Championship Sunday is set. Karmine Corp, Team Falcons, Spacestation Gaming, and Ninjas in Pyjamas eStar won Saturday's quarterfinals, leaving four teams and no second chances on the final day in Paris.
The opening day of playoffs delivered exactly what the group stage had been promising: tight series, momentum swings, and two teams that had to stare down a Game 7 before moving on. The EWC bracket is now down to its sharpest edge.
Karmine Corp 4-3 Team Vitality
The French derby went all seven. KC took Games 1 and 2, Vitality answered in Games 3 and 4, KC recovered with back-to-back 1-0 wins, and then finished the series with a 6-0 Game 7. There was a real sense that the next goal could have decided the whole match before KC turned the final game into a runaway.
After falling to Spacestation in the group upper bracket and needing a reverse sweep against R8 just to reach playoffs, the defending EWC champions found another way to survive. It was not the smooth title defence they imagined, but it was still alive.
Team Falcons 4-2 Twisted Minds
Falcons took a 2-0 lead, Twisted Minds responded with a Game 2 win and a 5-4 overtime in Game 3, then Falcons took control again. A 6-5 overtime win in Game 4 swung the series, and Falcons closed it 4-2. For all the individual quality in this match, the story was Falcons refusing to let two sharp Twisted Minds responses turn into a comeback.
The Saudi side moves on to face KC; dralii gets a semifinal against his former team. In a tournament full of heavy matchups, it is hard to find one with more history attached.
Spacestation 4-3 Shopify Rebellion
Shopify won Games 2, 3, and 4 to put Spacestation under real pressure. One more win would have sent SSG home. Instead, Spacestation found a 1-0 Game 5, won Game 6 4-3, and took the decider 2-0. It was the second major escape of the tournament for Spacestation after its Group B win over MIBR, and it earned a semifinal against NiP.
NiP 4-2 Gentle Mates
Gentle Mates won the opener 4-3, but NiP won three consecutive games to seize control. Gentle Mates extended the match with a Game 5 win; NiP answered 3-2 in Game 6. It was a composed finish from a roster that had already navigated two five-game group series. NiP become the third European team in the final four, while the Boston Major champions' EWC run is over.
Saturday's story: nobody coasted
The quarterfinal bracket produced four very different series, but the same underlying lesson: playoff placement did not make anyone safe. Vitality had taken the cleanest route out of groups and still lost in seven. Spacestation had swept KC earlier in the event and still had to reverse a 3-1 deficit against Shopify. The single-elimination stage removed the cushion that had kept several Day Three stories alive.
KC are the clearest example. Their tournament had already included a 3-0 loss to Spacestation and a 0-3 deficit against R8. Against Vitality, they again found themselves in a series where the margin was tiny. Two 1-0 wins gave them the chance to play a Game 7; the 6-0 ending made the final score look far more comfortable than the match had been. The defending champions have taken the hardest possible route to Sunday, and they are still there.
Spacestation's win had a different kind of weight. A team trailing 3-1 in a best-of-seven has to win every remaining game, and there is no tactical timeout big enough to make that simple. SSG did it by winning three different kinds of games: a 1-0 defensive stand, a 4-3 scrap, and a controlled 2-0 decider. That range will matter against NiP, who have been one of the most composed teams in Paris.
Two semifinals, two very different pressures
NiP and Spacestation meet with both teams having proved they can win tight series. Neither had a straightforward quarterfinal, and both arrive with a chance to make an EWC final that few would have treated as inevitable before the event. The match should be decided by who can keep the game tight without letting it become frantic.
Falcons against KC carries a more obvious spotlight. KC are the reigning champions, battered but still standing. Falcons have been the more stable side since the group stage and now get dralii's meeting with his former team. The semifinal is not a referendum on the whole season, but it is the kind of match that can define how both teams enter the final stretch toward Worlds.
Sunday's bracket
- Ninjas in Pyjamas eStar vs Spacestation Gaming
- Karmine Corp vs Team Falcons
The semifinal winners meet in the Grand Final. The losing teams play a best-of-five third-place match; every other playoff series is best-of-seven. One day remains, and the defending champions are still alive — but Falcons and Spacestation have looked every bit as capable of taking the $400,000 first prize.