Leviatán and FUT Esports eliminate Heretics and G2 at Masters London

Masters London lost four teams across the first two days of Playoffs, but day three was where the bracket got genuinely brutal. EMEA’s first seed, Team Heretics, and G2 Esports — already fighting from the lower bracket — both ran into opponents who had no interest in going to a fifth game. Leviatán took Heretics apart across three maps, and FUT Esports needed overtime to finish G2 but never looked like losing the series. Six teams are left standing.

What makes both results notable is context. Heretics arrived at this tournament as EMEA Stage 1 champions with a flawless Ascent record. G2 had been one of the pre-tournament favourites. Neither side found a way through. Leviatán’s Sato and Neon were the standout performers of the afternoon, and FUT’s Yetujey put up one of the cleanest individual map performances the Playoffs have produced so far.

Leviatán grind down Heretics across three hard maps

The veto set things up well for the Americas roster. Both Split and Ascent — the two maps LEV had looked most comfortable on during the Swiss Stage — came through the ban phase untouched. LEV removed Breeze, Heretics took out Pearl, LEV chose Split as their pick, Heretics responded with Lotus, and after Fracture and Haven were cut, Ascent was left as the potential third map.

On Split, LEV were ruthless from the opening whistle. A double-duelist, double-controller defensive setup gave them control of the map’s chokepoints, and although the scoreboard was close at 3-2 early on, they then reeled off six rounds without reply to go into halftime at 9-3. The second half was just as one-sided — LEV closed it out 13-3 and never once looked stretched. Spikezin playing Phoenix and Sato on Neon were the catalysts, combining for 30 kills and both posting above 270 ACS. Lotus was a completely different kind of match. LEV held a 5-3 lead despite losing the opening pistol, but a single round flipped the map: Boo executed a ninja defuse with 1 HP remaining, and Heretics used that momentum to chain four straight wins and go into the break up 7-5. After sides switched, LEV squared things up quickly with a pistol win, but RieNs and benjyfishy kept finding the kills that mattered and Heretics built a commanding 12-8 advantage. LEV fought back to 12-11 in typical fashion, but benjyfishy ended the comeback with a double kill to take Lotus 13-11 and square the series. Bruno «Neon» Rodríguez topped the LEV scoreboard on that map with 23 kills and some sharp Operator usage, but Heretics had three players clearing 200 ACS and that collective output proved decisive.

Ascent: Heretics’ strongest map becomes their exit point

Heretics had not lost on Ascent once during EMEA Stage 1, going 4-0 across the competition — a record that made this the map most observers expected them to win. LEV had other ideas entirely. They opened on defense with Neon anchoring a Chamber-based setup, and early Operator buys gave them a structural advantage they never surrendered. By halftime they were ahead 8-4, and a pistol win after the side swap pushed it further to 10-4. Heretics managed a brief response but LEV wrapped the map up 13-6, ending the series and ending Heretics’ run at Masters London. Sato’s Phoenix performance on the decider was exceptional — 326 ACS, four opening kills, and a plus-13 kill differential. Across the full three maps, Sato, Neon, and spikezin each finished above 230 ACS, with Neon and Sato sharing 11 first kills apiece. The defeat also brings Benjamin «benjyfishy» Fish’s tournament to a close; he had been the last British player competing at Masters London. Leviatán’s reward is a match against whichever team falls from the XLG versus EDG upper-bracket semifinal.

• Leviatán won the series 2-1: 13-3 on Split, 11-13 on Lotus, 13-6 on Ascent.
• Sato on Phoenix was the series standout — 326 ACS, four first kills, and a plus-13 differential on the deciding map alone.
• FUT swept G2 2-0, with Yetujey recording 332 ACS and 24 kills on Ascent in one of the Playoffs’ best individual map showings.
• FUT have now knocked out both NRG and G2 during the same lower-bracket run at this event.

FUT outlast G2 in overtime to keep Turkey’s Masters London alive

Both teams arrived at this match having secured their preferred picks during the veto. Ascent went to FUT, Lotus went to G2, and Split — the same map XLG had used to beat G2 the previous day — waited as a potential decider that neither side was keen to visit.

FUT’s Ascent was built on an unconventional foundation. Rather than running standard aggressive compositions, they put Cypher and Sage together on attack — a double-sentinel pairing rarely seen at this level — against G2’s double-duelist setup. The read was correct from round one. FUT won six straight to open the map, converted that into a 9-3 halftime lead, and even after G2 took the post-swap pistol, there was no real path back. FUT closed Ascent 13-6. Yetujey’s Cypher performance stood apart from everything else on the server: 332 ACS, 24 kills, a plus-10 differential, and near-constant presence in the most important rounds. Lotus gave G2 a genuine chance. FUT opened on attack with a double-duelist composition, won the pistol, but G2 strung four rounds together to move ahead 4-2 and held a 7-5 lead going into halftime. After the break, G2 denied the anti-eco to push their advantage to 9-6. FUT levelled at 9-9 with three consecutive wins and the map seesawed from there until G2 reached 12-11 and stood one round from forcing a decider. FUT took that round on a thrifty to send it to overtime. jawgemo came agonisingly close to an ace in the first overtime round, finishing with four kills instead. Then s0pp stepped up and completed an actual ace to close the map and the series. xeus and s0pp combined for 51 kills across Lotus and both finished above 250 ACS. The kill differential across the full series told the story cleanly: four of FUT’s five players finished positive, and not a single G2 player did. FUT’s next match is against the team eliminated from the PRX versus Vitality upper-bracket semifinal.

The Masters London Playoffs bracket now has six teams remaining. Upper-bracket semifinals follow, with PRX taking on Team Vitality and EDward Gaming meeting Xi Lai Gaming in a matchup that will be the first all-China contest at this stage of a Masters event.