FUT Esports and PCIFIC Esports are the first two teams to get eliminated from VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026.
The first game of the day saw FUT Esports facing off against Karmine Corp, while the second series featured a clash between two Ascension organisations, PCIFIC Esports and ULF Esports.
Karmine Corp Secures Its First Series Win at VCT EMEA Kickoff
After losing its opening two matches of the tournament, Karmine Corp finally registered a 2-1 victory over FUT Esports to keep its Masters Santiago hopes alive. FUT Esports, on the other hand, exited the tournament winless despite giving Champions Paris 2025 runner-up Fnatic a hard time in the Middle Bracket.
In a best-of-three series, Karmine Corp dominated FUT Esports on Haven, rushing to a 7-1 lead and making the matchup seem like a one-sided affair. However, FUT fought back to narrow the gap to two rounds by the end of the first half.
While the Turkish side secured the first two rounds of the second half, KC snatched the momentum back to take the scoreline to 12-9. FUT wasn’t ready to give up just yet, as it won three back-to-back rounds to force overtime, but failed to convert it into a win as KC closed out the map 14-12.
The second map, Split, followed a similar storyline in the first half; however, this time FUT Esports held a two-round advantage. While KC won three rounds in the second half, FUT secured a comfortable 13-8 victory to push the series to a decider.
The first half of Pearl concluded again at 7-5 in favour of Karmine Corp; however, FUT couldn’t push back this time, as the French side won the map 13-7 and the series 2-1.
Karmine Corp’s Asian import, Dastan ‘dos9’ Zhumagali, was the best performing player, finishing with a 1.22 rating, 229 ACS, and 56/41/30 KDA.
ULF Esports Clean Sweeps PCIFIC Esports
Heading into its elimination match, PCIFIC Esports’ head coach Metin Kaan ‘Leader‘ Taşpınar was absent due to “family and personal reasons”, and hence, the roster was led by the assistant coach Manuel ‘thinkii’ Martínez.
PCIFIC Esports struggled right from the beginning, with ULF Esports putting 8-1 on the board. The Turkish side was able to secure just five rounds on Split as ULF closed out the map 13-5.
The second map, Abyss, almost proved to be an even more devastating loss for PCIFIC, with the first half ending 9-2 in the opponent’s favour. Things got interesting when the Turkish organisation won six consecutive rounds.
However, the impressive comeback attempt fell short, as ULF Esports won the rest of the rounds to complete the clean sweep with a 13-8 victory.
ULF’s controller, Soner ‘audaz‘ Ekiz, was the highest-rated player in the series with 1.38 rating, along with 231 ACS and 32/21/20 KDA.
Karmine Corp and ULF Esports will return to stage on February 5th to challenge Champions 2024 runner-up Team Heretics and 2025 VCT EMEA Stage 2 winner Team Liquid, respectively. All matches will be streamed live on VCT EMEA’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.
