Challengers EMEA Weekly Recap: All of the Action (Jan 28-31)

Feb 2, 2023

DACH: Evolution

Another week, another clean(ish) sweep for the adorable yet mighty Unicorns of Love. While their match against AEX-1 was hard fought, the team proved themselves as the masters of Fracture, knocking AEX-1 down a few pegs. Angry Titans, however, exposed a weakness on Ascent, with UoL only managing to take four rounds. UoL, MOUZ, and CGN have all now secured a spot in the playoffs, and with just one spot left, who will join them?

East: Surge

While Acend remains at the top of the table, second-place squad Diament Esports handed them their third loss of the season on Pearl, closing the gap between the two and propelling Diament up the scoreboard. They also took down fellow second-place rivals Cyber Wolves Esports in a strong showing on Haven, where the Wolves only managed to take five rounds. They’ll be facing off against the bottom of the pack next week, in the form of Zero Tenacity and NOM Esports, with an eye on dethroning Acend.

France: Revolution

Walking away from week three with a flawless run under their belts, SBG is slowly but surely cementing the top spot  - although this week they were fortunate to be taking on the lower end of the table. Next week kicks off with SBG vs. WYLDE, which will no doubt be a back-and-forth affair. They’ll also be facing JobLife, who aren’t too far behind them, so SBG better watch out. 

Italy: Rinascimento

DSYRE maintain their spot at the top following a flawless week. Just behind them are HMBLE, who narrowly missed out against QLASH in a match that went deep into overtime, but demolished aNc Outplayed and WL Gaming Esports to end up in second place. Next week kicks off with DSYRE facing HMBLE, so make sure you tune in to see Italy’s finest battle it out!

MENA: Resilience

GCC & Iraq

Avid fans of GCC & Iraq will remember Team Falcons from last year, and once again the birds of prey have come out of the gate swinging. Dropping only two rounds in their best of two against Ashur, they started the week with a bang, going on to comfortably defeat Unity the next day. They’re joined at the top by newcomers The Ultimates and Twisted Minds, both of whom also started strong and will be looking to topple Team Falcons as the league progresses.

Levant & North Africa

Levant & North Africa is very much in the beginner stages, so no frontrunner has emerged just yet. NASR Esports, however, easily defeated FATE Esports and Team Majesty, ending the first week at the top of the leaderboard alongside Geekay Esports. Geekay had an equally dominant rise to the top after facing ONYX RAVENS and Team RA’AD. Of course, it’s anyone’s game, and as the league progresses we can’t wait to see who pulls ahead.

Northern Europe: Polaris

In a bizarre turn of events, the standings haven’t changed since last week - each team mirrored their week two performance, leaving Apeks in the lead and Who Cars? lagging behind the pack. While Apeks didn’t have the cleanest victory against VAMONOS, who took the series all the way to game three, the flawless run continues regardless. Will HSDIRR be able to knock them off of the top spot next week? 

Portugal: Tempest

Once again SAW proves undefeatable, walking away for the third week in a row without dropping a match. While EGN Esports put up a decent fight against them, they barely dented second-place squad GTZ Esports, only managing to take a single round. GTZ surged into second place alongside EX0TIK GAMING this week, who took down Panthers and Impulse Gaming Warriors to move up the table.

Spain: Rising

In this week’s most highly anticipated match, Team Queso emerged triumphant, taking down KPI Gaming at the start of the week after a back-and-forth affair on Pearl. KPI was then taken down another notch by UCAM Tokiers, who have had a flawless week despite difficult matchups, but secured one win this week against AYM Esports in overtime. Team Queso closed out the week with a loss, so the race for the Spain: Rising title remains a tight one.

Türkiye: Birlik

And so titans can bleed - Papara SuperMassive’s winning streak has finally come to an end. Finally bested by Parla Esports, a close-fought game on Pearl eventually went the way of Parla, but Papara SuperMassive came back to take Fracture in style. On Ascent, however, it all went wrong despite MVP Efe ‘Elite’ Teber’s best efforts, and the squad finally dropped their first series. Fire Flux Esports also swept aside Galatasaray Espor to end the week 3-1 alongside SuperMassive and IF Parla, but will they stay there? We’ll have to wait and see.