After the third day of the Esports World Cup, the eight teams that compete the VALORANT tournament playoffs are known. Karmine Corp, Team Heretics, Sentinels, and Gen.G join the four teams that had already qualified on Day 1. Starting this Friday, July 11, the final phase will begin with the quarterfinals, kicking off with two matches played simultaneously.

In Group A, Karmine Corp emerged victorious against Bilibili Gaming in a match where the Blue Wall gave its fans quite a scare until the very end. Trailing on Sunset, the final map of the series, KC managed to shift the momentum against their Chinese opponents to take the win — the only series of the day that went to a full three maps. Rex Regum Qeon, the #1 seed from the VCT Pacific, was upset by Team Heretics in the decisive match of Group C. After being completely outplayed on Sunset, they tried to fight back on Icebox, managing to force overtime, but ultimately fell short, allowing the European side to advance to the playoffs.

China misses the mark

While all four European teams in the competition have made it through the group stage, China has completely missed the mark — both its #1 seed XLG and reigning world champions EDward Gaming are out. The latter were eliminated in the decider match of Group D by South Korea’s Gen.G Esports, in a match where they were never really in contention (13-8 / 13-4).

In Group B, DRX failed to overcome Sentinels, in yet another match dominated by the latter. The North American squad pulled through after surviving another decider just before, against XLG. Two narrow victories that now set up a quarterfinal rematch against Paper Rex — a team that swept them 2-0 just three weeks ago at Masters Toronto.

For their return to the international stage, Karmine Corp will have to take down the European giants Fnatic in their first playoff match. In the second set of quarterfinals, the surprising NRG will face Gen.G, while BBL Esports and Team Heretics will clash in the second all-EMEA showdown.