Team Nemesis and 1win eliminated from PGL Wallachia Season 9

The first two teams have been eliminated from the PGL Wallachia Season 9 playoffs.

Team Nemesis and 1win are heading home from Bucharest after NAVI and GamerLegion survived their respective three-game lower-bracket series on Friday, cutting the playoff field from eight teams to six.

NAVI survive their own mistakes

There was a point in Game 1 when it looked difficult to imagine NAVI losing. They had control and had done much of the difficult work required to close out the game and then came one disastrous team fight.

NAVI were wiped, the game swung, and Team Nemesis took full advantage. It was not an entirely unfamiliar problem for NAVI, who have repeatedly been caught out of position at Wallachia and allowed opponents back into games that appeared to be under control.

Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong once again made sure Nemesis punished those mistakes, continuing to show how effectively he can carry games for a roster competing in Bucharest with two stand-ins.

NAVI had considerably better tools to deal with him in Game 2. More disables and potential counters prevented Nemesis' carry from taking over in the same way, allowing NAVI to level the series and force a decider.

Game 3 remained close for a long time, and once again highlighted NAVI's strange tendency to make the easy parts of Dota look harder than the difficult ones. They won lanes, found team fights and accumulated farm, only to undermine those advantages by getting caught out of position. However, this time, they recovered.

NAVI took the deciding game to complete the 2-1 comeback and remain alive in the lower bracket.

For Nemesis, the defeat ends an impressive run considering the circumstances. The team arrived at Wallachia with Fabian "Mo13ei" Knehr and Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek standing in, but still survived all five rounds of the Swiss stage and reached the final eight.

GamerLegion get revenge on 1win

The second elimination series came with a little history as 1win were responsible for knocking GamerLegion out of TI 2026 and GamerLegion themselves have repeatedly reached major tournaments without managing to make much impact once there.

Game 1 suggested this time might be different.

GamerLegion found two kills before the game had properly settled and never stopped building from there. 1win simply bled out as the advantage grew, resulting in an emphatic opening stomp for GL.

Game 2 was considerably less straightforward. 1win finally found an opening around 32 minutes and eventually secured mega creeps with Nature's Prophet, but even that did not make closing the game simple. GamerLegion continued to hold on as the game stretched towards 69 minutes before 1win finally broke through to force a decider.

The deciding Game 3 swung firmly back towards GamerLegion.

1win opted for a questionable Necrophos draft, while GL showed they were comfortable playing with considerably more early aggression and tempo. Just as they had in Game 1, GamerLegion took control and gave 1win little opportunity to recover.

The 2-1 scoreline arguably made the series look closer than it was. GamerLegion dominated Games 1 and 3 and still found opportunities to threaten 1win in a second game played against mega creeps.

For a team that has made a habit of reaching big events without turning those appearances into playoff runs, this time GamerLegion are moving forward.

With the first two playoff eliminations complete, attention now shifts back to the upper bracket, with two semifinal series still to come on today.