The list of teams participating in the EMEA Challengers Playoffs has been finalized, featuring both expected and unexpected teams across all three regions.
Few people anticipated this exact combination of teams, a mix of underdogs and title contenders all in the same pot. Notably missing are the Ignition Series champions, the European and CIS First Strike Champions, as well as the European Stage 1: Masters champions.
G2 Esports
G2 Esports
Inactive
,
Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Europe
Rank #1
MiniBoo
Dominykas Lukaševičius
Wo0t
Mert Alkan
RieNs
Enes Ecirli
benjyfishy
Benjamin David Fish
Boo
Ričardas Lukaševičius
,
Acend
Acend
Inactive
ALIVE
Gilad Hakim
musashi
Alessio Xhaferi
pyrolll
Artur Minin
cullumx
Nikolaj Cullum Andersen
chiwa
Egor Stepanyuk
and
forZe
forZe
Inactive
SUYGETSU
Dmitry Ilyushin
Art1st
Vyacheslav Lyadnov
Coffee
Nikita Antsypirovich
will not be able to compete for a chance to represent Europe in Iceland.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1390808436057812995/1FdY73Y9_normal.jpg)
- @FPX_Esports
- @guildesports
- @FutbolistCo
- @OXG_Esports
- @FNATIC
- @LiquidValorant
- @GambitEsports
- @BBL_esports
Europe
Stage 2: Challengers 1
Acend and Heretics entered as two of the clear favorites alongside
FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix
Inactive
SUYGETSU
Dmitry Ilyushin
Zyppan
Pontus Eek
ANGE1
Kyrylo Karasov
Shao
Andrey Kiprsky
ardiis
Ardis Svarenieks
and
Guild Esports
Guild Esports
Inactive
, who made up the top 4 of the Stage 1: Masters event.
However, both Acend and Heretics were upset in the opening round by
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Inactive
dimasick
Dmitriy Matvienko
chiwa
Egor Stepanyuk
Jady
Yaroslav Nikolaev
rhyme
Emir Muminovic
and Opportunists, now
Team BDS
Team BDS
Inactive
bramz
Bayram Ben Redjeb
, respectively. Although NiP had to fight hard for their win, BDS looked much more convincing in their own match.
Guild and FPX advanced uncontested, knocking out both
Alliance
Alliance
Inactive
and
Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Rank #5
trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko
Derke
Nikita Sirmitev
Kicks
Kimmie Laasner
Sayf
Saif Jibraeel
Less
Felipe de Loyola Basso
heading into the semifinals. Yacine "Yacine"
Laghmari looked very much on top of things in their series against NiP, as did Pontus "Zyppan"
Eek when facing BDS. Both of the teams reverse swept their opponents, with FPX looking the more dominant of the pair.
The title ended up in FPX's hands in a clean and strong 3-0, although it was merely for show and prize money, as both FPX and Guild secured themselves a spot in the Challengers Playoffs.
Stage 2: Challengers 2
The sheer unpredictability of Europe continued heading into the second week of Challengers. G2 had a new, temporary IGL playing with them in Oscar "ozzy"
Scott. BDS and Acend were back for more action, and the refreshed
Team Liquid
Team Liquid
Europe
Rank #23
paTiTek
Patryk Fabrowski
kamyk
Maks Rychlewski
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
Keiko
Georgio Sanassy
kamo
Kamil Frąckowiak
and
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #6
crashies
Austin Roberts
Boaster
Jake Howlett
kaajak
Kajetan Haremski
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
squads looking ready as ever after a disappointing start to the Tour.
The first day of the tournament was hectic, with two dramatic results that showed just how volatile the region was at the moment. Vitality, a team that has long struggled to carry their weight against top opponents, faced Acend with guns blazing. They took both Icebox and Haven to overtime, but eked out two hard-fought 14-12 wins and eliminated what many thought was one of the top contenders in the tournament.
The second match was between Fnatic and G2, two teams that were both on the upswing. Derke and Magnum, two new additions to the orange-and-black roster, proved sufficient to guide Fnatic to a 2-0 victory heading into day two.
