The first week of EMEA Stage 1 kicked off on Wednesday, with all 12 teams in action. Fresh off of a trip to Masters Bangkok, Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #2 Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner CyvOph Clement Millard Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso and Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #9 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak Serial Maikls Zdanovs returned to their hot domestic form off of a month-long break, while the rest of the region returned to the stage after nearly two months to go back to the drawing board.

The results from the opening weekend's six games were:

Team Vitality reminded the EMEA region of their status at the top, kicking off league play with a resounding sweep of GIANTX that saw them steal their opponents' map pick in 13-2 fashion. New pickup CyvOph had a great first impression on the team, popping off for 41 kills and a 1.56 rating, server-highs in both marks. The blowout victory was enough to secure Vitality's spot at the top of Group Alpha on round differential.

BBL Esports and Karmine Corp both finished Kickoff feeling they could have done more, and fate brought the two sides against each other to open Stage 1. While Karmine Corp dominated the opening map 13-3 thanks to an eye-popping 20/2 scoreline from Elite , tight margins in the next two maps secured a victory for the Turkish organization.

Like them, Team Heretics will have felt disappointed to miss out on Bangkok after making all three international LANs in 2024. Their journey to qualifying for Masters Toronto got off to a rocky start though, with Apeks claiming their map pick of Ascent 13-5 to put them on thin ice. MiniBoo and florescent both put on a show with Valorant's newest agent Waylay, but in the end it was Heretics bouncing back comfortably to claim the final two maps and the series.

A Waylay triple kill from florescent .

While Turkish legend cNed continues his time away from competition, it's been reaffirmed that FUT seems to have found its next star Duelist. Across both maps in a 2-0 victory, xeus recorded 57 kills — including 33 in a 14-12 overtime victory — to push aside KOI. As the only 2-0 win from Group Omega, FUT finds itself atop the standings. crashies had his best series yet for FNATIC, helping them to a 2-0 victory over Natus Vincere and leading the way in kills on both maps.

In their quest to reach two straight Masters events for the first time in organization history, Team Liquid stumbled, falling to Ascension side Gentle Mates 2-1. Following a roster move that saw kamyk join and RobbieBk benched, new in-game leader Minny led not just with in-game calls, but by example. His 56 kills were a team-high, helping kamyk to a victory over his old team despite heroics from Liquid's Keiko .

Stage 1 will continue next week with the following matches: