EWC Week 6 recap: PUBG, Tekken, and Rocket League champions shake the Club Championship

Week 6 of the 2025 Esports World Cup, the penultimate stretch, closed with four fresh titleholders. From Teamfight Tactics and PUBG: Battlegrounds to Tekken 8 and Rocket League, the schedule was jammed; even a last-chance Street Fighter 6 qualifier squeezed in and broke down over 400 contestants.

Some champions dug in and defended. Others blinked and lost the throne. And in the gaps, new names punched through the noise and grabbed the spotlight. The Club Championship standings were tossed into flux as Team Falcons clawed its way back to the top after falling behind last week. What follows is a game-by-game breakdown of Week 6’s drama, along with a glimpse at what the final week promises to deliver.

Chinese squad Weibo Gaming (WBG) stormed to victory in the TFT tournament, defeating Virtus.pro 3-1 in the grand final to claim the title and the $150,000 top prize. With its squad in last year’s EWC, Weibo Gaming fell out in the quarter-finals. 

However, they were determined to win, starting with its stellar performance in the group stages with a clean 2-0 record, beating EWC 2024 runner-up T1 and Team Vitality. In the playoffs, Weibo Gaming continued its streak, dispatched EVOS Esports 2-0, and dropped a map against AEGIS 2-1, including French powerhouse Pas DeBol, to reach the final.

The Vietnamese roster Virtus.pro had a momentary stumble in groups, but rallied an undefeated run in the playoffs. In Group B, VP started with a 2-0 win against the home team Falcons, then lost its next match 1-2 against AEGIS. In the decider match against MOUZ, VP pulled out of a close 2-1 series to make it to the playoffs.

VP’s first match was against EWC 2024’s champions, Wolves Esports, but they slayed the giant and upset the defending champions 2-0. In the next game, they defeated the other grand finalist from last year, T1, with another clean 2-0 record.

The grand final started with a dominant win for the Chinese team, but VP returned fire in the second match. Game 3 was the turning point of the series, as WBG’s Saopimi leveraged a timely Caretaker’s Ally augment to build a Gangplank-centred composition early on, which already put its opponents at a disadvantage.

Despite that, VP fought hard and cornered Saopimi 2v1, but WBG’s MVP outlasted his opponents and finished with a tense 1v1 finish. All that was left was for WBG to win the final game of the series to win their international trophy. 

WBG’s Saopimi wins Sony’s MVP award for his 71% win rate, 2.75 average placement, and 25 total points throughout the event.

Russian/Ukrainian roster Twisted Minds exorcised the demons of last year’s early exit by conquering the PUBG: Battlegrounds event in one of the closest grand finals in the game’s history. 

In the group stage, 24 teams were split into three groups to be one of the final 16 headed into the grand final lobby. After three days with six matches each, there were a few surprising teams that didn’t make the cut. BB Team and FULL SENSE were qualified for EWC because of their global power ranking, but were eliminated in groups.

Team Liquid not going to the final lobby will affect its Club Championship lead, especially with last year’s winners, Soniqs, now playing under Falcons. Other teams that didn’t make it were FN Esports, TDT Esports, Sharper Esport, Geekay Esports, and Buriram United Esports, who placed dead last with only 33 points.

The final 16 teams will battle across 12 matches in two days in the S.U.P.E.R tournament format, where the team with the highest total points at the end of the Finals will win the whole tournament. ROC Esports, Theeraton Five, AGAL, Petrichor Road, and Twisted Minds walked into the final lobby with confidence as the top five during groups.

Korean team Gen.G Esports took the lead by winning the opening match of the final lobby. Game Start Win, Virtus.pro, Twisted Minds, 17 Gaming, and Freecs all earned their chicken dinners during the first day.

On the second and final day, Twisted Minds started strong by winning the game 7 with 17 total points. Freecs secured its second win, followed by Theerathon Five, The Expendables, and another win for Twisted Minds during game 11. 

Going into the final game, Twisted Minds couldn’t sit comfortably with its lead because 12 teams were still in contention for the title. Teams like Falcons and ROC Esports were racking up points with their high kill matches. The defending champions topped the leaderboard in kills in game 3 (12 kp) and game 6 (14 kp), and were second to AGAL in game 11 with 11 kp.

Meanwhile, ROC Esports had an impressive 13 kp in game 5, pushing them to have more total points than the winners, 17 Gaming.

In the 12th and final match, Twisted Minds was the first to suffer casualties, losing two players very early on. By 20 minutes, they lose another player in a fight against Freecs, leaving Perfect1ks alone against 12 teams and 30 bloodlusted players. The last survivor had to change up his game plan and sneak for as long as possible.

Meanwhile, Gen.G Esports, with a full squad and a strong fortified position, lost three members from a winnable position. 

As the circle closed on the final few teams, Falcons and The Expendables were still in contention to win the event, and had a good amount of players to fight for the championship. Perfect1ks finally goes down, but he survived long enough to secure his team’s fifth place, which was more than enough to secure their trophy.

The final standings saw Twisted Minds take 1st place with 93 points, South Korea’s Gen.G Esports narrowly behind in 2nd with 86 points, and Team Falcons in 3rd with 83 points. Despite finishing in 11th place, ROC Esports sxntastico was Sony’s MVP for his individual performance.

