretics and their comeback needed to start on Icebox, now a map that FNATIC have historically dominated on. FNATIC won their fifth straight pistol round in the series, and despite starting on the defense side, struggled against some of the attack rounds from Heretics. Despite running zero Duelists, Wo0t on KAY/O was the standout player on Icebox to lead the attack, ending a formidable 6-6 half with a 13/9/4 statline.

The second half started with Heretics winning their first pistol, and cruelly losing their anti-eco thanks to a force Outlaw buy from kaajak and a clean 1v1 win from Alfajer. However, even that stop in momentum did not faze Heretics, as the rounds went back and forth, and RieNs helped secure a 3v5 to get over the line and win Icebox 13-11.

That was step one for Heretics, with Haven needing to be step two. Their composition on Haven is well known, as Wo0t moves to Iso alongside MiniBoo on Yoru to complete their double Duelist. FNATIC ran a Yoru composition of their own, but kept Alfajer on Chamber, where he had a lot of success in this tournament. FNATIC won another pistol, converted the bonus, and shot ahead on their attack side to a 9-3 half.

It seemed to be true desperation for Heretics, but they started the second half with a pistol win and a bonus conversion, quickly turning the tide. FNATIC won round 16 to go up 10-6, but Wo0t led his team to a 10-10 tie, then Iso ulted his way to a 13-10 map victory. After going 22/14/6 with 164 ADR and a headshot percentage of 57 percent, Wo0t forced the series to map five.

Ascent would decide it all, and FNATIC looked comfortable on the map all tournament long with their modified double Sentinel. Chronicle was on Vyse and Alfajer was on Chamber, while Team Heretics took a risk and ran double Duelist with Wo0t back on Jett to match MiniBoo's Yoru. Starting on the attack side, Heretics needed to get at least four round wins on the board to keep the EWC win within reach.

Despite winning pistol and losing the antieco for the second time in the series, Boo was the leader in both strategy and fragging as Heretics managed to secure five rounds at the half. Even with a good half on paper, Chronicle looked unstoppable on defense, ending with 214 ADR and a rating of 1.66.

It all came down to a double Duelist defense side, and despite Boo not having the same impact shooting down his opponents, everyone else on his team took a major step up. Heretics won the pistol, converted the bonus, took some round losses on the cheek, and fought to an 11-8 lead. FNATIC were not going down without a fight, getting double-digit rounds themselves, but they were never able to take the lead back. It was benjyfishy to start it, but Wo0t got three with the Operator to win the map 13-10, the series 3-2, and the EWC 2025 trophy.

Even with FNATIC ending the series with better individual stats thanks to their first two maps, Wo0t was the tournament and finals MVP, ending the grand finals with a standout 15 first kills to only 9 first deaths while playing four different agents and two roles.

Gen.G sweeps Paper Rex to secure third place at EWC 2025

In the consolation game, it was a Pacific matchup between Gen.G and Paper Rex to see who would end up on the podium in Riyadh.

This series started on Sunset, with Paper Rex running their Raze and Sage composition that won them Masters Toronto while Gen.G ran a Neon/Deadlock comp to try and counter it. Gen.G started strong, winning the first pistol and running away to an 8-2 lead thanks to a great attack side performance from Foxy9 . PRX was able to stop the bleeding and enter the half only down 8-4.

Paper Rex then won the second half pistol to turn what could have been a one-sided map into a close one, almost reaching a 9-9 tie. However, Ash had a perfect Sova ult to stop that momentum dead in its tracks, as Gen.G closed out map one 13-10.

Map two was Ascent, with Paper Rex showing off something back on Jett while Jinggg flexed to Omen. The teams nearly ran the same composition, with PRX opting for Fade and Gen.G running Killjoy, but one player got much more success on their unique pick than the other. Starting on the attack side, Gen.G won pistol and converted their bonus to take an early lead. Even as PRX was able to trade some rounds on defense, the lead remained 8-4 for Gen.G at the half, just like map one.

Yet, on the defense side, Gen.G won the pistol, and despite losing their antieco, Munchkin stepped up on KAY/O to extend the lead even further. Even as Gen.G went on an eco round, their skill in situations with pistols and cheap weapons shone through as they secured the map 13-8, and swept Paper Rex to earn their third-place finish.

In the end, Karon was the standout in this sweep, as he ended the series with a lobby-leading 1.35 match rating, 43 kills, +14, 151 ADR, 82 percent KAST, and 262 ACS.