Three five-map thrillers shake up the standings in EMEA
Week 1 was the perfect start for Stage 2's early pacesetters, Virtus.pro and 1234. Week 2 brought the rest of the field right back into the conversation. With just one matchweek left in the regular season, every result now carries real weight for Al Qadsiah, Geekay Esports, and 1234 as they jostle for playoff qualification. There’s a newfound air of quality in EMEA ever since the World Finals in Stockholm. This week, we were served an extra special weekend of Overwatch, with every match that didn't feature Telacy going the full five-map distance.
Match summaries
Geekay Esports 3 - 0 Telacy
Both teams arrived winless, and for Geekay, a loss to a side expected to finish bottom of the table would have been a damning result. They made sure it never came close. Across mirrored Mizuki/Kiriko/Sigma/Cassidy compositions, Geekay took Antarctic Peninsula 100-0 across both subrounds before doing the same on New Junk City, reeling off three points in a row after Telacy briefly threatened with an early point A.
King's Row followed the same script. Telacy pushed agonisingly close to a full cap but faltered right at the line, and Geekay made them pay by completing their own full push to close out a clean 3-0. It was Geekay's first win of the stage, and a timely confidence boost heading into their second match of the weekend against 1234.
Twisted Minds 3 - 2 1234
Twisted Minds came into the weekend after a week to forget, having been swept by Virtus.pro and dropped a map to newly-promoted Telacy. 1234, by contrast, arrived with real momentum off the back of their Week 1 upset of Al Qadsiah, and they picked up exactly where they left off. Harry “GoldenPants” Cawthra ran riot on Wrecking Ball across the opening map, finishing 15-1 as 1234 took both subrounds to lead 1-0. Right after Twisted Minds equalised the series, the rookie continued to torment the champions through Runasapi, sending the series to 2-1, with William “WMaimone” Maimone, Kai “Kai” Collins, Khenail, and Lewis “Crispy” Beer all chipping in to keep the pressure on a TM side with no real answers.
Twisted Minds finally found their footing once the Wrecking Ball ban was on the table. Forced onto Winston on King's Row, GoldenPants couldn't repeat his Week 1 heroics, and TM full-pushed then full-held to level the series. On the decider, Suravasa, Ibrahim “Quartz” Alali's Shion proved to be the difference-maker. The champions picked apart 1234's DPS and supports one by one to neutralise GoldenPants and close out the series 3-2. A far closer result than anyone would have expected from a side projected to finish fifth, but Twisted Minds escaped with the win.
Virtus.pro 3 - 2 Al Qadsiah
With Cassidy banned on Antarctic Peninsula, Virtus.pro looked nothing like their dominant Week 1 selves, and Al Qadsiah capitalised to take the opener. The moment Cassidy returned to the pool on Map 2, Kevin “kevster” Persson snapped straight back onto it, and VP stabilised, messily, but enough to weather Al Qadsiah's pressure. Runasapi swung emphatically in VP's favour, opening an early lead and defending it with poise. Al Qadsiah surged forward late in the map, but failed to put together a string of fight wins to finish the job.
On Circuit Royale, fuelled by a rejuvenated Cat/Bastion composition and Ilari “Vestola” Vestola's signature Sigma, Al Qadsiah sent the series to a fifth decider map after putting up a slightly better defensive showing to better-hold Virtus.pro to two points.
Hollywood settled it. The Sigma duel between Jonas “eisgnom” Stratemeyer and Vestola was the highlight of the series, and eisgnom's edge proved decisive as Virtus.pro completed a full push with 2:18 still on the clock. Al Qadsiah grabbed an early point on their own attack but ran out of answers from there. VP countered every one of Lee “Ade” Ji-hwan's Satsuriku Sprees, and Ziyad “Zox” Aldosari was comprehensively outclassed by his counterpart, Kwon “FiXa” Yeong-hun. Virtus.pro grabbed their third win of the season.
Geekay Esports 3 - 2 1234
Geekay came in off the back of their win over Telacy, while 1234 carried the confidence of having taken Twisted Minds the distance the day before. Geekay opened with the expected Wrecking Ball ban, forcing GoldenPants onto Winston and giving themselves the edge in a close opening map. With Wrecking Ball back in play for Map 2, 1234 returned to business as usual. Crispy's Wuyang led all players in damage (14379), and WMaimone sealed the map to tie the series.
New Junk City swung 1234's way again in a back-and-forth affair led by GoldenPants, WMaimone, and Kai, putting 1234 firmly in control of the series heading into the back half.
That control evaporated on King's Row. With the series on the line, Geekay protect-banned their DPS options with Venture and 1234 cashed in their Mizuki ban, which was proving problematic for the Wrecking Ball. Geekay's defence proved the difference, with Ziyad “ZIYAD” Alkathiri producing a vintage D.Va performance reminiscent of his 2025 rookie-of-the-year form.
Runasapi was a complete shutdown. Geekay banned Crispy’s Wuyang and with Mizuki secured, GoldenPants was fully contained. Abdullah “LBBD7” Alfaifi came alive on Cassidy, and Geekay full-pushed the bot while 1234 failed to register a single metre.
1234 impressed on paper but squandered their series lead in the pick/ban phase on Map 4, which ultimately proved very costly.
Virtus.pro 3 - 0 Telacy
There was little room for a second weekend upset here. Virtus.pro opened with a dominant start on Oasis, conceding only sporadic resistance whenever Telacy's ultimates came online, and closed it out 2-0 with ease. New Junk City was even more one-sided. Landon was the only Virtus.pro player to die across the entire map, and only twice at that, with Telacy unable to find a single other kill between their five players.
Circuit Royale wrapped things up inside a matter of minutes, as Virtus.pro full-held Telacy before cruising to the cap on their own attack. A routine, expected result, but another reminder that Virtus.pro are operating on a different level to the rest of the region this stage.
Hero bans and map picks
Player of the week: kevster
Across two matches this weekend, kevster was the common thread behind another perfect week for Virtus.pro. Despite the nerfs in the Season 3 Hero Updates, his Cassidy returned as the team's compass against Al Qadsiah. Once it was off the table on Map 1, VP looked uncharacteristically lost, and the instant it became available again on Map 2, the team snapped back into form. From there, his inspired form was a key factor in yet another VP win, and he barely broke a sweat maintaining that form against Telacy in the team's second sweep of the weekend.
What stands out about kevster's week is how directly his resurgence on Cassidy has dictated VP's identity since the Champions Clash. Every time kevster is allowed the Cassidy pick, Virtus.pro look like the best team in the region by a clear margin. Virtus.pro continue their impressive run through this stage, and kevster’s influence on the whole team makes him an easy player-of-the-week pick for Week 2.
Looking ahead
Virtus.pro head into the final week of the regular season unbeaten. Twisted Minds survived a five-map scare to keep pace, but the warning signs against 1234 won't be ignored heading into the stretch run. Al Qadsiah's stumble against VP leaves them with work to do, while Geekay Esports' weekend finally had the 2025 Al Qadsiah core rediscover their footing.
With the top four after the regular season advancing to the playoffs, and the top three from there booking tickets to Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris, Week 3 will decide a great deal.
Every team apart from Virtus.pro can still mathematically finish the regular season in 5th/6th place and be eliminated from playoff contention. Every fixture in Week 3 is crucial, and every head-to-head score and map win can end up becoming the ultimate decider.
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