Another Nintendo Direct, another disappointment. I didn’t even bother watching the livestream, and I’m glad I didn’t: just a bunch of remakes, DLC, and a bunch of other crap we’ve already seen before. No Super Smash Bros. 6.

We already knew this, of course. Masahiro Sakurai has essentially confirmed another Smash is coming, but given no details. He only works on one game at a time and has just finished his passion project, Kirby Air Riders. This means he only started working on the long-awaited fighter this year.

Of course, there’s a reason the Smash esports community is anxiously waiting. It needs this game.

I recently shared an interview with former Call of Duty Multiplayer Creative Director Greg Reisdorf that discussed the downfall of Call of Duty esports. What has made this esports scene fail to grab attention despite the games being so popular?

Reisdorf believes it’s due to Call of Duty’s annual releases, which dilute the game’s competitive intensity and integrity. When esports pros have to relearn the game time and time again, the buildup is gone. The inconsistency undermines any sense of prestige or elitism. It feels a bit chaotic.

“It always came up in development: why are we doing this over and over again? It’s always a topic of conversation with the players and within the devs because you are redoing it over and over again,” he expressed at the time.

So, you may be thinking: Why do you want Smash 6?

Well, Smash is built different. Unlike other games, the Smash scene has remained quite grassroots, without the massive production or franchising that other scenes have. It’s less linear. Nobody is forced to move forward, forgetting older games along the way.

At GENESIS X3, Ultimate was featured and had the largest bracket. But Melee, a game from 20ish years ago, was featured right along with it. Brawl and Smash 64 also had tournaments, albeit smaller. But that didn’t stop passionate competitors from flying out for them.

“I just f***ing love playing this game,” said top Brawl pro Christina “Chia” Korsak to Esports Insider. “It’s weird how it can still trap my attention, even more than the current titles. More than every other game. I’ll get sucked into a Zelda game for, like, three hours these days. But if you sit me in front of a Brawl bracket, I’m hooked forever.”

While the games may feel alike to casual players, there are so many differences that the games are practically nothing alike to the pros. I remember playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with Josh Brody. He’s considered one of the best N64 players out there. I beat him at Ultimate. He has spent so much time grinding Smash 64 that he’s used to that controller, those moves, those frame rates…

Every Smash game has its own distinct scene with their own personalities, rivalries, and vibes. It’s always been entertaining to see the constant drama between the Ultimate and Melee scenes. The games and their players couldn’t be more different. Melee pros are often calling out Ultimate for being less technical, while Ultimate fans often call Melee repetitive to watch.

When Smash 6 comes out, everyone will try it. Chia will undoubtedly take a break from Brawl to play it. Melee God Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma will grind it on Twitch. Many Ultimate players will switch over permanently. In fact, Smash 6 may take over Ultimate’s spot depending on how the gameplay is.

But the older games will live on. And Smash 6 will fuel them more. There will be more attention on Smash when the new game comes out, bringing in new fans and players. And that means more people checking out Melee, Brawl, and all the other games.

While Ultimate has often been given top billing, the game’s popularity has allowed other tournaments to exist. Now that Ultimate hype is dying out, Smash 6 will become the game that provides funding, attention, and fans for Smash, providing the other scenes with tourneys to compete in. The more Smash 6-focused events that pop up, the better, since they will also likely have brackets for Melee and other titles.

Let’s just hope there are no characters like Steve. We need fun battles again. We need fun rivalries again. We need consistent top players to follow again. Smash 6 is the Ultimate scene’s chance to feel hype, intense, and passionate like Melee. And that will only make the other scenes stronger.

Last week, we saw a previous king crowned yet again, a rising star challenge the throne, and some good *ss Tekken. However, what seemed like an exciting week was marred by yet another reminder that the Smash community still has its share of weird people.

While the allegations were retracted by the tournament organizers, people over at Reddit are saying that it’s getting harder and harder to defend the Smash scene because of what seems like a never-ending stream of sexual allegations thrown left and right.

And if you’re familiar with the fighting game scene, you’d see all this and say: Sounds like just another week in the FGC! Here are some of the highest and lowest moments, from epic tourneys to controversial issues.

Let’s get the uncomfortable stuff out of the way. On June 5th, the GeorgiaSmash Twitter account released a statement regarding Ryan “L4st” Krichbaum. In the statement, they retracted their allegations against L4st back in May.

They mentioned that a law firm contacted them on behalf of L4st, saying that the allegations provided to them were “largely unsubstantiated and categorically false.”

“Since the publication of our initial statement, Mr. Krichbaum admitted to an incident in 2023 that led to him being uninvited from an event. However, this recent letter states that our ‘reckless publication’ could be interpreted to falsely charge Mr. Krichbaum with the commission of a crime and (were) calculated to injure his reputation in his trade and profession within the esports and gaming industry,” the statement said.

People over on Reddit shared their opinions about the situation, and most of them are saying that L4st essentially lawyered up and strong-armed a volunteer group into retracting their statement, or risk getting sued. 

What bothers me here is the fact that L4st admitted to an incident in 2023. However, GeorgiaSmash didn’t mention what kind of incident it was, but the fact that he was uninvited to an event because of it speaks volumes regarding its severity.

Before this, L4st had already been privately banned from several tournaments in Georgia in 2024, which means that the allegations weren’t new. The details in this case are sparse and will remain so, especially since lawyers have stepped in.

