Day 2 of EMEA Kickoff saw Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #12 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak and Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #35 K4DAVRA Thomas Johner RobbieBk Robbie Boerkamp Minny Patrik Hušek Zyppan Pontus Eek Click Haydem Ali get one step closer to qualifying for Masters Bangkok, while KOI KOI Europe Rank #30 grubinho Grzegorz Ryczko sheydos Bogdan Naumov Filu Dawid Czarnecki flyuh Xavier Carlson soulcas Dom Sulcas and Apeks Apeks Europe Rank #3 florescent Ava Eugene hype Tautvydas Paldavicius MOLSI Michał Łącki AvovA Auni Chahade batujnax Mehmet Batu Özaslan were sent down to the lower bracket and face elimination.

Team Liquid vs KOI

Both teams welcomed a lot of new faces in the offseason. Team Liquid brought on former Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius super sub paTiTek in an offseason that saw them bring in two new players, while KOI brought on a trio, star-studded by new in-game leader flyuh and an overhaul of their coaching staff which brought on an all-British group led by head coach Gorilla .

In a three-map thriller of a match that saw momentum change hands several times, Team Liquid and KOI traded their map picks, setting up for a tight third map. Fracture, Team Liquid's map pick, was hijacked from the beginning with a crucial thrifty round by KOI to seize the tides. Team Liquid would go on to rue their chances on a map, which ended by a tight margin of three rounds.

An early anti-eco to earns KOI a round in what became a tight map.

Team Liquid bounced back, though, blowing out KOI on their own map pick of Abyss 13-3. That set up for Bind, the decider, where TL veteran Keiko continued his red-hot form. On another 13-10 map, he logged 28 kills and ended the series with a server-high 65 kills.

Team Liquid earned themselves a matchup with FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan qRaxs Doğukan Balaban in the upper quarterfinal, while KOI faces elimination in the lower bracket, awaiting the result of the upper quarterfinals for their opponent.

Apeks vs Gentle Mates

Apeks made their long-awaited debut in VCT after hoisting EMEA Ascension, and in the process also saw two-time Game Changers champion florescent make her debut. Apeks played with assistant coach oderus , due to visa issues for fifth man batujnax . On the other end of the stage, three Gentle Mates players made their VCT debuts. The team underwent a roster reconstruction in the offseason, picking up European veteran Zyppan as part of a four-man signing class.

The series opened on Pearl, picked by Gentle Mates. The traditionally attack-sided map did not ring true for Apeks in the first half. They secured just six rounds in their first, attacking half, giving them an uphill battle on defense. Still, an impressive 1v3 clutch gave the audience a taste of florescent was capable of.

Vintage flor.

Despite florescent leading the way for Apeks in kills, a more well-rounded performance from Gentle Mates saw them drop just one round in their attack half en route to a 13-7 victory.

Apeks picked Haven, but faced a 9-3 deficit entering their attack half. They flipped the script on Gentle Mates, though, forcing an overtime after clinching nine rounds of their own. However, they fell short in their quest to force a third map, and fell 14-12 in overtime.

Gentle Mates move up to take on Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius , who left 2024 as one of the hottest teams not just in Europe but in the world. Meanwhile, Apeks will move to the lower bracket and await the upper quarterfinal results for their opponent.

VCT EMEA Kickoff will continue with the following matches: