📝 Twisted Minds vs. Al Qadsiah Winners Bracket Finals Full Match Recap

The clash of the two EMEA juggernauts is always a grand affair. Twisted Minds and Al Qadsiah have been trading blows all year, and once again, they collide with everything on the line. This winners bracket final determines who goes directly to the Grand Finals, and who must fight Korea’s champions, Crazy Raccoon, for a second chance. Their rivalry stretches across the Midseason Championship, Stage 3, the Saudi eLeague Championship and now Stockholm. Every encounter has added fuel to the fire, and this time, a Grand Finals ticket is the prize.

Al Qadsiah entered Stockholm with something to prove. They finished 2nd at the Midseason Championship, defeating Twisted Minds en route to the Grand Final, but ultimately fell to Team Falcons. They went undefeated throughout all of Stage 3, dropping only the very last match to Twisted Minds. They then lost again to TM in the Saudi eLeague Championship Finals. But once they arrived in Stockholm, something changed. Al Qadsiah stabilised, regained confidence, and cut through Geekay Esports, Weibo Gaming and Crazy Raccoon to reach the winners final. Only one more obstacle stood between them and a return to the Grand Finals: the dreaded rivals who have tormented them for the past two months.

Twisted Minds, by contrast, have been on a relentless upward climb all year. They clinched the EMEA title in Stage 3, won the Saudi eLeague Championship, and have already eliminated Korea’s 3rd and 2nd seeds, T1 and Team Falcons. Their confidence was unshaken. “I think we’ll beat Al Qad again. I think they’re really scared of us,” FunnyAstro said the day before. “We need to brush up on our VODs, how we’ve beaten them the last few times.” With their regional rivals standing in the way of their biggest trophy yet, Twisted Minds had their eyes set squarely on Stockholm.

Map 1: Ilios (Twisted Minds pick), Twisted Minds ban Lucio, Al Qadsiah ban Zarya

Twisted Minds opened with a surprise: Maximilian “Seicoe” Otter steppeing in for Ahmad “Youbi” Alyoubi for the first time this tournament. TM began on Lighthouse with Ibrahem “Quartz” Alali on Freja, Seicoe on Tracer, Abdualziz “TVNT” Altmimi on D.Va, and a Brig/Wuyang backline; Al Qadsiah responded with Abdulelah “LBBD7” Alfaifi on Cassidy, Baek “Checkmate” Seung-hun on Symmetra, ZIYAD on D.Va, and Brig/Kiriko from Kristian “Kellex” Keller and Landon “Landon” McGee.

Twisted Minds came out of the gates flying, Quartz dictating every moment of the opening exchanges. His Bola Shot pressure crushed Al Qadsiah’s attempts to stabilise. Al Qadsiah only found their footing once they finally managed to isolate and eliminate Quartz, but TM instantly flipped the point back and held it to 100%

The teams headed to Ruins next. Al Qadsiah looked sharper here, taking first control off a clean pick from LBBD7 on Quartz. They held to 54%, but once Twisted Minds found their footing again, momentum slowly tipped back toward the EMEA champions. A massive late fight saw Al Qadsiah focus purely on survival, so much so that they lost track of the objective and C9’d as Twisted pressured them off the point. Twisted Minds secured the early series lead, 1-0.

Map 2: King’s Row (Al Qadsiah pick), Twisted Minds ban Sojourn, Al Qadsiah ban Brigitte

Al Qadsiah struck back decisively. Their game plan was clear: suppress Quartz from the opening second. A trade onto him as he left spawn and a second pick immediately after gave Al Qad instant control and a fast point A capture. Their first major teamfight was entirely in their favour: For the cost of two support ults from Al Qad, Twisted Minds invested all five of their ultimates into the fight, but TVNT is instantly picked on his Zarya, and Checkmate proceeded to microwave the entirety of Twisted Minds on the Symm. Al Qadsiah rolled forward with zero drop in pace and completed the map in dominant fashion.

On attack, Twisted Minds answered quickly, even faster than Al Qad’s own cap. They battled through to the 2nd point after severely scrappy fights, taking the point off a crucial pick. But on the third point, Al Qadsiah’s defence was immaculate. Kellex’s Sound Barrier and Landon’s Suzu combined to survive TVNT’s and Seicoe’s Grav and Blizzard combo. TVNT was repeatedly caught out in desperate engagements, and Al Qad’s discipline closed the map. The series was tied 1-1.

Map 3: Dorado (Twisted Minds pick), Twisted Minds ban D.Va, Al Qadsiah ban Wuyang

Dorado was a full-on brawl. Twisted Minds pushed steadily through the first two points. While steady, it was still dampened by Qadsiah’s constant defensive resilience. Al Qadsiah shave away a lot of time off Twisted Minds’ attack, and the attacks became desperate. Their push was capped off by a critical pick from Checkmate onto Quartz. With Quartz gone, Al Qadsiah held them to only two points.

Al Qadsiah’s attack began with explosive momentum; they capped the first point without a single ultimate. But halfway through the second, Quartz turned into a one-man army, flipping fight after fight and forcing Al Qad into a couple of emergency swaps. Checkmate swaps to Echo and LBBD7 mirrors Quartz on Freja. Finally, it took a monumental effort, and a crucial trade from Checkmate, to finally bring Quartz down. With Overtime looming, Al Qadsiah executed one final clean fight: a massive Grav from ZIYAD caught FunnyAstro and Simple, stripping Twisted Minds of their entire support line. Al Qadsiah secured the map, taking the series lead 2-1.

Map 4: New Queen Street (Al Qadsiah pick), Twisted Minds ban Symmetra, Al Qadsiah ban Ana

With Symmetra banned, Checkmate went Tracer and LBBD7 went Sojourn, while Twisted Minds mirrored but kept Quartz on Freja. The map began evenly, but as soon as Al Qadsiah found even the smallest advantage, they turned it into overwhelming dominance. LBBD7 put up a generational performance, shutting down Quartz repeatedly.

Without Quartz to pressure them, Al Qadsiah steamrolled the entire Push map, taking the bot all the way to the finish line in one of the most dominant Push performances of the tournament.

Al Qadsiah qualify for the Grand Finals for the second time a row at an Overwatch major. Sending Twisted Minds to the lower bracket finals to face off against Crazy Raccoon.

Post-match, LBBD7 summed up the emotional weight of the victory:

"I feel so happy… When we came to Stockholm, we fixed our mental. Everyone's playing perfectly. When we came to Stockholm I feel like we can win everything."