Bracket Bedlam in Europe: Playoffs Preview for Europe Open #4

March 28, 2026

1:02 PM

Europe’s long winding road toward Paris hit its first pit stop this weekend, as the Main Event for Europe Open #1 kicked off late Friday afternoon. Upsets quickly turned the bracket on its head.

Here’s a look at what happened to set up a wacky playoff bracket.

Group A

Group A was very clearly the group of death, as it had the top 3 European teams competing for 4 playoff spots, with Vitality and Gentle Mates both in the same quadrant of the bracket along with EU6, Man City Esports. Karmine Corp made up the other quadrant with EU8, NOVO Esports, also present.

Although the bracket seemed destined for a Vitality-Gentle Mates showdown for the first spot in the playoffs, it was City that made it through to face off against the Swarm instead, stunning the defending Major Champions in a three game upset. Vitality did their job and dispatched of Gameward in 4 games.

Meanwhile in the other quadrant of Group A, Karmine Corp quickly dispatched of Tox, Rezears, and Bibbaba to put themselves one win from the top 6.

Synergy earned a showdown against the titans of Europe by fending off a reverse sweep from bid, which included them storming back from a 1-4 Champions Field deficit and scoring the fifth in overtime.

City were unable to continue their momentum from their win over Gentle Mates to their series with Team Vitality, as the Bees snuck past them in game 5 to guarantee a game on Championship Sunday.

Synergy, however, kept their momentum and some and shocked Karmine Corp in Game 5 overtime to become the second team into the upper bracket of the playoffs.

This marks Ajg’s highest RLCS tournament placement since moving to Europe for the 2025 season, and Dorito’s highest placement since returning to Europe from South America. Kuxir’s Minions cult hero Rxii clinched his first-career RLCS playoff appearance on his fourteenth attempt as a result of Synergy’s upset.

In the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals, Gameward took a reverse sweep bid against Gentle Mates the distance before getting blown out 6-0 in game 5.

TRB outlasted NOVO in game 5 in the other matchup to earn a chance at Man City for the top 8. Man City ended up taking the series in four, and it marks the third time that Man City has knocked out Bibbaba in the Lower Semis. Bibbaba has only made three main events.

The blockbuster matchup set-up by Gentle Mates and Karmine Corp both falling in upset fashion was their elimination match in the other Lower Semi. Like five other matches in Group A, this too went the distance, with Karmine Corp emerging victorious on Champions Field.

The teams surviving Group A from Friday’s chaos were Team Vitality, Synergy, Karmine Corp, and Man City Esports.

Group B

Group B was significantly weaker than its counterpart, with NIP (EU4) and Geekay (EU5) being the only notable teams really present. While a lot of people had Geekay and NIP set for a tilt in the Upper Semis in their prediction brackets, these people made one crucial mistake. They forgot Alpha54 existed. The French league play veteran led “Kaydop Corp,” Radosin and MtzR, to a game 5 upset over Geekay and earned a showdown with NIP in the process.

Meanwhile on the significantly weaker quadrant of Group B, WIP lost all momentum from their Swiss Stage dominance and were knocked to lowers by Cloud Esport (JWeyts, Wozyen, Badnezz).

The all-English trio of Gawfs, Motion, and Vorceful took down established squad Team BSK (Growlii, Aztral, Rysfox) to earn a match up against Cloud for the top 6. The Brits of Inner Sircle emerged victorious in Game 5. While Motion is infamous for his escapades over in Sub-Saharan Africa, he had yet to really establish himself on home soil until this event, as these were just his second and third RLCS wins in the European region, and by far his highest placement.

These are new heights for Gawfs and Vorceful (another big European breakout candidate). This is Gawfs’ second playoff appearance, but this time he’s in the upper bracket and one spot higher than his career high placement. This is Vorceful’s first RLCS playoff appearance in his fourth Main Event attempt.

In the other Upper Semi of the group, NIP was able to counteract the Alpha54 magic to clinch a spot in the top 6.

The lower bracket just provided more pain for Geekay Esports fans, as they quickly went down 0-2 to Kalogeras (Vadyy, Osaft, Mat), and after fighting back big in game 3 and taking a late lead in game 4, they conceded at 0 seconds and lost in overtime to bow out of Europe Open #4 tied for last place.

This just added some fuel to the fire of the newly formed Man City-Geekay beef, as Man City fired a bit of a shot on Twitter after they picked up the kicked Geekay French star and outplaced them in their first event with the new roster.