Wildcard and Team Secret had the toughest day of the six teams that took part in Munich's second playoff day as the two rosters had to play two matches, involving Ninjas in Pyjamas and G2 Esports for the North Americans, and Team Secret and M80 for the Europeans. Surprisingly enough, Wildcard ended the day silencing the crowd as the Americans knocked out the samurai of the competition—leaving Team Falcons as the only EML side still alive.
- Check out our match stats for the Wildcard 2-1 G2 Esports game here
At this point, it's difficult to say what to think about Wildcard. The Americans headed to Munich after struggling in North America as they missed out on the Siege X EWC 2025 and barely qualified for this season's BLAST R6 Major after just one BO3 win against Oxygen Esports. Their regional results constantly put in doubt Wildcard's Top 4 finish in RE:L0:AD, especially considering the competition's format and their playoff oppositions.
However, all of these excuses to discredit Wildcard were demolished yesterday after the North Americans took down Ninjas in Pyjamas and G2 Esports. Their wins against these two Siege powerhouses have got them extremely close to a Six Invitational 2026 qualification.
"I feel great. Since before the NiP we had already prepared some stuff for G2 so during the night we had already studied G2 and that's the way you should be, you need to think about winning," Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi explained in a post-match interview with SiegeGG.
One of the most decisive players of yesterday's games was Joan "bbySharKK" Benito. Although he went a bit unnoticed against Ninjas in Pyjamas, the French had a crucial impact in their match against G2 Esports. Overall, he had the second-highest SiegeGG rating in the team (1.12) and a brilliant entry balance of 7-1 (+6). He was really efficient whilst looking composed on the stage.
"He's the player that has improved the most from all the players," Lagonis admitted. The Brazilian has been a crucial figure in the French's growth in his first professional season, and that showed yesterday in both matches.
"I think he's learning more about the game, he's getting smarter, let's say, he understands more about the game, that's helping him. Like, this is a moment that you can do a lurk on attack, this is a moment that you should play more safe... so creating a balance for him I think it was a key thing to keep helping him to learn, to understand. That's it, every day we review the practices, and that's super important because in the reviews is the moment where the player can improve."
Following the team's victory against Ninjas in Pyjamas, the team knew G2 Esports would be a different team to face off. While they had already prepared a bit for their potential clash against the Europeans, they would only have a couple of hours to get some energy back and focus again for the decisive game. The start against the samurai wasn't easy by any means.
The series' first map, Nighthaven Labs, went horribly wrong for the Americans as the samurai took a one-sided 7-2 win. In the interview, Lagonis compared yesterday's Nighthaven Labs pick to Team Liquid's Chalet pick against G2 Esports at the Six Invitational 2025.
"First of all, about Labs, when I was with Liquid something similar happened, like our best map was Chalet, and at the Six Invitational G2 Esports let Chalet open, because they know that's the most obvious pick to make, and we did it the most obvious pick in this case, of course, was Nighthaven Labs, and they were ready. They did the preparation, they played well, they deserved it. But our teams was not on the top, I even talked about it on my timeout."
In other words, Nighthaven Labs ended up being an easy one for G2 Esports because the samurai had prepared themselves really well to counter Wildcard there. The Americans had expected that before the series had even started, so it was about playing well on Kafe and Skyscraper.
Realistically, it was hard to know what to expect from Wildcard on Kafe. The North Americans had been banning it during the entirety of Stage 2 as their last games there were played in the first split. In Munich, however, before facing G2 Esports, they had taken down FaZe Clan and ENTERPRISE Esports on Kafe. In fact, if Ninjas in Pyjamas had won against Wildcard on Skyscraper, both teams would have gone to the Russian map. So, it's clear that Wildcard had been cooking something during the past three months.
"About Kafe, to be honest, we have been banning it during all the stage, I built the map for the Major, like, I created the map only for the Major," Lagonis admitted. "And right now, we're 3-0, we won against ENTERPRISE, FaZe Clan, and G2, great teams. So it's nice, something fresh, you know, fresh new, like new strategies, and the boys are destroying."
"About Skyscraper, I think we created a good momentum in this map, because we had won it two times before, one time against G2. So I think these are the two key maps for us for the tournament," he added.
Regardless of what happens next, Wildcard have already proven the haters wrong—another time. Now under the direct orders of Lagonis, the team has collected another Top 4 finish. Later today, they could improve their final position (and even qualify for the Six Invitational 2026) with a victory over M80.
When asked about his experience as a coach so far, and his importance for the team, Lagonis was clear. "The most important thing that a coach can do is not like during the match doing a timeout, it's like the things that I do before."
"That, the arena is just 10% and 9% is before the match. So, of course, the preparation was a lot because you need to prepare for NiP and some stuff for G2, expecting that you win the match, you need to do that, to be one step ahead."
"It's even easier to be a coach... I don't feel like that much deep emotions let's say, I can be more cold and think, but it's nice," he concluded.
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