EMEA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3 Recap

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Challengers Playoffs are now over for all regions! | © vct.gg

It's the end of the Challengers Playoffs for every region; this was the last chance to get a slot at Masters: Berlin. Let's recap how it looked for the best EMEA region (EU, CIS, Turkey) teams!

It was 10 days full of surprises. An early loss by Natus Vincere, Gambit Esports winning the entire tournament, rebuilding from the Lower Bracket, and the CIS vs. Turkey final. Let's relive it all again! Here is a recap and statistics from the EMEA Challengers Playoffs: Stage 3, the most important tournament for the EU, CIS, and Turkey regions.

EMEA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Results

When we look at the EMEA Challengers Playoffs Bracket, we can see that all the teams that started in the Upper Bracket Round 2 eventually finished in the top 4 — these were Gambit, SuperMassiveBlaze, Acend, and G2 Esports. Gambit Esports vs. Acend in the semifinals, and then in the Lower Bracket, they had to face a pretty strong opponent — Team Liquid. Although they admit that their strategies on Haven were not the strongest, they managed to win the entire tournament. An interesting case is also SuperMassiveBlaze, who out of these four seemed to be the biggest underdog, yet they managed to get into the Grand Final by defeating Acend 2:1.

Emea bracket
EMEA Challenger Playoffs Stage 3 Bracket | © liquipedia.com

EMEA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Prize Distribution

The total prize pool of EMEA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3 was €85,500 (~$100,000) and was distributed among 12 teams (60 players).

  • 1st place (Gambit Esports) — €32,500 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 2nd place (SuperMassiveBlaze) — €15,500 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 3rd place (Acend) — €10,000 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 4th place (G2 Esports) — €7,500 + slot at Masters: Berlin
  • 5th/6th place (Team Liquid/Giants Gaming) — €4,500 + 50 VCT Points
  • 7th/8th place (forZe/Guild Esports) — €2,500 + 40 VCT Points
  • 9th-12th place (Oxygen Esports/FunPlus Phoenix/Fire Flux Phoenix/Natus Vincere) — €1,500 + 30 VCT Points

EMEA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Best Player

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Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin | © Valorant CIS

It is undisputed that the best player of the EMEA Challengers Playoffs was Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin from Gambit Esports. The young Russian has already won 8 tournaments in Valorant and is going for even more. In the EMEA Challengers Playoffs alone, he scored a whopping 305 frags with a KDA of 1.69, which is super impressive. There is no doubt that he was a significant contributor to another important win for Gambit Esports.

EMEA Challengers Playoffs Stage 3: Statistics

  • Most represented country: Turkey (16 players)
  • Player with most kills: Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin (Gambit Esports, 305 kills)
  • Player with the least kills: Kaan "Brasco" Elver (Fire Flux Phoenix, 33 kills)
  • Most played Agent: Viper (18 players)
  • Player with the highest KDA ratio: Baran "Izzy" Yılmaz (SuperMassiveBlaze, 1.96)
  • Player with the lowest KDA ratio: Burak "glovee" Yıldırım (Oxygen Esports, 0.76)
  • Shortest match: Team Liquid vs. Oxygen Esports (30 rounds, Lower Bracket Round 1)
  • Longest match: Acend vs. Gambit Esports (93 Rounds, Lower Bracket Final)
  • Viewership peak: 74,100 viewers (Team Liquid vs. Gambit Esports, Lower Bracket Round 3)

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Szymon Bielawski

I've been into competitive gaming and eSports since I was a kid. I started out in the local CS:GO scene and ended up performing at the international major tournaments like Hearthstone Masters Tour. The competitive gaming world discovered a new...