Wildcard among teams to suffer elimination on Birch Cup day one

The North American squad's Major appearance is now in doubt.

Day one of Birch Cup, a $15,000 LAN held in Gdansk, Poland, came to an end with eight rosters securing their spots in Stage 2.

The biggest shock of the day came as Wildcard suffered an early elimination that put their Major bid in serious doubt. Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's troops began the event with a win against MOUZ NXT but ultimately fell to Phantom and Betclic.

Their Major hopes aren't dashed yet, however, as they have signed up for the upcoming Fragadelphia Blocktober set to begin on October 2.

Date	Matches
Birch Cup 2025
26/09/2025	Wildcard Finished 13:10 MOUZ NXT	Match
26/09/2025	Phantom Finished 13:7 Wildcard	Match
26/09/2025	Wildcard Finished 0:2 Betclic	Match

Conversely, four teams had a flawless campaign in Stage 1, as they won both best-of-ones to breeze through to the next day of competition.

BIG were the first to do so by beating ATOMIK and 500 as the German squad continues to hold on to the slimmest possibility of Major qualification.

Phantom, ex-Inner Circle, and Johnny Speeds also progressed to Stage 2 after their upper-bracket runs.

Four more teams completed the Stage 2 team list later in the day. Betclic won against Wildcard, while Partizan, 500, and ESC also made it through.

On Saturday, a plethora of big names will enter the action. Liquid, fnatic, and Gentle Mates are the three highest-ranked teams among the eight to begin their journey in Stage 2, with the schedule for the opening round as follows:

Date	Matches
Birch Cup 2025
27/09/2025	Monte 09:00 BIG	Match
27/09/2025	ENCE 09:00 Johnny Speeds	Match
27/09/2025	FUT 09:25 ESC	Match
27/09/2025	fnatic 09:45 Phantom	Match
27/09/2025	Gentle Mates 10:30 ex-Inner Circle	Match
27/09/2025	Venom 11:00 Partizan	Match
27/09/2025	9INE 11:10 Betclic	Match
27/09/2025	Liquid 11:30 500	Match