In two wild games, Acend and G2, the respective champions of the Stage 1: Masters event and of the Ignition Series, had just been barred from going to Iceland.
The other side of the bracket paired BDS against NiP and Liquid against
CE Calling
CE Calling
Inactive
Kuba
Jakub Dogan
Luc1d
Kenny Gauthier Kühlmann
Shazeon
Rene Cappel
BennY
Benjamin Domgörgen
. The French and English teams proved better, which meant NiP were also out of contention for the Stage 2: Masters. Vitality fell to Fnatic, but made Fnatic sweat for their 2-0 victory, ending the maps 13-9 and 13-10 and placing the Boaster-led squad into the EMEA Challengers Playoffs.
Liquid, although matched against an arguably tougher opponent, looked shakier fighting BDS. They gave up map 1 in a 11-13 loss, but a double overtime on Bind and a crushing 13-6 on Ascent saw them triumph in the series and advance to the finals of the tournament.
In the end, the crown belonged only to Fnatic. After trading the first two maps, Fnatic won Bind, as they historically always have. Heading into Split, Domagoj "doma" Fancev revealed, the team hadn't gotten the chance to practice the map. As such, Liquid were stunned by a triple duelist composition that earned Fnatic a clinical 13-4 map and tournament win.
Turkey
Stage 2: Challengers 1
The titanic country of Turkey had crazier showings than Europe, as a lot of the Turkish Stage 1: Masters teams didn't show up in the second Stage of the Champions Tour. The first iteration of Challengers saw the presence of the usual
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #8
xeus
Doğan Gözgen
MrFaliN
Furkan Yeğen
yetujey
Eray Budak
AtaKaptan
Ata Tan
qRaxs
Doğukan Balaban
,
Oxygen Esports
Oxygen Esports
Inactive
,
BBL Esports
BBL Esports
Europe
Rank #17
Jamppi
Elias Olkkonen
sociablEE
Volkan Yonal
PROFEK
Dawid Święć
vakk
Vakaris Bebravičius
stand-in
LewN
Burak Alkan
and
OtherSide
OtherSide
Inactive
EliEsS
Ali Çil
Squllll
Emir Madenci
ilyaS
PikaStrikee
BALLI
Celil Erden
scÂtro
Görkem Arpalık
teams. OtherSide collapsed in the first game, but the rest of the teams kept on.
Oxygen got revenge on BBL for the semifinals of the Stage 1: Masters they played, where Semih "legoo" Selvi and his teammates got bested 2-0. This time was Oxygen's turn, who won a not-so-comfortable 2-0 to reach the EMEA Challengers Playoffs. The long-time top Turkish team would have to try once more.
Newcomers
Kafalar eSports
Kafalar eSports
Inactive
ip0TT
Yiğit Karadeniz
Wizard
Artu Köroğlu
fred
Barış Özdemir
mAz
Duhan Ovalı
HEPSEV
Hasan Yağızhan Hepsev
made Futbolist fight hard for a spot in the finals in an unexpectedly hard match for the side of Buğra "MOJJ"
Kiraz. After starting 13-1 they managed to impede a reverse sweep to get into the Grand Final. This earned them and Oxygen a spot the EMEA Challengers Playoffs, as the higher seed went to Futbolist in a drawn-out 3-0 win.
Stage 2: Challengers 2
The format of the entire Stage 2 in the wider European region meant Turkey would only have one more slot left, making Challengers 2 much more competitive.
The Stage 1: Masters teams absent from Challengers 1 showed up in the second event, with
RARE Esports
RARE Esports
Inactive
Mykoz
Mert Demirci
H4RR1
Burak Taşdelen
and
Cyber Skull Esports
Cyber Skull Esports
Inactive
Mykoz
Mert Demirci
Darrick
Mehmet Osmancıoğlu
Kuzuur
Uğur Kiremitci
XOD1AC
Anıl Eren
making their debut in the second Stage. Although RARE made it to round two, Cyber Skull was struck down by
Anatolia Esports
Anatolia Esports
Inactive
DeadInk
Utku Onur Aydin
ryden
Umut Salas
yT
Yiğit Özden
hatex
Cüneyd Baş
atabeast
Ata Coşkun
, who would go on to defeat RARE in the semifinals.