Ulsan has solidified his place in Tekken history by winning the Tekken 8 World Cup for the second year in a row. The South Korean prodigy, representing DN Freecs, defeated compatriot LowHigh 5-2 in the grand final, using his signature Dragunov against Bryan. This win also makes Ulsan the highest-earning Tekken 8 player in the world, surpassing Atif Butt, who he also fought in the 2024 EWC finals.

While Ulsan was the defending champion, he wasn’t in his best form in 2025, dropping out in the bottom in the recent EVO 2025 and losing in the grand finals in CEO 2025. In the group stages, he started with two close series against two tough opponents, JDCR and reigning Tekken World Tour champion, Rangchu.

A momentary scare came when Kkokkoma handed Ulsan a loss in the group stage, knocking him into the lower bracket. Undeterred, Ulsan eliminated the six-time EVO champion and Tekken legend, Arslan Ash, then had a revenge match against Kkokkoma to make it to the top eight.

Arslan Ash wasn’t the only favorite to bow out of the playoffs. Four-time EVO champion, Knee, one of the best players of all time, was eliminated in the second phase, losing to Rangchu and then JeonDDing. ATIF was also one win from qualifying, but lost against Mulgold. 

Six of the eight finalists were Koreans: CBM, Mulgold, Ulsan, qudans, JeonDDing, and LowHigh. Pinya and chikurin, both Japanese players, made up the top eight. In the playoffs, Ulsan had to make his way through PINYA and CBM to go to the finals, while LowHigh fought against chikurin and JeonDDing to challenge the defending champion.

LowHigh has won EVO in Tekken 7 back in 2018, but had lacklustre results until his run in EWC. Ulsan took the early lead and won the first two games of their series, but LowHigh returned the favour and won two games in a row. It briefly looked like the momentum had shifted, but Ulsan quickly recalibrated. Ulsan would go on to win the next three close sets, with two of them even going to game five, winning the tournament and defending his title.

Karmine Corp rose to the occasion on Sunday, capturing their first-ever Rocket League championship at the Esports World Cup. The French powerhouse stomped Geekay Esports 4-1 in the grand final, earning $400,000 in prize money out of the $1 million prize pool.

Karmine Corp started the year strong by winning the RLCS Birmingham Major in March, winning 4-0 against The Ultimates. But failed to replicate its success in the more recent Raleigh Major, only placing in the top eight. Karmine Corp brings dralii, part of the EWC 2024 winning roster under Team DBS. The other two defending champions are now under Team Vitality, who placed fourth in the event.

Karmine Corps started its opening match with a smooth 3-0 over Virtus.pro, then clutched out a close 3-2 series against NRG. In Group C, Geekay Esports lost its opening match 2-3 against Falcons, but fought back to the playoffs by winning against FURIA and The Ultimates.

The playoff run showcased Karmine Corp’s will to win. In the quarterfinals, they beat the Brazilian Team Secret roster 4-1. Then, in the semis, they went up against EWC 2024 grand finalists and Raleigh Major winners, Team Falcons, whom they were able to beat 4-2. 

On the other side of the semifinal bracket, Geekay Esports and Team Vitality had the best game of the tournament. They finished their series with a close 4-3 score, upsetting one of the favourite teams. In the third-place match, Falcons also brought Team Vitality to another intense 4-3 series.

In the final, Karmine Corp’s experience and offensive firepower proved too much for the dark horse, Geekay. Karmine jumped out to a dominant three-win victory streak without letting Geekay see their goal once. Geekay showed some spirit in the fourth game, scoring three goals to Karmine’s one, but the championship-winning squad brought it home in the fifth game. Moroccan Dralii won the Sony MVP award for his performance, fitting for his second EWC win.

While the SF6 main event is set for next week, Week 6 featured the Street Fighter 6 Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ), a massive open-bracket tournament that offered the last 10 slots to qualify for the World Cup finals, completing the 48-player main event.

In the end, Wolves Esports Hurricane decisively wins the event with his Cammy, scoring 2-0 over ZETA Divisions’ Hikaru on A.K.I. Other participants who qualified were Area310’s Kintyo, DetonatioN FocusMe’s GO1 (who won first place in the first week of EWC for Fatal Fury), DOPENESS’ matsu56, Crazy Raccoon’s Tachikawa, Riddle’s Jr., teamless Riddles, Falcon’s DCQ, and Twisted Mind’s vWsym.

As the competition was fierce, many notable players and former EVO champions couldn’t handle the heat to qualify for the final 10. Players like Chris Wong, Ryusei, Dogura, and Xian were eliminated early.

These 10 players will join the rest of the competitors in the main event as they try to win it all and deny defending champion Xiao Hai (who placed 5th-6th in the recent EVO 2025) from going for a repeat win.

The stage is set for the final week of EWC 2025, and the tournament has saved some of its biggest titles for last. Only three competitions remain for Week 7:

Week 6 of EWC 2025 will be remembered as a turning point in the overall competition. Despite efforts from Team Vitality and Team Liquid to win the Club Championship, Team Falcons has regained its spot and is most likely to win the whole thing.

After another intense week, EWC 2025’s climax is upon us. With only one week left, the margins at the top are razor-thin, and every match in Counter-Strike 2, Street Fighter 6, and Crossfire will carry enormous weight. Week 7 will decide not only the final champions of this year’s World Cup, but also which club claims the $7 million Club Championship prize.