Summary
Gentle Mates and SK retained their winning form from the previous stages. Twisted Minds Orchid continues their act as the gatekeepers, getting important wins before facing the best of the scene. Gozen getting exactly the results you’d expect for a 3rd place team, but showing potential to take 2nd away from SK. But other teams missed the mark and dropped in standings compared to what you’d expect.
Gentle Mates GC
Keeping their form from their undefeated Groups in Stage 2 Mates burst into Stage 3 with dominance and are looking for a taste of revenge for the loss of the back-to-back titles. They swept through their opponents of SK Nebula and Habos Babos with ease, whilst G2 Gozen put up more of a fight on Sunset. With Week 1, they’ve beaten the 2nd and 3rd place teams from Stage 2 - can anyone stop them?
They’ve kept their blend of Double Initiator or Double Duelist depending on the map, but Marti’s Phoenix and Breach are looking equally deadly - which is a key part of why BerryX can keep the consistency she’s had all year to this level. Nami is another player who’s been having a standout performance, both in clutches and early round supportive utility.
SK Nebula
It’ll be no surprise to most that SK started Stage 3 strong - failing to get another win against Mates, yes - but otherwise exactly where you’d expect. They continue their streak against GX and Barça without showing much of a problem, only lacking on Breeze where they’ve changed their comp to the Harbor & KAY/O combo.
Talking of compositions, they’ve decided to stick with what they know in Week 1 - only showing 3 maps that were good for them in Stage 2, and only struggling on this new Breeze comp where they’re still finding their legs. Liza has been the most consistent player, with incredible supportive utility she is the 2nd highest rated Info Initiator player in the league.
G2 Gozen
After winning the July Cash Cup and locking in Drewspark with a 2 year contract extension, you’d expect this team to be hitting the ground running. Although they’re hard to judge due to facing the 3rd placed Promoted team, and the best team in the league.
At 1-1 they ended Week 1 exactly as most would’ve guessed - but Week 2 will be their chance as they have two key matches coming up: SK Nebula, and Twisted Minds Orchid. If they can win those matches, that proves they can still fight at the top.
GiantX GC
This team has struggled through Week 1. Between the triangle with FOKUS Sakura and Barça, and losing to Twisted and the reigning champs in SK - they had a long, tough week. After 3rd and 4th place finishes this year, the GX roster won’t settle for anything less - but they’ve got a long road to climb to make it to Playoffs now with M8s and G2 still to face.
Anva and her anchoring has been the key highlight for them, but they need the entry core to work in tandem with her if they’re to make the most of the slow, methodological, “EMEA IGL” playstyle they find most comfortable. This playstyle fell foul against Twisted due to being picked off one-by-one - so if they can bring their Stage 2 fundamentals back, there’s still a chance at Playoffs.
Twisted Minds Orchid
The gatekeepers of the playoffs this year, they’ve surpassed all expectations in Week 1. Currently sitting at 3-1, they’re in a triangle with KC and ATN - but beat out ATN, FKS, and GX all with style. The big story for Twisted this week was the longest game of GC EMEA 2026 vs KC - a 57m 30s banger that ended in a loss. The Orchids had 10 map points to try and close the map out, but failed at every turn and KC won the series because of it.
All their players have had standout moments, but there’s still question marks on the role situation in the roster. Grahams performs best on Neon, but is confined to Omen on the majority of maps to allow Leen to play primary duelist as their star player. Misu feels like she’s settled into the roster as well, putting on an incredible flex performance to allow this role change within the team.
Barça eSports GC
From scraping it through into Playoffs on tiebreakers versus KC in Stage 2 - to now, they’ve never felt like a consistent team. But finally surpassing GiantX is a great start to Stage 3 for them. Losing to FOKUS might be a bit of a concern, but this team has bounced back from worse.
Hyper. Aggro. They want to run you down and not give you a chance to think when possible and their comps speak this playstyle as well. They’re at their best when they can send Miyori in to dive your backline with the incredible support of Lyda behind her. This does change on maps like Lotus, but generally you’ll die before you see them - or be able to stop them before they can get any aggro off.
Karmine Corp GC
After Stage 2 this team needed to be looking for redemption. The first time since Stage 1 2024 the organisation didn’t make it into Playoffs and even now the redemption arc hasn’t started. Losing to both ATN and Habos Babos makes you doubt if this team has what it takes to make it to Playoffs, and if they want to get to GCC they not only need to make Playoffs - but to win it all.
Safiaa is now taking on more flexibility in the roster - switching onto Phoenix on Breeze, although it’s not netted them any wins you do wonder if it means a change in comps before Week 2 begins. But the Sage we see from Anesilia on Summit and Sunset shows a KC that is moving away from set-plays and into a slower, more mid-roundy game than 2025.
FOKUS Sakura
One of our three Promoted teams, they finally got their win over ATN Ruby to make it into the Main Event in the 1st place spot from Promo - but have struggled to make the most of it so far. A win against Barça saves them from immediate doom, but they’re going to need to rely on their two new players to help them avoid Play-Ins.
Samyy and Cabbit (yes, the Cabbit from ZennIT) have both already stamped their names into this new roster. With Addi switching onto Controller, Samyy felt unleashed on the Phoenix in Week 1 and has put up incredible numbers for a rookie - especially on a losing team. Although they’re a fast paced team, they have their secret weapon in Cabbit who can anchor positions and close out any round she needs to.
ALTERNATE aTTaX Ruby
Having had their best placed position in Stage 1 expectations were high in the following Stage but they weren’t able to live up to it. They trawled their way through Promo and after their first game back (a loss against Twisted Minds) Jade has had to step back from the team. So this ever-steady core of ATN Ruby has been muddled again, and has yet another rookie stepping up to take over. They managed to win despite the last minute change, and now they’re sitting comfortably at 1-1.
Silentsoul took the world by storm against KC in her first game in the Main Event. Her Neon created so much space for the likes of Purity and Caelia to work with that they felt unstoppable. Their Harbor compositions have surprised a lot of people, but particularly their Summit looks incredibly prepped and well balanced with a mix of stall and aggression to take over the map and funnel their opponents to death.
Habos Babos
The final promoted team, stopping ZennIT Orange from returning, and there are so many rookies on this team that had to start their journey facing the GOATs of GC EMEA G2 Gozen, and the current best team in Gentle Mates GC. These may have both been losses for them, but they pulled off a victory against the struggling KC and have proven why they made it here.
Neon one-trickers, they supplement the speedy duelist with either another Duelist or an aggro Controller to make sure Embi’s death is never in vain. SRZ seems to be the best performer so far in the stage, but they’ve got a long way to go to match the fundamentals of the upper echelons of teams.