Challengers EMEA Weekly Recap: All of the Action (Feb 16-21)

Feb 22, 2023

Türkiye and Levant and North Africa are back whilst we wait for the DACH: Evolution playoffs and the final week of East: Surge. Here’s everything that went down across Challengers this week!

DACH: Evolution

DACH: Evolution’s regular season has concluded, with playoffs starting on February 25. As per the scores below, MOUZ, Unicorns of Love, Angry Titans, and CGN Esports are all in the hunt for the crown. 

East: Surge

East: Surge is on a slight hiatus until March 5, when we’ll see the last two days of the regular season before playoffs begin on March 9. 

France: Revolution

The regular season has now concluded, with the top 6 teams qualifying for the playoffs (SBG, Mandatory, WYLDE, Valiant, Zerance, and beGenius). This week saw SBG take HEET far into double overtime on Ascent, winning 15-13. Mandatory also took HEET down in a close series, before taking JobLife down with ease on Haven. Now begins the wait for playoffs, which will be kicking off on March 9th, with WYLDE taking on Valiant, and Zerance taking on JobLife. SBG and Mandatory sit in wait at the semi-finals due to finishing the regular season within the top two.

Italy: Rinascimento

Yes, DSYRE still remains on top, and yes, they still haven’t lost a single match this entire season. They were forced into overtime by MACKO, but won 14-12 to earn their spot as the top seed coming into playoffs. Second-place squads HMBLE and GMT Esports remain far behind DSYRE, with HMBLE coming into next week off the back of a brutal loss to WLGaming Esports. Neither team can afford to put a foot wrong as the conclusion of the first split gets closer and closer, and can only hope DSYRE slip up, as their flawless run shows no sign of stopping. 

MENA: Resilience

GCC & Iraq

GCC & Iraq has returned, and Team Falcons remain at the front of the pack. Unity managed to take a single game from them during their series late in the week, proving that the birds of prey are not entirely invincible - and that’s good news for second-place squad Triple Esports, who are facing off against Falcons next week.

Levant & North Africa

Levant & North Africa has also returned, with Geekay Esports and NASR Esports sitting at the top. Meanwhile, Third-placed Team RA’AD had a brilliant week, beating Geekay Esports, who also lost to GnG Esports. Geekay will be facing NASR Esports next week, who are just ahead of them, in what is bound to be a close-fought battle.

Northern Europe: Polaris

And finally Apeks fall at the hands of their rivals, Les Petits Bouffons. Failing to take a game, Apeks put up a good fight on opening map Pearl, which ended 14-12 in overtime, but struggled on Haven, only managing five rounds. Human TripWires handed FOKUS a spot in the playoffs by forfeiting their game this week. Now it’s between HSDIRR, BONK, and Who Cars? to decide who will take the last spot. 

Portugal: Tempest

As the sun sets on Portugal: Tempest’s group stage, SAW remain at the top following a near flawless run, taking down Vikings Fourteen to secure their playoff spot. Joining these two are GTZ Esports and EGN Esports, with GTZ facing SAW in the upper bracket final, and Vikings Fourteen and EGN Esports duking it out in the lower bracket final.

Spain: Rising

And so the playoff teams are locked! Team Queso and Case Esports took the top spots and landed themselves a spot in the semifinals, flanked by Rebels Gaming and UCAM Tokiers. With Team Queso losing to third-place squad UCAM Tokiers this week, they’ll need to brush up before playoffs begin next week - after all, they’re the top seed that everyone is looking to beat!

Türkiye: Birlik

Türkiye: Birlik is back! Whilst Fire Flux Esports rose to the top of the table, all of their games went the distance except against Denizbank Istanbul Wildcats, who still took Fire Flux into overtime on Lotus. S2G Esports surged up the leaderboard this week, winning both of their games. Next week sees IF Parla Esports take on S2G as they attempt to take the top spot off of Fire Flux!