Being 2-0 doesn't guarantee any success, among all sports and esports. The Swiss brackets have shown that as the stakes rise, some teams crumble under the pressure. On the other hand, being the back against the wall with close to nothing to lose has allowed teams to thrive and claw back their way through the playoffs. Here are a selection of teams whose fate is far from sealed after the first two games in these EMEA Masters, the League of Legends competition between the best national teams from the region.

The teams in 2-0 that could not make it

BoostGate Esports

The turkish 3rd seed can consider itself among the lucky ones regarding the teams it was drawn against : VenomCrest Esports (NLC #1 seed) and Anorthosis Famagusta (GLL #2 seed who beat Partizan in their first game). It would be either unfair to consider them as solid as most others 2-0 contestants due to the lack of adversity they face, or see them as an all-out robber since their two games have been fairly solid.

Still, BoostGate Esports haven't shown everything a team needs to prove their ability to deserve a top 16, while jungler Enes "XnS" Hansu has had two very strong games, his support Batu "Batuuu" Kaygusuz showed many small and avoidable mistakes.

Their next match is set to be played against high-performing Dsyre Esports, Italian #2nd seed who is on a rampage after two solid wins over Team GO and BK ROG Esports.

Macko Esports

Macko Esports shares the same storyline as Boostgate, having played against relatively weak opponents : Ruddy Esports (NLC #2 seed) and Entropiq (HP #1 seed). The italian first seed was able to snowball through his very experienced botlane but the team is still far from being in shape.

Their second game against Entropiq could have ended in disaster for Macko Esports, as Matteo "Vigil" Scarcelli had massive struggles against Jakub "many" Tylman's Aurora. If not for a superior late game draft aswell as critical mistakes on the side of Entropiq, Macko would have joined the 1-1 crew. They will face Karmine Corp' winner and AL #1 seed, Geekay Esports, for their 3rd game, which will be a test for the italian powerhouse.

MISA Esports

Contrary to the rest of the 2-0 teams, MISA come from the Last Chance Qualifier, which may result in more exhaust as the games accumulate. This didn't prevent them from starting strong against PRM #1 seed UOL Sexy Edition and AL #2 seed Nigma Galaxy.

However, both of their games were 30 minutes+ tense fights, especially against USE. MISA Esports have shown great teamfight synergy alongside clutch capacity, but has still some major weakpoints in the laning phase. The turkish last seed will need to keep the momentum high against their next opponent Dark Passage, who know them very well from the TCL.

Their back is against the wall but their journey is not ended yet

Zero Tenacity

Polish superteam and Ultraliga #1 seed finds itself once again at a poor start in the EMEA Masters, similarly as in Spring. Being tasked to face strong opposition in their first two matches : SK Gaming Prime and SuperMassive, Z10 has not yet proven that they are part of the big european names.

However, their 3rd game planned against MCON Esports looks exactly like an opportunity to start things over with a convicing win against a team much weaker on paper. With two former EUM Winners Dániel "bluerzor" Subicz and Emre "Kofte" Akça, it would be a surprise (and another major disillusion) to see UL back-to-back champions being eliminated after 4 games.

Ramboot Club

What is going on with Ramboot ? That is the question many spanish fans have in their minds after the start of their 3rd seed. Khalil "Rin" Sahraoui's team has suffered two hard losses against an average opposition : NGX and VenomCrest.

The two games were far from being stomped, but in both matches, Ramboot had the tools and winconditions to destroy the enemy nexus, but they were never quite able to do it. The spanish newcomer can still count on a number of strong and experienced players to put them back on track against Crvena zvezda Esports, but so far, the team we have seen reaching the podium in SL didn't shine in the EMEA Masters.

Schalke 04

PRM's #2 seed has had far from the easiest draws among the 0-2 teams, facing two straight LFL teams Vitality.Bee and Team GO. Both times however they looked one step behind french middle seeds.

S04 is still a well-deserved second place in a very competitive Prime League, and such as Zero Tenacity, they are given a pretty easy matchup going in their 3rd game : GTZ Esports, the 1st seed from Portugal. The german football club can also count on their midlaner : Anselmi "Simpli" Rintanen who is on a very good year in 2024 and seems to not be bothered by the additional pressure of the EMEA Masters.