Continuing Our Coverage of Champions Tour 2025: EMEA Kickoff. Today, we’ll discuss the second round of the lower bracket, where Team Liquid will face GIANTX for the first spot in the final. The match promises to be intense, and below, we’ll analyze its potential outcome.

Current Form of the Teams

Team Liquid

Team Liquid participated in Monsters Reloaded 2024, where they finished 3rd-4th place. In their last five matches, they secured victories against Apeks and KOI but suffered three losses to FUT, Fnatic, and their upcoming opponents, GIANTX.

The team can be considered stable but has yet to achieve significant success in major tournaments, making them a solid mid-tier team, much like their next opponents.

GIANTX

GIANTX also competed in Monsters Reloaded 2024, finishing 2nd place after losing 1-3 to BBL Esports in the final. Over their last five matches, GIANTX won two games against Team Liquid and Karmine Corp, but suffered three losses—one against FUT Esports and two against BBL Esports, which highlights their inconsistency.

On the EMEA stage, GIANTX is considered a mid-tier team. They don’t place at the bottom, but they also don’t win major tournaments or secure podium finishes.

Map Pool Analysis

Based on map pool data, we can predict the likely map vetoes and picks:

Bans

• Team Liquid will likely ban Bind, as their opponents have a strong 69% win rate on this map.
• GIANTX might ban Haven, since Team Liquid has played it 70 times and holds a 66% win rate.

Picks

• Team Liquid could go for Abyss, a map that only a few teams confidently pick.
• GIANTX might opt for Lotus, which is considered one of their secret strategies.

Head-to-Head History

The last encounter between these teams took place at Monsters Reloaded 2024, where GIANTX dominated Liquid 2-0 without much resistance.

This match is incredibly difficult to predict, as both teams are evenly matched mid-tier contenders. However, despite the uncertainty, we lean towards Team Liquid taking the victory. Still, the outcome remains highly unpredictable.

Predicted Result: Team Liquid wins 2-1

VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff is taking place from January 15 to February 9 as an offline LAN event hosted at Riot Games’ arena. Twelve partnered teams from the VCT program are competing for two spots at Masters Bangkok and crucial EMEA Points, which are necessary for qualification to the World Championship.