Who's Who in the EU Masters Playoffs

Eu M2 0809 — The best semi-professional teams in Europe fight again! © Riot Games

With the group stages of the EU Masters Main Event done, the eight best teams are heading into the playoffs. Who are the quarter finalists and what can we expect from them?

The full Amazon #EUMasters Group Standings! pic.twitter.com/7IdeuQMzxj
— Amazon European Masters (@EUMasters) September 7, 2021

The European Masters brings together the best teams from the European regional leagues and shown us our first glimpse of many LEC stars. Over the last month, they battled in the play-in stage and the main event groups. Now, only eight team remain to fight for the EU Masters’ cup. Here is who they are and what you can look forward to:

Group A: Misfits Premier, UCAM Esports club

Misfits Premier came into the EU Masters as the LFL champions and one of the teams favored to win the event. They were undefeated in their first three games and only lost one game to UCAM on Tuesday. Lucjan "Shlatan" Ahmad in the jungle and veteran Paweł "Woolite" Pruski in the bot lane showed a lot of prowess and Misfits deservedly take the top seed.

UCAM Esports Club is the second seed from the group. The LVP finalists had an impressive first week, only losing to Misfits in a very close game - but avenged their loss in a commanding manner once the teams met again. A loss to AGO Rogue relegated them to second place, but UCAM are dangerous - especially if jungler Maik "Hades" Jonker gets his hands on Viego.

Group B - Movistar Riders, PDW

Movistar Riders might have come through the play-in, but they were on fire in the opening week of the main event, winning three decisive wins. They had a harder time in game two, having to fight off a determined challenge by Tricked esports and losing a close game to PDW. However, strong bot and jungle, as well as good map movement, allowed them to avenge their loss in the tiebreker and end in first place.

MAD Lions were too once an EU Masters team - now they are the new kings of the LEC!

Ultraliga champions PDW end the group in second place, but their decisive group two wins against Tricked and Penta 1860 show they can be a very powerful team. PDW showed great teamfighting in their wins and their tiebreaker with Movistar was quite close. Adrian "Odi11" Kruk has shown to be very capable in the bot lane and may be one of the team’s trump cards in playoffs.

Group C: Berlin International Gaming, Fnatic Rising

As the Prime League’s champion and the DACH region’s only remaining representative, Berlin International Gaming have big shoes to fill - and so far, they have looked good doing it. After their opening game loss to Fnatic Rising, BIG have been unstoppable. They looked quite dominant in game two, dismantling Illuminar and winning a hard-fought rematch with FNCR to take the top spot.

Fnatic Rising are another team to come through play-ins and make it through the groups. The team had a great start, blooding the nose of the expected group leader BIG. In the much-contested group, however, a loss to Illuminar proved the difference-maker in the race to the top. Watch out for Mahdi "Pride" Nasserzadeh and Magnus "Maxi" Kristensen - FNCR’s top and jungle deserve attention.

Group D: Karmine Corp, Vodafone Giants

Karmine Corp came into the tournament as the reigning champions and faced a group where they would have to prove they are on point. They went undefeated in the first part of groups, before narrowly losing a game to Vodafone Giants - but quickly dispatched mouse and Macko. Even after top laner Adam left for Fnatic, jungler Jakub "Cinkrof" Rokicki and ADC Matthew Charles "xMatty" Coombs are powerhouses - and Adam’s replacement Lucas "Cabochard" Simon-Meslet has both experience and skill.

As champions of the LVP, Vodafone Giants are a team everyone should be wary of, but the hard-fought group showed they are not invulnerable - in fact, their loss to mouse was the fastest EU Masters game we have seen in a long time. That said, Vodafone remain dangerous - and carries Ismael "Miniduke" Martínez Cortés and Amadeu "Attila" Carvalho can easily take over a game if given a chance.

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