Los Ratones in trouble in EMEA Masters Summer 2025

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 08/10/2025

Los Ratones face an all-or-nothing Best of 3 in their final match in the Swiss Stage of EMEA Master Summer 2025.

The rats are 3-3 in the Swiss bracket after back-to-back defeats in their promotion contests, where a win would have seen them progress.

Instead, Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont’s men now face a do-or-die contest to save their attempt at walking the ERL ‘Golden Road.’

Los Ratones to meet familiar foe

Their deciding match will be against Pool 3’s StormMedia FMS, who are frequent scrim opponents for Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson and co.

The team hails from Poland, competing in the Polish and Baltic Rift Legends league.

While the Polish team are certainly the underdogs for the contest, there is a clear danger in playing your scrim opponents.

FMS will be well aware of the NLC champion’s preferred bans, picks, and tendencies. While the opposite is true, such scenarios can help the underdogs close the gap.

Update: The contest will be played at approximately 20:00 CET (19:00 BST), as the fourth contest of the day.

Are Los Ratones following the script or in trouble?

The match is not the first time Los Ratones have faced an elimination/promotion match, facing similar situations in EMEA Masters Winter and Spring after defeats to Karmine Corp Blue and Barca eSports, respectively.

However, the defeats have a distinctly different flavour, with the roster failing to assert themselves in the consecutive Bo3 defeats, which seemingly were out of control since the draft.

Los Ratones’ 2-1 Bo3 defeats came against opponents from two of Europe’s strongest leagues, with Misa Esports part of Turkey’s TCL and Galions coming from France’s hugely popular LFL alongside KC Blue, Gentle Mates, and Vitality.Bee.

The losses show that EMEA’s regional leagues are in a relatively competitive place, but with fellow NLC competitors Verdant progressing 4-1 through the Swiss bracket, fans may put emphasis on the team’s frailties in draft and performance.

‘The Rats’ are one step away from completing the so-called ERL ‘Golden Road’ by winning back-to-back-to-back domestic and European titles, as Los Ratones looks forward to playing in LEC’s new Winter format.

With Los Ratones also taking part in Red Bull League of Its Own 2025, is the eye off the ball for Los Ratones in EMEA Masters?

The winner of EMEA Masters Summer will join The Rats at the LEC Kick Off event, or the runner-up if Los Ratones win.

However, it is a long road now for the hugely popular team of content creators and former pros to make it all the way to the Grand Final.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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