[EMEA] BrawlCap August Monthly Final Preview & Predictions
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
Things are getting pretty heated heading into the final Monthly Final of the year in EMEA. Three teams are locked up for Worlds as well as one other team in NOVO Esports competing in the postseason this year, but failing to qualify will mean they’ll have to rely on the other teams ranked below them to falter. With teams such as KUMA, BIG, NAVI and Team Heretics are gunning for those final two postseason spots, it’ll certainly be quite an interesting race to the finish. Who will join our other four teams in more Brawl in the Fall? Hopefully this article will help figure out that answer!
FUT Esports VS. Kumalazawesta
For the first time this split, FUT Esports have qualified through the Upper Bracket with no issues whatsoever. That means they’ll likely have to not worry about HMBLE until the Finals this time, although you could say they’ve been owning them since their defeat at the Brawl Cup. With the #1 EMEA Seed locked up already, FUT will be aiming to finish the season going 5 for 6 on Monthly Final Championships and going down as probably the greatest regular season team in the history of EMEA and possibly the greatest of all time if they lock in at Worlds. If they pull off another 1st place finish this weekend, everyone is gonna be buying the FUT bundle to celebrate.
There is a lot to talk about this team and I’ll just briefly go over it the best I can here. After losing Mine who will be competing in the Challengers Finals with F/A Madrid, KUMA needed a hero to save their season in their final push to claim a ticket to the postseason. That hero was LeNain who is coming in to play for his 6th NEW team of the season. Together they’ll be facing a tough challenge right off the gate where they’ll have to beat FUT if they want a chance to play in the LCQ. There is a chance they could go to Worlds, but that’s only if they finish 1st which is pretty much a long shot. The first step is always the hardest to overcome so if they want to go anywhere, they’ll need to take down FUT all should be peaches and cream.
TalentsLab VS. Reply Totem
The only newly talented roster competing this month despite several teams in this region competing in Challengers, but it’s a roster that consists of players who came up short in said events. YeiYei fell one match shy of qualifying from Türkiye and SanFire fell one match shy of qualifying from DACH, but jokes on them as they’ll be competing in their first Monthly Final of their career. Joining them will not be Agachi as he failed the Fair Play Check, but instead Mewtu will be subbing in for him making his return to the Monthly Finals for the first time in over two years. They will surely be underdogs in this event, but that doesn't mean these guys aren’t talented.
It was a close call, but Reply Totem edged out their rivals NOVO in the Qualifiers to not only keep them from competing this weekend, but they managed to earn enough points to secure them a Worlds spot. There’s also a chance they could’ve knocked NOVO down to an LCQ spot, but that will be decided in the lower half of the bracket which is something they can’t control unfortunately. The next thing on their list is to secure the three seed which is only needed by beating the new kids and that’s it. It’s pretty much all but BSEN Guaranteed they’ll secure it, but that will mean they’ll have to worry about HMBLE in their bracket for Worlds. Eh they can deal with that in November. For now it’s time to lock in and prove their worth of earning their 6th straight Worlds appearance.
HMBLE VS. BIG
This is the time for HMBLE to crawl their way back to the top and prove they have what it takes to win again. It seems this team hasn’t quite figured out how to win much after their Brawl Cup victory, but luckily they’ll get one more shot at ending the year with a 1st place finish. They’re guaranteed to finish 2nd on the leaderboards regardless of the results they show this weekend, but right now they’re fighting to show the world they still got it. At least they won’t have to face FUT until the Finals at least who have seemingly been owning them online, but we all know the real battles will happen at Worlds.
In other BIG news, BIG did a complete 180 on us and decided to make a big brain move that could have them competing in both the Challengers and possibly the LCQ if things go as planned. Arthur decided to stick with the Challengers team and will be playing alongside Unlucky while Melih & Salty picked up former Kebap player Dede in hopes of pulling off the unthinkable. They do have a chance to claim an LCQ spot, but at the very least they’ll need to defeat HMBLE if they even want a chance. Also required is Team Heretics defeating NAVI as well as FUT taking down KUMA in the Quarter Finals. Although they could secure Worlds by winning the Monthly Finals, they honestly have better odds at winning the lottery than winning this Monthly Final. If they don’t end up doing the unthinkable, at least they’ll have a backup plan.
NAVI VS. Team Heretics
For the first time since April probably, there is some hope left for this team as some big changes were made that definitely give off some good vibes. First off, Drage packed his bags and rode off into the sunset one last time with his retirement announcement this past week. Next, they picked up Nowy297. While he has cursed SK, Team Heretics and Metizport this year, he’s seemingly finding his groove again with his new team and things could actually go well for him for the first time this year. It’s pretty much a redemption arc for this group who still have a pretty good chance at securing an LCQ spot. Even with a defeat in the Quarter Finals, they should still be in good hands as long as the Top 2 teams lock in. They could even secure Worlds with a Top 2 finish at minimum, but that will definitely prove to be quite tricky. Is NAVI finally getting their groove back? Guess we’ll find out when they face their first opponent.
It’s been quite a rough back half of the year for Team Heretics after they had such a promising start to the season, but now’s their chance to redeem themselves with an opponent they should be capable of defeating if they play their cards correctly. Skipping out on the Challengers to possibly secure an LCQ spot was definitely the right call as it’ll be pretty hard to see them get knocked out of the postseason all together with the way the bracket is laid out. LCQ will pretty much be secured with a win over NAVI and they could even secure Worlds if they reach the Finals, but with the way they’ve been playing lately outside of scrims, that seems unlikely. One win is all they need, but will they be up for the challenge and get their mojo back?
Predictions
Lucky's Notes
As much as I would love to see some chaos happen, going against FUT & HMBLE would be like turning down an offer to receive 8 Ultra Chaos Drops. This would mean I’d have NAVI & TH secure a postseason spot, but would I have them advancing to Worlds or will NOVO get a lucky break? Well, I think Totem at least secures the third seed with their win, but FUT should still be able to take them down with ease to finish in the Top 2 for the 7th straight event they competed in. Between NAVI VS. TH, I do see more upside in taking NAVI over TH as I just don’t think I could trust TH with how disconnected they’ve felt playing together. I am all in for another FUT VS. HMB rematch even though I do feel like NAVI could be a dark horse and possibly pull off an upset, but FUT should still be the clear favorites to win their 5th Championship this year. At least the upside in this scenario is that we’ll have three Italian orgs again at Worlds.
Let us know who you’re rooting for in the comments and be sure to use Code BSEN in the Brawl Stars shop! Tune into the finale on Sunday, August 9th @ 12:00 UTC and see who will claim the final two spots for the postseason!