EMEA Masters: LFL will have 3 teams in semi-finals

The last two quarters of the EMEA Masters Summer 2024 ended this Tuesday, and have seen Team GO and Vitality.Bee qualified to the final four of the competition. GO will advance further than Spring and reach the semifinals for the third time in their history (Spring 2018, Summer 2023, Summer 2024), while VIT.B returns to the semifinals after their last appearance in Spring 2022.

In EUM Summer 2022, the final four featured three teams from the LFL and Los Heretics as the outlier. Will we witness a similar outcome this time, with Heretics claiming the championship again?

Despite a great run in the EMEA Masters, Macko Esports will not access the semi finals as they did last year. They came in the tournament as outliers once again after not qualifying to the Spring 2024 edition and even managed to bring LFL's 4th seed to a very close series which ended in 3-2.

In game 1, MCK secured an early advantage by locking Seraphine and Tristana, with Ksante being heavily countered by Gwen. A crucial misstep from GO's Zyra led to Sejuani's first blood. MCK’s Tristana snowballed with early kills, providing a strong win condition. GO's attempt to contest Nashor was disastrous, leading to a 4k gold deficit at 21 minutes. They would never recover from it. MCK capitalized on this and secured Hextech Soul, sealing the game at nearly 30 minutes with their second Nashor. They just brought down GO's first nexus of the knockout stage.

Game 2 saw the balance of power shift. In a dominant performance, the french team secured a decisive victory, closing out their match in just 27 minutes with a 23-5 scoreline. Early game aggression set the tone as Jean "Jezu" Massol's Jinx picked up two kills within four minutes, and the team quickly snowballed to a 5k gold lead by 13 minutes. Jezu, who finished with an impressive 10/0/7, led the charge alongside Lot's Gnar, who outclassed Ornn and withstood significant pressure. This statement win highlighted GO's superiority as they cruised to victory.

Team GO is bringing out the big guns in game 3, locking in Nasus for toplane and Renekton for midlane. MCK never really put GO in danger. They slowly got behind and have let GO dictate the game's rhythm the whole time. Mehdi "Boukada" Lahlou was the mastermind of the game and didn't let a single objective to the opponent. The red storm ended the game after a desperate push mid by MCK, where Nasus was indestructible and Jezu's Caitlyn simply one shot every isolated carry. They are now ahead in the series.

Game 4 got very tight again. Boukada picked Shyvana in the jungle and Matteo "Vigil" Scarcelli locked Yasuo midlane, while no team scaled better than the other. It took 22 minutes for MCK to earn an opportunity to make a break. But they made a pretty flippy call on Nashor and GO, with more experience, managed to get many small pick ups while MCK's player tried to get out alive of the pit. But that was not enough to shift the balance with the Hextech Soul secured by MCK at three minutes later. Add to that a second Nashor, a super-fed Caitlyn, and MCK simply had to push mid and bot to earn the right to play a game 5.

Game 5 was mainly centered around Jezu, Olivier "Prime" Payet, and Boukada respectively on Miss Fortune, Rell and Taliyah. MCK made the bet to play with Varus on-hit who never found a way to deal any damage in the game after being behind ever since laning phase. GO slowly fed their adc and jungler and managed to control all the objectives on the map. Macko finally broke after fighting very valiantly.

BK Rog and Vitality.Bee faced each other during the regular splits but never in a BO5. The record was 2-2, a perfect tie, so it was time to determine who was the best this year. But after a very close series, the Bees delivered a convincing Game 5 to continue their journey.

During the first game, BKR locked in Tristana and Lillia, while VIT.B countered with a flex Ezreal mid and Ashe ADC, aiming for a poke-heavy composition. Early trades favored the black and yellow, but a misplay led to Ezreal's death. BKR found some success with a flank, but VIT.B’s superior picks helped them secure the first Nashor at 23 minutes. With a small gold lead, VITB capitalized on their vision control and a bad decision from their opponents who recalled to claim the second Nashor while BKR tried in a hurry to steal it and offered the game on a plate. This lead to a clean ace and a 1-0 victory for the bees in the series.

Game 2 was a very close game. VIT.B was slightly behind but never drowned. Climax at baron pit at 26 minutes. Break is done while 3 people died by the hand of Miss Fortune and Smolder. VIT.B is suddenly 8.5k golds behind. They would never really recover despite several miraculous comebacks in several fights between 32 and 42 minutes. BKR won but had a hard time to close the game despite 58.6k damage inflicted by Paweł "Czekolad" Szczepanik's Smolder. The best-of-five is officially on.

In game 3, pace was really different. We had to wait for 18min30 to see the two teams getting at each other's throats for the first time. This slow pace plays to the advantage of Josip "Jopa" Čančar's Smolder, giving him the opportunity to scale into the late game and unleash his full firepower. Since then, every confrontation has been extremely close, both teams consistently get an equal number of kills. However, the dynamics shifted at the 26-minute mark when Czekolad overextented on his Tristana, drawing his teammates into a precarious situation. Mateusz "Czajek" Czajka’s Azir seized the opportunity, executing a decisive Emperor's Divide that allowed VIT.B to secure Nashor and gain a significant lead. Four minutes later, Smolder burned hard BKR's players and closed the game.

Game 4 was very bloody. BKR took the best out of it with a clean ace at 24 minutes. Jeon "Howling" Ho-bin was godlike on his Renekton and managed to make VIT.B's midgame a nightmare. Jopa's Miss Fortune could never express her fire-power and got completely outclassed by Hans SamD's Jhin. BKR wins the game with 25 kills in.

Last game was full of tension. Both teams proved to be on the same level today. They waited for a team fight at first drake at 8 minutes and a wonderful stun by Jopa's Seraphine. They would then take 4 kills and lead the game. VIT.B never lost its advantage and controlled the whole map the entire game giving only 2 kills overall.

The semi finals of this tournament looks almost like LFL's playoffs. VIT.B will face Team GO on Thursday in an all-French matchup, while BDS Academy will play Los Heretics tomorrow.