BBL Esports beats Gentle Mates to qualify for VALORANT Masters Santiago

BBL Esports has defeated Gentle Mates to lift the VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026 trophy, advancing to VALORANT Masters Santiago as the region’s first seed.

As a result, the Turkish organisation will get a direct bye to the Playoffs stage of the international VCT event. Gentle Mates, meanwhile, has dropped to the Middle Bracket, where it will face Fnatic on February 14th for a spot at Masters Santiago.

BBL Esports acquired the PCIFIC Esports roster that finished in the top two at 2025 Ascension EMEA. Now, the rookie line-up has defeated some of the most experienced opponents in EMEA Kickoff to help the organisation win its first-ever VCT title.

The first map, Haven, kicked off in BBL Esports’ favour with a 4-0 scoreline before Gentle Mates snatched the lead away with six consecutive round wins. After a 6-6 first half, both teams continued to trade rounds until M8 eventually closed out the map13-11.

Gentle Mates carried the momentum gained into Abyss, putting 7-2 on the board. While BBL narrowed the gap to two rounds, M8 put a stop to the Turkish side’s win streak in the second half. Gentle Mates seemed to be moving towards a comfortable victory until BBL made a comeback by securing six back-to-back rounds. The map went to overtime twice, with BBL claiming a 15-13 win.

The third map Pearl also went to overtime, but this time it was BBL Esports having a dominating start, winning six of the first seven rounds. The rest of the rounds were secured by Gentle Mates as the first half tied up at 6-6. 

Once the sides switched, BBL once again didn’t give the French organisation enough room to reach map point, rushing to a three round lead. However, the team was not able to finish the job as M8 forced overtime, but BBL still managed to come out on top with a 16-14 victory.

Split was the first one sided map of the series, with BBL Esports being able to win just four round. The series entered the decider map, Corrode, with Gentle Mates securing the map 13-4. With that, all three VCT Kickoff Upper Finals so far across China, Pacific and EMEA were pushed to a fifth map.

Considering the momentum Gentle Mates had built on Split and the mistakes made by BBL Esports, it appeared as if Corrode would be an easy win for the French side. Although M8 secured the first two rounds, BBL found its footing and went on to take a 4-2 lead.

The opponents tried to retaliate with three rounds wins in a row, but it wasn’t enough to break the Turkish side. Heading into the second half with a 7-5 advantage, BBL Esports let Gentle Mates claim just one round before it closed the map 13-6 and series 3-2.

BBL’s Umut ‘lovers rock‘ Pekdoğan was the best performing player for the team with a 1.14 rating and 98/81/19 KDA, while M8’s Martin ‘marteen‘ Pátek topped the server with a 1.26 rating and 106/81/31 KDA.

While Gentle Mates wasn’t able to punch its ticket to Masters Santiago, it still has two more shots before getting eliminated from VCT EMEA Kickoff.