The other side of the bracket saw OtherSide and BBL advance to round two and face each other. It was their first match together, but the teams put on a show. The Bo3 ended up swinging BBL's favor by 2-0 with an overtime thrown in for good measure.
BBL had originally ejected Anatolia out of the Upper Bracket back in First Strike, and they once again showed themselves superior. After taking Icebox they let slip the second map, Split, motivating them to turn everything up to eleven and close out the series 3-1, placing BBL in the EMEA Challengers Playoffs.
CIS
Stage 1: Challengers 1
CIS was the hardest-squeezed region, having only a single slot to contend for at the EMEA Challengers Playoffs. Challengers 1 wouldn't qualify any teams for the bigger event, but would place the top four automatically into Challengers 2.
CrowСrowd
CrowСrowd
Inactive
Cloud
Kirill Nehozhin
dreAms
Adel Smirnov
Duno
Mikhail Fokin
trial
Panic
Leonid Pozdnyakov
had kept Nikita "Derke"
Sirmitev on for Challengers 1 even though he was signed to Fnatic, helping them to win against
Gambit Esports
Gambit Esports
Inactive
Redgar
Igor Vlasov
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
d3ffo
Nikita Sudakov
sheydos
Bogdan Naumov
nAts
Ayaz Akhmetshin
. The CIS giants were out, and they'd have to wait another week to try.
Team Singularity
Team Singularity
Inactive
Insider
Artem Puzanov
NLaaeR
Ilya Koppalov
B1SK
Vitaliy Emelyanov
Dimaoneshot
Dmitriy Bandurka
hvoya
Aleksandr Eremin
bested
Inactive
, making them a guaranteed presence at Challengers 2 alongside
forZe
forZe
Inactive
SUYGETSU
Dmitry Ilyushin
Art1st
Vyacheslav Lyadnov
Coffee
Nikita Antsypirovich
and
Inactive
, the other two winners.
Stage 2: Challengers 2
Challengers 2 was it. If any one CIS team were to make it to Iceland, this was their one and only shot. One Breath Gaming defeated Singularity in one of the longest and toughest series of the entire pan-European Stage 2. GMT were knocked out by a reset Gambit, joining forZe and CrowCrowd in day 2.
CrowCrowd now lacked Derke and as such struggled to give Gambit the same result as the week prior. The dominant score line they had defeated Gambit with was handed back, being bested 13-11 and 13-7 and losing their dreams of going to Iceland. One Breath showed up for Challengers 2 much more prepared than they had done for the first tournament, sweeping forZe in back-to-back 13-8 scores.
With a simple 2-0, One Breath had done what many couldn't and can't: take down CIS's titans and First Strike champions, forZe.
This put them in the final against Gambit, where luck certainly didn't favor them. They did take the first map 13-8, but once Nikita "d3ffo" Sudakov's men were warmed up they started firing out crushing results from which One Breath just couldn't come back. In the last three maps, they scored a grand total of 16 rounds. With a resounding victory, Gambit became CIS's sole EMEA representative for next week's tournament.
EMEA Challengers Playoffs
The representatives in the EMEA Challengers Playoffs have been finalized. They are:
-
FunPlus Phoenix
FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks (EU)
-
Guild Esports
Guild Esports Inactive (EU)
-
FNATIC
FNATIC Europe Rank #6 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder (EU)
-
Team Liquid
Team Liquid Europe Rank #23 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak (EU)
-
FUT Esports
FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan qRaxs Doğukan Balaban (TR)
-
Oxygen Esports
Oxygen Esports Inactive (TR)
-
BBL Esports
BBL Esports Europe Rank #17 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal PROFEK Dawid Święć vakk Vakaris Bebravičius stand-in LewN Burak Alkan (TR)
-
Gambit Esports
Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin (CIS)
These eight teams will battle each other between April 23 and May 2 to find out who goes to Stage 2: Masters Reykjavik. Will Europe match its expectations? Or will Turkey and CIS blow the competition out of the water?