VCT EMEA Stage 2 Survival Guide

_{^{Image credit: VCT EMEA}}

The VCT EMEA Stage 2 is here as we count down to Champions this August!

VCT EMEA Stage 2 is finally here as the region gets ready to determine which of the top three teams will head to Seoul, South Korea for Champions in August of this year. Fnatic is still seen as the region's top team but as a whole, the EMEA have been underwhelming this season whilst the likes of Team Heretics have looked to be a glimmer of hope. Karmine Corp and FUT Esports are the other two teams that have made it to international LANs this year alongside Fnatic and Heretics, but EMEA has never truly come close to winning this year.

With only three slots to VCT Champions for the EMEA region, it will be interesting to see who makes it to the playoffs by then as the likes of Fnatic, Heretics, KC, and FUT all have a valid stake. KC and Fnatic have won the VCT EMEA Kickoff and Stage 1 respectively whilst Heretics have come in second on three occasions - twice in the EMEA and its most recent during Masters Shanghai.

VCT EMEA Stage 2 - Format & Schedule

• Group Stage: June 18th - July 11th
• Playoffs: July 15th - 20th

Much like the other VCT regions, EMEA will have a similar format to its counterparts for the group stage and playoffs. Teams from Group Alpha and Group Omega will now play games against teams from the same group instead of cross-group play like in Stage 1. All games during the group stage will be a single round-robin best-of-three format where the top six from the overall leaderboard of both groups will go through to the playoffs.

Speaking of the playoffs, it will also feature a hybrid-elimination bracket with a knockout round single-elimination format as well as a double-elimination portion. The top two teams from the group stage will receive an automatic bye to the upper bracket semifinals where they will bypass the knockout round entirely. As for the teams that finish between third and sixth, they will have to play an elimination series to determine who moves on to join the top two teams in the next round.

From there, it will be a double-elimination bracket with the final three teams moving on to VCT Champions. All matches in the playoffs will be a best-of-three series except for the lower bracket final and grand finals, which will be a best-of-five. With Stage 1 results being brought forward to Stage 2, it's time for teams to start putting in the work to ensure they get enough wins and/or points to secure a spot at Champions in a few months'.

There will also be a map pool change coming to the VCT as Haven will be making a return to the rotation in place of Breeze from Week 2 onwards. The game's latest map, Abyss will also be making its debut but only when the playoffs begin as it will replace Split.

VCT EMEA Stage 2 - Prize Pool

Much like VCT China, the EMEA region will not have a prize pool for the teams competing and instead, will focus primarily on qualification spots for Champions. EMEA Points will not be available as they will now be earned through series wins during the group stage and playoffs.

VCT EMEA Stage 2 - Teams

While Fnatic may be the household name for VCT EMEA, they have not had the greatest of showings on the international stage this season. Its last international LAN victory was during last season's Masters Tokyo, which was over a year ago. They also missed out on Masters Madrid and could get finish as far as seventh/eighth during Masters Shanghai. Despite winning EMEA Stage 1, Fnatic have looked like a ghost of its former selves and will be hoping to pick things back up in Stage 2.

All five teams from Group Alpha, which Fnatic is in, have the same 3-3 scoreline, which will make things interesting as we move into Stage 2. As for Group Omega, FUT Esports and NAVI have a strong 4-1 lead over every other team while Team Heretics is close behind. As for the EMEA Points table, Fnatic is in the lead with 10 whilst there is a three-way tie going on for second between FUT, KC, and Heretics with seven points.

• BBL Esports
• Fnatic
• FUT Esports
• Gentle Mates
• GIANTX
• Karmine Corp
• KOI
• Natus Vincere
• Team Heretics
• Team Liquid
• Team Vitality

VCT EMEA Stage 2 - Where to Watch

There will only be four weeks' worth of games during the group stage with the first two weeks featuring seven games spread across four days. Week three will have six games spread across three days and the final week will have just five games spread across another three days. All the matches will be live-streamed on the official VCT EMEA Twitch and YouTube channels.