EU Masters Quarterfinals Review (Updated)

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The groups are over - from now on, it's a fight for the cup! (Credit: Riot Games)

The EU Masters playoffs are here! The eight best teams of the tournament continue their route to the cup. Who will rise to the top?After two weeks of group games, only eight teams remain in contention for the European Masters 2021 Spring trophy. This time, however, we have no fewer than six regions being represented - in addition to the traditional powerhouses of the LFL, the Ultraliga and the Prime League, three other regions - the Nordics and UK, Italy and the Balkans - have a team in the playoff too. With only the best teams remaining, will the favorites prove their fans right or would the dark horses manage to go all the way?

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The quarterfinal games will take place over two days, April 27th and April 28th. Each day will have two best-of-3 matches, with the top team from one group taking on the second team from another group. The Tuesday games feature LVP champions UCAM Esports Team taking on Italy's MKers, and LFL stars Karmine Corp facing off against EBL's ŠAIM SE SuppUp.

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Eight teams remain: who will win? (Credit: Riot Games)

EU Masters 2020 Streams

Results:

Semis 2804
UCAM, KC, BT Excel and mousesports are the four semifinalists (Credit: Riot Games)

Day 2

Berlin International Gaming 0-2 mousesports

The all-German quarterfinal started with a brawl, where mouse had the better start but BIG fought back and slowed the game down. After a close fight, however, mouse secured the ocean soul and the Baron. Eventually a backdoor play by Adam "LIDER" Ilyasov eventually won mouse the game.

BIG started better in game two, winning several skirmishes. However, mouse equalized and eventually secured an ocean soul. With it and some great execution by LIDER on Zed, they took over the mid-game teamfighs, scoring a series of aces to win a decisive victory and sweep the series

Misfits Premier 1-2 BT Excel

After a very powerful group stage, Misfits Premier stumbled at the start of their series with BT Excel. The LFL team was unable to capitalize on their early game composition and found themselves staring at a cloud soul-buffed Excel. Even a Baron steal was not enough to turn the game around and Excel seized the win.

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Misfits struck back in game two, however, winning a key early skirmish to set up the tone of the game. With a 1-3-1 composition and good teamfighting execution, they were both winning fights and dominating sidelanes. The outcome was sealed at the Baron, where Misfits secured the objective and took four kills, ending the game in just over 24 minutes.

However, Misfits' early aggression in game 3 cost them dearly, as they would end up losing a 2-4 fight just six minutes that also led to their top laner losing time and his life, and Andrei "Orome" Popa took over the lane. Excel steadily extended their lead until they won a 4-1 fight with Baron just outside their opponents' base and won the game and the series.

Day 1

Karmine Corp 2-1 ŠAIM SE SuppUp

The LFL Champions Karmine Corp came in this fight as heavy favorites, but the Balkan team had no plans to roll over. In the first game, the French champions had a slight early advantage, yet SuppUp kept close in gold and stacked kills on their carries, especially Mihail "twohoyrz" Petkov' Syndra. The EBL team took over the mid-game and played the map well to hand KCorp their first loss of the tournament.

The French team struck back in game 2, once more dominating the top lane with early aggression while finding advantages in other lanes as well. A 4-0 fight just 12 minutes in cemented their lead. SuppUp found a few kills to slow down the game, but eventually KC took ocean soul, played confidently and equalized the series.

Game three started even better for the LFL team, who won several different early skirmishes and snowballed hard. Lucas "Saken" Fayard on Ryze led his team to get a big kill lead and all 15 tower plates for a nearly 7K gold lead just 13 minutes in. SuppUp tried to fight back, but only fell further behind and had to see their Nexus go down just past the 22-minute mark.

UCAM Esports Club 2-0 Mkers

The Spanish Champions UCAM Esports Club faced Mkers, the Group A dark horse from the Italian regional league. UCAM started strong in the first game, getting an early bot lane advantage and using it to extend their advantage as the game grew. They kept increasing the tempo, snowballing the game impeccably and ending it after just 22 minutes of play.

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The second game, however, was a lot more contested. Despite the Spanish team getting the initial lead, Mkers fought hard and took kill after kill that let them stay in the game despite a poorer objective control. However, a UCAM Baron steal allowed them to turn the tide and methodicaly push Mkers back, ending the game several minutes later and sweeping the Italian representatives.

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The EU Masters continues on Saturday with the semifinals. Meanwhile, make sure to follow our Facebook page and join us on Discord to keep up on any news and analysis!