Gentle Mates is cursed. The French organization, already struggling heavily in this VCT EMEA Stage 2 just as it has been since the start of the season, has just suffered its third comeback loss in three matches. To make matters worse, the club owned by influencers Lucas “Squeezie” Auchard and Corentin “Gotaga” Houssein had reached 12 points on the map in all three of those games before collapsing. Following their defeat against BBL Esports on Wednesday, 20 July, in the opening match of Week 3, the club's chances of staying in the league next year and qualifying for the playoffs are now almost non-existent.

What else but a curse?

Before this third week of competition even began, Team Heretics had already completed a stunning comeback against M8 on Corrode. Trailing 12–4 on the first map of the series, the Spanish side regrouped and strung together ten straight rounds to snatch the map away, much to the dismay of French fans. TH would go on to win the match 2–1, after narrowly losing Ascent (12–14) and then crushing their opponents on Bind to close it out (13–5).

Once again, just as the first time we told this story, it was on Lotus that tragedy struck. Before that, Gentle Mates were already in trouble after Sunset, the first map of the series, where they only managed to win three rounds. Moving on to Lotus, everything started like a dream for the French organization. Up 10–2 at halftime, then quickly 12–5 after switching to defense, M8 was flying high, thanks in large part to a stellar performance from Berkcan “ComeBack” Şentürk on Neon.

As Squeezie and Kévin “Brawks” George, the match was being cast live on Squeezie's Twitch channel, shouted at the top of their lungs, “We’re allowed to be happy!”. The nightmare began. Led by a flawless Burak “LewN” Alkan on Raze, BBL started chaining round after round. In a sequence that almost felt comical, the Turkish squad suddenly pulled off every play they attempted, no matter how audacious. They would go on to win nine rounds in a row to close out the map 14–12, sealing the 2–0 series victory.

For BBL, this win was a much-needed breather after two straight losses in the first two weeks, while Gentle Mates now find themselves with a third consecutive defeat. To salvage either this split or their spot in the VCT, M8 absolutely must win their next two matches, against GIANTX and Team Vitality.

If they are directly relegated to the Challengers circuit, Squeezie, one of the club’s founders, has already made it clear on his stream that they would not stay on VALORANT. He concluded: “We probably won’t be in VCT next year, I think it’s a 5% chance at best. […] This year it’s just not working, I don’t know why, and I’m really sad about the situation. […]”