Fnatic yet to be beaten, fan-favorites KOI and Karmine Corp disappoint - VCT EMEA Regular Season review

From the absolute dominance of Fnatic and Natus Vincere, to the disappointment of KOI and Karmine Corp, the inaugural VCT EMEA season was a joy to behold. While the majority of teams is still in contention for Masters Tokyo, the four bottom teams are starting their month-long preparation for Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) to achieve their distant last hope of reaching Champions. In this article, each team’s performance during the regular season will be looked at, including a little preview of what’s to come.

Season Review

Fnatic

Unbeaten in group stages since 2021, Fnatic look unstoppable once more. The whole team seems perfect and, bar the near loss against LOUD at LOCK//IN, hasn’t slipped up once. The same can be said for their run in the regular season of VCT EMEA this split. They only dropped one map, which was when they were still playing with their sub, Maks "kamyk" Rychlewski, who also put in some stellar performances that were on par with the 5 superstars on the starting roster. The firepower on Fnatic, together with the brains of Jake "Boaster" Howlett and coach Jacob "mini" Harris brings forward the question whether they’ll even be beaten at all this year.

Best performance: Fnatic – Team Liquid (Week 3)

Best player: Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev - THESPIKE Rating of 1.31

Natus Vincere

Even though they seem inferior to Fnatic, don’t count them out. Natus Vincere seems to always peak at the perfect moments, beating out Fnatic when it mattered last year. The two games they lost during the regular season can both be seen as NAVI testing things out, with their last game versus Fnatic barely having any added value. The performances of Pontus "Zyppan" Eek and Mehmet Yağız "cNed" İpek throughout the season should also alleviate any doubt or stress from their fans, with the latter slotting in seamlessly in the tight structure Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow and Erik "d00mbr0s" Sandgren put together over the past years. And if last year is anything to go by, NAVI might look extremely dangerous come Masters Tokyo.

Best performance: Natus Vincere – BBL Esports (Week 2)

Best player: Pontus "Zyppan" Eek - THESPIKE Rating of 1.19

Team Liquid

There should be more in the tank for Team Liquid, especially with Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel playing the way he has been. The duo of Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin and Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen is also putting in performances that are on par with the best players in the league. However, when it comes to results, Team Liquid is not yet up there with the likes of Fnatic and Natus Vincere. It should only be a matter of time as the team has massively improved since their abysmal loss to Team Secret at LOCK//IN. Making Masters Tokyo should be the expectation, it might, however, come too early to go for the top spot.

Best performance: Team Liquid – Giants (Week 5)

Best player: Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel - THESPIKE Rating of 1.30

Giants

With the middle of the pack in EMEA being seemingly large, Giants get a golden opportunity to hijack a spot for Masters Tokyo. After the regular season, they seem like the only team that can confidently be called fourth-best. The teams behind them, such as FUT Esports and Team Vitality have shown extreme variance over the course of the season, while Giants, apart from a small slip-up against Team Heretics, have been relatively steady. The fact that the revelation of the season in Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin is on this team, together with the consistency of Žygimantas "nukkye" Chmieliauskas and Aaro "hoody" Peltokangas, makes it a tough team to overcome, especially since they haven’t reached their peak yet.

Best performance: Giants – FUT Esports (Week 4)

Best player: Kirill "Cloud" Nehozhin - THESPIKE Rating of 1.16