5 big questions ahead of VCT EMEA Stage 2

The start of VCT EMEA Stage 2 is less than 24 hours away, with the regional league finally returning after Fnatic’s Stage 1 victory was followed up by Masters Toronto and the Esports World Cup. Now, its 12 teams are to return to competition, hopefully revealing the answers to a number of pressing questions.

Can Team Heretics do it again?

When they lost the Stage 1 final 3-0 at the hands of Fnatic, Team Heretics were visibly dejected. At the time, it prolonged their grand-finals loss streak which saw them on the losing side five times since the beginning of 2024. Though the team’s consistent high placings — both regional and global — proved that they’re a world-class side, their failure to get one over the line had begun to look like an impassable mental hurdle.

That was until the Esports World Cup. Though it was a global event with a mammoth prize pool, the tournament lacked the pedigree of a Masters or Champs, given that it was its first iteration and featured a scaled-back format. But that meant that, at least to some extent, the pressure was off. For teams like Heretics that were looking for a confidence-boosting, point-proving trophy, the EWC was ideal.

Not only did Los Niños manage to clinch that first title, but the nature of the final lent even more credence to the idea that they’ve eradicated their mental block once and for all. At 2-0 down, having won only 5 rounds across the opening two maps, TH’s loss looked inevitable. Their subsequent reverse sweep, winning 13-11, 13-10, and 13-10 in three tight maps, showed a fortitude not before seen in the team.

There’s long been a thought that, once Team Heretics finally win one final and that pressure is relieved, many more victories will come. Stage 2 is a great chance to show that that was correct, in a league where, realistically, only Fnatic will be thought of as another title-favourite ahead of the start of the tournament.

Could burnout catch up to Fnatic?

Fnatic have been on a gruelling run. Their EMEA Stage 1 win and subsequent Masters Toronto and Esports World Cup finals have meant that the side has been competing with virtually no breaks since late March. They’ve arguably shown the highest ceiling of all EMEA side so far this year, and despite their recent loss to Team Heretics, Fnatic will be the favourites going into Stage 2.

However, consistency in their level is all but guaranteed. The lack of time off may well take its toll and could easily see Fnatic drop off at some points this split. Luckily, unlike in Stage 1, the Alpha and Omega groups are fairly well balanced, meaning the team has avoided a similar group of death that they found themselves in earlier this year. That should work in their favour, potentially allowing Fnatic to take their foot off the gas ever so slightly, particularly as VALORANT Champions qualification is already extremely likely given that they sit atop the EMEA Championship Points leaderboard.

Can Apeks win a game in VCT EMEA Stage 2?

Further roster changes this off season see a new-look Apeks coming into Stage 2. The departures of Governor and florescent, the latter leaving just before she was subject to allegations of sexual assault, opened up room on the lineup for the signings of OLIZERA and penny.

The changes came on the back of another winless tournament, with the side having now crashed out of both Kickoff and Stage 1 without a single victory. Only a dramatic Stage 2 turnaround could see the team avoid relegation, but that appears extremely unlikely.

What is much more reasonable to expect would be that ever-so-elusive win. Their Group Omega opponents include Spanish organisation KOI, who themselves have only claimed a single victory so far this season — a Stage 1 matchup against fellow strugglers Gentle Mates. That will be Apeks’ best chance of putting one on the board.

Will Team Vitality’s non-superteam bounce back?

Team Vitality’s 2025 superteam, welcoming the likes of Less and Derke, looked destined for greatness when they immediately swept EMEA Kickoff. That was followed up with fourth place at Masters Bangkok, where their elimination came as a result of losses against G2 — considered the world’s best team at the time — and T1 — the eventual winners of the tournament.

But then the wheels fell off. The departure of trexx, amid rumours of personality clashes, rang the first alarm bells. Their 2-3 win-loss record in the EMEA Stage 1 groups didn’t inspire confidence, and the side then failed to pick up momentum going into playoffs, eventually succumbing to a 7th-8th place finish following a loss to Team Liquid.

Now, the roster built around IGL Sayf is to no longer have him in it. His decision to step down from the starting lineup for this Stage came as a result of his aim to ‘focus on his well-being and manage the stress of competition’ after what had been a tumultuous first half of the year. He’s replaced by UNFAKE, while CyvOph also makes way for kovaQ.

Though some of the roster’s big names still remain, it’s far from the on-paper superteam that Vitality held at the start of the season. Now they’ll be looking to bounce back in Stage 2 and make a run for Champions, and they’ll do so with far less outside pressure than they had going into Stage 1 as title-holders back in March.

Who will get the fourth Champs spot?

Of the four teams that EMEA will send to Champions in September, the first three seem nailed on. Fnatic and Team Heretics stand out as the clear top two and most likely to reach the Champs-qualification-securing grand final. Then, Team Liquid have been consistently one of the best performers in EMEA and is the region’s only side to have gone to both Bangkok and Toronto.

The fourth spot is much more up in the air. With Championship points the deciding factor, the close nature of the current standings means that a number of sides could sneak into VALORANT’s biggest event should they put up a decent Stage 2 run.

Team Vitality currently sit in fourth place — largely thanks to their Kickoff win — and are in the best position to qualify should their roster changes lead to an uptick in form.

Then it’s BBL, FUT, and NAVI who are all close in points to each other, as well as Liquid and Vitality. Each of them have shown solid spells of form this year: BBL reaching EWC, and FUT and NAVI showing fight in Stage 1. Whichever of them is able to find their footing in Stage 2 will be in with a great shot at Champs qualification, needing just one of the current top-four to slip up and open the door for an outsider to slide in.