Week 6 Group Stage and Playoffs Recap: Honorable Mentions and Standouts

Week 6 of the 2025 Esports World Cup kept things going with exciting 3v3 Rocket League matches, intense 1v1 rounds of TEKKEN 8, and hectic final circles for PUBG: Battlegrounds.

Here are some standout moments from this week's action.

Teamfight Tactics at 2025 Esports World Cup Group Stage and Playoffs

T1 crushes North America’s hopes and dreams

Teamfight Tactics at EWC 25 featured a format that, while familiar, deviated from the traditional TFT setup: 4v4. Each player’s placement earned different points for their team, emphasizing coordination, communication, and tactical decision-making unlike a typical free-for-all format.

T1 proved themselves as the NA killers of the tournament, knocking out Team Vitality in an elimination match and sending Citadel Gaming home in the quarterfinals. While T1 eventually fell to arguably the biggest underdogs of the tournament, Virtus.pro, they established themselves as kryptonite for both North American rosters.

Street Fighter 6 at EWC 25 Last Chance Qualifier

Michael "Riddles" Kim fights through a crowded field

The Street Fighter 6 at EWC 25 LCQ featured 64 competitors vying for a spot in the tournament’s main event. With only 10 slots available, it was fight or flight for all of these world-class players.

Riddles, better known for his tenure as a professional Super Smash Bros. player, made the full-time transition to Street Fighter 6 in 2025. After winning Get On My Level 2025 in his hometown of Toronto, Canada, he made his first appearance at the Esports World Cup, placed 8th in the LCQ, and became the only competitor to represent Canada in the main event.

TEKKEN 8 at 2025 Esports World Cup Group Stage and Playoffs

South Korea dominates TEKKEN8 at EWC 25

As 32 of the world’s best Tekken players competed over three days for championship gold, club points, and the glory of being called the best, some tournament favorites were sent home before the final bracket began.

Korea and Pakistan are often considered the two biggest rivals in the Tekken scene, yet all Pakistani players were denied entry into the final bracket by South Koreans. EVO 2025 champion Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique lost 2-1 to Jeon “Jeondding” Sang-hyun in his first match and was eventually eliminated by two-peat EWC champion Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon. EVO 2025 runner-up Atif Ijaz was also knocked out by South Korean Han “Mulgold” Jae-gyun.

The tournament’s final bracket featured six Korean and two Japanese representatives, but with both Japanese players eliminated in the quarterfinals, South Korea demonstrated jaw-dropping dominance and proved the region is the best in the world.

PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS at 2025 Esports World Cup Group Stage

ROC Esports shocks the world with their stellar performance
Arguably one of the most unexpected breakout teams at the Esports World Cup, ROC Esports made headlines by claiming first place in the first and third rounds of the group stage. Despite being relatively unknown, their strong performance quickly turned heads.

Although the team didn’t capture the championship gold, Gabriel “sxntastico” Silva was named the SONY MVP of the tournament for his outstanding performance, recording 18 kills and 25 knockouts.

Rocket League featured at 2025 Esports World Cup Group Stage

A strange performance by Spacestation Gaming

The group stage series that drew the most attention during Rocket League ft. at EWC 25 was between Team Vitality and Spacestation Gaming, where Team Vitality dominated in a 16-2 game win. The series featured long technical pauses, and with Spacestation Gaming down 0-2, it seemed at times as if they had simply given up. Was it frustration from the series not going their way, or did the pauses affect both their physical and mental gameplay?

While Spacestation Gaming managed to bounce back enough to advance from their group into the playoffs, their run ended in the quarterfinals, where Team Falcons knocked them out with a 4-1 score.

With dozens of matches taking place over the next week, new legends will rise as winners are crowned and rivals are toppled. Watch the Esports World Cup 2025 live or check out the ticket options to watch the games in person!