LoL - EMEA Masters: Los Heretics and Karmine Corp Blue qualify for the quarterfinals

The third night of the EMEA Masters Playoffs continued the one-sided trend, with no series going to a fifth game so far and results largely going as expected. Following BK ROG Esports, the LFL sends a second team to the quarterfinals as Karmine Corp Blue dispatched the Rift Legends' first seed, Zero Tenacity. On the other side of the bracket, the Superliga secured its first representative in the quarters as Los Heretics took down Prime League’s top seed, CGN Esports, with a 3-1 victory.

Game 1 was the longest of the series, lasting 31 minutes, during which Volodymyr “Maynter” Sorokin topped the damage charts and ended with a flawless 5/0/10 KDA on Rumble. The second game was a textbook snowball from KCB, heavily driven by Thomas “3XA” Foucou’s Smolder scaling. Kim “Piero” Jung-hun closed out the match on Rakan with over 88% kill participation, earning KCB their first—and only—match point of the series.

Game 3 turned out to be the shortest and most one-sided of the series, lasting just 27 minutes. Karmine took every single objective, conceding only one turret to Z10. Maynter once again didn’t die, closing out the BO5 with a combined KDA of 10/1/29. Seo “SlowQ” Ye-bit also delivered a solid series across champions like Ahri, Akali, and Taliyah.

A bloody best-of-five with 148 total kills saw Los Heretics emerge victorious in a long and chaotic series against CGN Esports. The first game, featuring over 50 kills, was largely dominated by the German side, but a massive performance from Sebastian "Tracyn" Wojtoń on Gwen turned the tide, allowing Heretics to take the win after more than 42 minutes.

Game 2 saw CGN equalize the series, with the script flipped—this time it was Heretics who held the lead for most of the match, only to start losing their gold advantage past the 30-minute mark. That’s when Jona “Reptile” Fritz's Sivir came online, dishing out the damage needed to carry CGN to a win. But Heretics responded with back-to-back victories, closing out the series in four games. Algerian AD Carry Khalil "Rin" Sahraoui dominated the final game on Tristana with an explosive 17/1/11 performance, securing his team a spot in the quarterfinals.

KCB and Los Heretics' victories in the first round mean the two teams will face off in the quarterfinals, in a best-of-five that promises to be much closer than the series we've seen so far in this first phase of the Playoffs. As the remaining teams are more evenly matched in terms of strength, the level of competition is expected to rise. The LFL’s second seed and the Superliga’s third seed will clash on Tuesday, June 17, for a spot in the semifinals.