EMEA Masters: French's Finests and LEC Veterans Reunion

This Monday, the first two quarter finals of the EMEA Masters will feature Karmine Corp Blue against BDS Academy and Los Heretics versus Papara SuperMassive. While all eyes are already on Munich, only one of these four teams will ultimately make it to the big stage, for the Grand Final. The finest team of League of Legends' EMEA national leagues has a good chance of already belong in this part of the table, some even talk of the final before time when speaking about the LFL derby. Preview.

2024 has been the theater of a very romantic story between Karmine Corp Blue and BDS Academy. Like those of Shakespeare, the outcome will be as tragic as unexpected... During Spring, KCB and BDSA faced themselves in the Upper Bracket's playoffs, which resulted on a 3-0 victory for the Swiss org. Then, the Presitigious climbed their way through the lower to win with a reverse slap on his rival (3-1) in Grand Final.

The exact opposite occurred in the Summer Split, with BDSA losing 0-3 first before winning the Grand Final 3-1 too. But it obviously couldn't stay that balanced, the two teams needed one last BO5 to finally settle it out, and the EMEA Masters quarter finals just gave it to them. It couldn't be written better, even by Shakespeare himself.

But still, is it possible to predict which one should come on top? Well, even if BDSA were the latest to win in a "not even close" manner the confrontation, KCB did indeed win the same way the week before the Grand Final... The serie should be even closer since the Blue Wall seemed to find their rythm in their last EMEA matches, recently winning 3-0 against Schalke 04, and BDSA also looked like they wanted to keep their march on to the perfect split, eventhough they dropped a single game in the round of 16 against SK Gaming Prime.

As always when it comes to their clashes, the key to victory should belong botlane. No doubt both junglers and midlaners will again give a lot of importance on what's happening on this side of the map. Or maybe, it can be a bait for one of the teams especially since Janik "JNX" Bartels-Volodymyr "Maynter" Sorokin has always been a traditional matchups handshake without too much impact. But this time, the BDSA toplaner may cook since he practiced a lot of carries in soloqueue...

If KCB and BDSA should be two talent pipelines for LEC next year, Papara SuperMassive and Los Heretics look more like two LEC nursing homes... With three past LEC players on each teams, both of them have a lot of experience within their lines. Especially since Andrei "Xerxe" Dragomir, İrfan "Armut" Tükek and William "UNF0RGIVEN" Nieminen already played at Worlds, the biggest international stage possible for a League of Legends player.

But also since Heretics' botlane already won the EMEA Masters trophy - EUM at the time - together. Both teams are not only their national league's first seed, but also their national leagues last hopes in the tournament since Barça eSports and Dark Passage have been eliminated in the round of 16. On paper, the match should almost be as balanced as BDSA - KCB's one since both teams have a lot of big names in their ranks. But also since their last results make them both two power houses that should not be underestimated.

First, Los Heretics putted Prime League's first seed, Unicorn of Love Sexy Edition, on their knees in the round of 16 with an unexpected clean sweep (3-0). Then, SUP, despite a disappointing Swiss Stage in which they struggled until the 7th round to qualify, took on Geekay Esports. The Arabian League first seed was one of our editorial staff favourite's to win the competition but still, Papara SuperMassive came on top in the fifth game (3-2).

Still, the turkish team's midlaner, An "FIESTA" Hyeon-seo, should stay alert for his upcoming serie since he showed a lot of weaknesses. Also, eventhough SUP displayed a better gameplay against GK, it has to be said that they lost against HRTS during the Swiss Stage, so the Spanish org should at least have the mental edge.