"EMEA is the best" - FUT yetujey reflects after loss against EDG

Fighting through the Swiss stage and coming out the other side, FUT Esports have now played their first match in the VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026 playoffs. They went up against the 2024 Champions winners EDward Gaming and faced heavy resistance on stage. With the crowd heavily favoring the Chinese team, FUT lost their momentum and ultimately fell to the lower bracket.

After the match, THESPIKE caught up with FUT’s Eray "yetujey" Budak to go through what went wrong and what it's like to play on stage against a Chinese squad.

Happy being picked

When the Swiss stage ended, a draw decided the playoff matchups, where the top seeds got to pick the team they wanted to face. EDG were drawn second, and they decided they wanted to play FUT first. According to yetujey, FUT were pleasantly surprised by the decision.

I was kind of surprised because no one should try to pick us first because I mean we are a different team because we have really good aim power and we can always make the people outplayed so I wasn't expecting this one. They picked us and for us, we were so happy about that because we know we're gonna win against them. But on the stage, it just didn't work.

Although they expected to win, FUT ran into a strong EDG squad, and Duelist player Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang secured the series with a 60/43 K/D across the three maps. yetujey noticed that after EDG lost the first map, they became much more reactive to FUT’s plays in the following two.

We really started good on the series. But then on Pearl, we know our Pearl is not that good. And also we are always trying to make it better. In the second half we just lose the pistol and then they start reacting to us. And then we lose a really important anti-eco round on B. And then, I guess mentally stuff does not work for us, so we just lose it.

The Chinese playstyle

EDG was the first Chinese team FUT had faced on the Masters London stage so far. Even though they lost, yetujey believes the Chinese style of play is relatively simple and beatable. However, both Xi Lai Gaming and EDG have shown they came to compete, with both teams winning their opening playoff matches.

They don't have really good strats but they are always trying to do some China-style gameplay. I mean, you think they are not going to leave somebody to solo inside but they are just doing it. I don't know, maybe they just don't fear the enemies. I don't know, but yeah, China is not that hard.

EMEA on top

From yetujey’s perspective, Pacific teams are much tougher opponents than Chinese teams, even with only Paper Rex remaining in London. EMEA is also the only region with all of its teams still alive in the tournament, and yetujey believes that sends a message to the rest of the world.

As an aim power, we are really good. And also for the tactics, I guess we just always try to control the maps. Maybe that is an advantage for us, playing slow and taking the rounds with guaranteed things. Sometimes we are just changing the game speed, sometimes we are just running towards them. And I guess that's a good sign because the aim power and tactics are always good as EMEA teams.

When asked which region is the best, yetujey’s answer was simple:

EMEA is the best.

Booed on stage

With two Chinese teams in the playoffs, the crowd at Masters London is packed with Chinese fans. As a viewer, it was easy to tell the crowd was firmly behind EDG, chanting for them while also booing FUT during celebrations and Efe "s0pp" Tur shooting dead bodies.

As a Turkish team, FUT are used to playing without crowd support, according to yetujey. In Berlin, other fan bases tend to dominate the audience, and VISA issues make it difficult for Turkish fans to travel and support the team in London. Even when it felt like the entire arena was against them, yetujey believes it only gave them more motivation to win.

I think because of VISA problems actually people can't make it, like they can't come some countries, yeah that's a bad sign for us but like I said we are used to play with less fans on the stage and also if you see the enemy crowd is yelling for them and booing for us that makes us feel more passionate and we just want to win more.

Not ready to go home yet

During his three years on FUT, yetujey has only attended one other global tournament, VCT 2024 - Champions 2024, the same tournament EDG won it all. Since then, FUT has struggled to make a statement in EMEA. In 2025, they missed every opportunity to qualify for an international event and lost all of their matches in Kickoff.

This Masters run is their best shot at a trophy so far in 2026, and yetujey doesn't want to let it slip away.

After that year (2024), I wasn't that sure about whether I can do international again but right now we are here. So I just don't want to go back to my home. I want to stay here in London. So I will just keep working and for the next match I hope we're gonna win.

Next up: G2

FUT have now been sent to the lower bracket, where every match is an elimination match from here on out. Their first opponent will be North America's G2 Esports, who also lost their opening playoff match to a Chinese team, XLG. yetujey expects the matchup to be a close one.

We just played one scrim against them. And it was so close. But the scrims not always show what's gonna happen. I don't care that much. If G2 is gonna lose, then probably it will be a banger match.

For more VCT interviews with your favourite players from Masters London, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.

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