Virtus.pro complete unbeaten regular season
The final weekend of the EMEA Stage 2 Regular Season has come and gone, and the picture is now complete. Going into the weekend, Virtus.pro were the only side to have already guaranteed their playoff qualification, while the remaining five teams were still mathematically alive.
We were treated to yet another highly competitive EMEA matchweek, as every team continued to display tangible improvements in their play week after week. After three weeks of back-and-forths, the four playoff teams were now locked in. With three teams finishing the regular season with an equal record, the teams had to go through multiple tiebreakers to dictate the final list of playoff contenders.
OWCS EMEA Regular Season Week 3 Day 1
Day 1 carried the heaviest stakes of the weekend, and it delivered in kind. Al Qadsiah opened the day leaning on the Reaper/Shion/Mauga composition that’s quickly becoming the dominant composition in the game. Telacy matched them blow for blow on Rialto and forced the series to 1-1 on the back of a massive play by Simon “sxj” Debono in overtime. But Al Qadsiah's resilience and individual quality held strong, as they ground out wins on Hollywood and New Junk City to take the match 3-1. Ilari “Vestola” Vestola produced a stunning performance, ending the series at 120/25 and over 84k damage, mostly on Mauga.
Virtus.pro's win over 1234 carried existential stakes for the latter, who needed a victory to keep their playoff hopes in their own hands. It never materialised. Jonas “eisgnom” Stratemeyer mirrored Harry “GoldenPants” Cawthra's Wrecking Ball to devastating effect on Ilios, and a Torbjorn/Hanzo shenanigans from Maximillian “Seicoe” Otter and Kwon “FiXa” Yeong-hun on Mizuki smothered GoldenPants entirely on Dorado. 1234 finally found some life on Runasapi, with GoldenPants finding his form again, but Virtus.pro's class shone through soon after, once eisgnom settled in on D.Va and FiXa switched to Lucio. The 3-0 sweep confirmed VP's undefeated Regular Season and put 1234’s playoff qualification into Geekay’s hands.
The day's headline act, however, was Twisted Minds against Geekay Esports, with the winner securing their playoff qualification outright. Geekay drew first blood behind Abdulelal “LBBD7” Alfafi's Shion and Kim “AlphaYi” Jun's Vendetta on Oasis, but Twisted Minds, with Ahmad “Youbi” Alyoubi making his first appearance of the stage, are not so easily rattled. Youbi's Symmetra proved the turning point on Map 2, edging out AlphaYi right in the dying seconds to tie the series. He also conjured a stunning teleport into a 3v5 play on Circuit Royale to get them the first point (despite TM losing the map overall). Geekay refused to go quietly, forcing a deciding fifth map through a heroic stand by Ziyad “ZIYAD” Alkathiri and LBBD7, but Twisted Minds closed out Suravasa 3-0 to confirm their playoff spot and with it, sealed 1234's elimination as well.
OWCS EMEA Regular Season Week 3 Day 2
With both Telacy and 1234 already eliminated from playoff contention, Day 2 opened with a battle for pride between fifth and sixth place. 1234 took the early advantage on Ilios despite a stern test from Telacy, before a scrappy series of holds and pushes on Circuit Royale nearly slipped away from them. 1234 survived a near-full-push from Telacy to edge the map and take the series to a match point. Telacy stayed composed and responded by banning GoldenPants’ Wrecking Ball, which allowed Lars to outclass the young Brit in the Zarya mirror on Runasapi. Spurred by their win, Telacy took 1234 all the way to the whistle on Suravasa, with Lars putting on a very impressive Mauga display, but ultimately, Kai “Kai” Collins and William “WMaimone” Maimone kept the team’s composure in check and saw 1234 through the finish line.
The Regular Season closed with a rivalry renewal between Twisted Minds and Al Qadsiah. Even though there were no playoff stakes left, the match had no shortage of intensity. Twisted Minds, still sticking with Youbi in the lineup, took the first two maps in dominant fashion and quickly put the series to a match point.
Al Qadsiah finally responded in New Junk City, with Lee “Ade” Ji-hwan and Yoo “Taejong” Tae-jong coming alive on Shion and Vendetta to extend the series. In Circuit Royale, Al Qad banned Bastion since Twisted Minds were running the Catstion all weekend, and a monstrous combo from Vestola and Ade using Particle Barrier with Satsurku Spree consistently stopped TM in their tracks and opened the gates for Al Qad to push forward on the side switch.
Al Qad forced a deciding fifth map, putting the series on the brink of a reverse sweep. It wasn't enough. Twisted Minds' new Cat/Bastion/Symmetra composition — the same one that had downed Geekay a day earlier — proved decisive once more, as TM held off a spirited Al Qadsiah rally to close out Runasapi and the match 3-2.
Regular Season Playoffs qualification
The OWCS EMEA Stage 2 Regular Season was an explosive affair. Only six matches ended in 3-0 sweeps, including two unexpected ones in Virtus.pro sweeping Twisted Minds and Al Qadsiah sweeping Geekay, both in Week 1. The competition in EMEA is currently fierce, and the Regular Season Playoff qualifications also came down to narrow margins, befitting the very competitive stage we just witnessed.
Three teams finished the stage with an equal 2-3 W/L record, and the common point of confusion surrounding playoff qualification is Geekay Esports’ qualification over 1234 despite the worse individual Map W/L ratio (GK being 8-11 and 1234 10-12).
The relevant article in the rulebook is 11.4 “Breaking Ties”. There are seven tiebreakers in the rulebook. The relevant ones that came into play in EMEA this week are the initial three, which are, in order of priority:
- Overall Series W-L Record
- Head to Head Series Differential between tied teams
- Head to Head Map Differential between tied teams
As all three teams tied on the first item in the list, all three teams are checked for the second tiebreaker in the list, simultaneously. In this case, it’s another tie, as all three teams won one and lost one series against one another. The tiebreaker then proceeds to the third item:
- Al Qadsiah’s head-to-head map differential is +2, for winning 3-0 against GK and losing 3-2 to 1234.
- 1234’s head-to-head map differential is 0, for winning 3-2 against Al Qad and losing 3-2 against GK.
- Finally, Geekay’s head-to-head map differential is -2, for losing 3-0 against Al Qad and winning 3-2 against 1234.
Since Al Qadsiah has the best head-to-head map differential, they win the tiebreaker and secure their 3rd-place finish in the Regular Season. The key section in the rulebook that comes into play here is “...in case of a tie between three or more Teams, a tie will be broken where one Team will prevail, and remaining tied Teams will move on to a tiebreaker…starting at the top of the list.” Which is why the tiebreaker between Geekay and 1234 is resolved completely separately, where Geekay come out ahead on the 2nd item on the list.
This ultimately sets Al Qadsiah in third place, Geekay Esports in fourth, and 1234, out of playoff contention, in fifth.
Looking ahead
The regular season is officially complete, and the seeding is set: Virtus.pro head into the playoffs as the undefeated #1 seed, with Twisted Minds as #2, Al Qadsiah #3, and Geekay Esports rounding out the final spot as #4. 1234 and Telacy will instead make the trip to the Stage 2 Promotion/Relegation tournament, looking to secure their place in Stage 3.
For the four playoff sides, the stakes only grow from here. The top three teams after the playoffs will punch their tickets to Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris. With Virtus.pro looking close to untouchable across the regular season, the real question is which of Twisted Minds, Al Qadsiah, and Geekay Esports can find the form to deny them a clean sweep of the stage. The playoffs promise to be every bit as fierce as the run-in that preceded them.