Real or not, cases like these always leave a bad taste in the FGC, especially since the scene is already getting a lot of attention from outside. I wouldn’t be surprised if sponsors see the scene as problematic and not touch the Smash community with a 10-foot pole, which is very sad, considering that it was the first fighting game I competed in.

Saul Leonardo “MenaRD” Mena II, also known as “The Bull,” has finally won a major Street Fighter 6 tournament in his home country. Blink Respawn happened over the weekend, where global talents such as Noah “NoahTheProdigy” Solis, Victor “Punk” Woodley, and Michael “Riddles” Kim tested their mettle.

However, in the end, it was MenaRD who rose on top and defeated them all in front of his own people.

Blink Respawn has always eluded MenaRD since the release of Street Fighter 6. In 2023, he placed 5th; in 2024, 7th; and in 2025, only 17th. It seemed like a curse had been placed on him, winning every single huge tournament such as Evo 2025, Evo Japan 2025, and Evo Japan 2024, but he just couldn’t seem to get the title in front of his countrymen.

However, what happened on June 7th was one for the books.

The tournament featured a very hot NoahTheProdigy tearing through the bracket. He sent both Punk and MenaRD down to the loser’s bracket and waited for his challenger in the Grand Final. This meant that MenaRD and Punk had to fight each other in the loser’s bracket, which gave us some of the craziest games of the tournament.

I also think it’s worth noting that there’s only one Japanese player in the top 8 of this year’s Blink Respawn, compared to last year’s 5.

Riddles notably showed up and let everyone know that he’s still him, the Michael Kim, in his match against Lenny “Crossover” Almanzar, which featured a dash-up OD Rising Tackle to secure the game. I mean, just watch this. This guy’s built different.

In the end, though, it was MenaRD in the finals against NoahTheProdigy. Despite defeating MenaRD earlier in the bracket, some adjustments from MenaRD made it seem like NoahTheProdigy had lost the fight against him. MenaRD ended the tournament quickly with a 3-1 bracket reset and another 3-1 to close it out, finally being crowned the victor in his country. With this win, MenaRD finally qualifies for the Capcom Cup 13.

MenaRD is very hot right now. If he keeps his streak going, there’s no doubt that it’s his time to claim the Capcom Cup, a tournament he already won twice. Funnily enough, the last time he won the tournament was back in 2023, when it wasn’t the million-dollar event with atrocious prize distribution that it is right now.

Over to Tekken 8, Park “Mangja” Geon-ho finally shows us what good *ss Tekken really is. While Blink Respawn was happening in the Dominican Republic, SOOP Super Tournament 2026 was happening in Korea, on the other side of the globe. There, a 232-man Tekken 8 tournament happened, and Mangja reigned over them all.

Mangja’s records have always been solid. Second at the Tekken World Tour Finals 2025, 9th at Evo Japan 2026, and third at Combo Breaker 2026. It always seemed like he was the bridesmaid but never the bride. However, all of that changed after winning quite possibly one of the hardest Tekken 8 tournaments to date.

Just to give a little context, attendees include Evo Japan 2026 champion Kim “iKARi” Min-kyu, Tekken legend Bae “Knee” Jae-Min, and Tekken World Tour Finals 2025 champion Yoon “LowHigh” Sun-woong. That’s the level of competition he’s facing. So, who met him in the Grand Finals? None other than another player who’s suffering the same fate as him: Takaba Keisuke.

Keisuke has been competing since 2013 and has delivered great results. Second in DreamHack Atlanta 2026, second in CEO 2024, and 7th in Battle Arena Melbourne 15. Again, just like Mangja, he has yet to get his maiden Tier 1 win in Tekken 8.

The finals between Keisuke and Mangja have reached the maximum of 10 games. A 3-2 Grand Finals reset allowed Keisuke to have a real chance of taking the trophy away. However, in the final round of the final game, Mangja played much more solidly than him, which led to his loss. 

As a Keisuke fan, this is heartbreaking, as a single combo starter could’ve been him raising the trophy. However, I also can’t get mad at Mangja because this is his maiden Tier 1 win in Tekken 8 after always getting second.

Ultimately, I think the viewers are the real champions in this tournament. All throughout the event, amazing Tekken was shown. Glimpses of punishes, neutral, and movement were seen across matches, which pleases my Tekken heart.

Finally, some good *ss Tekken.

Now back to Smash! But Super Smash Bros. Melee, you know, the unproblematic one. While all of these tournaments are happening, Battle of BC 8 was also in progress. Kurtis “moky” Pratt has been a top player in Melee for quite some time now, and of course, if you’ve reached that level of play, you’re going to run into the only remaining active God of Melee: Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma.

If you’ve been in the scene long enough, you know how Hungrybox plays. Slow and methodical. Some people say lame, but hey, that’s their opinion. Anyway, a match between Moky and Hungrybox happened over at Battle of BC 8, where Hungrybox won 3-1. So, like any other competitor, Hungrybox offered a handshake after the set, but Moky denied it, insisting for a fistbump instead.

This shouldn’t be a huge problem; those are the common ways of showing sportsmanship before and after the set, after all. However, Moki posted something on Twitter shortly after.

In the tweet, he mentioned that he “lost in the lamest ways possible” and “the audacity to go for the handshake is insane there though.” He finished the tweet by saying that he has no respect for people playing “like that.”

Then, he doubled down:

I know how he feels. It’s always frustrating to get “lamed out” and lose to zoners or very defensive players. The FGC also prides itself on being raw and unfiltered at times, so showing your frustration in times like that shouldn’t be a big deal. Players are people too, and there will be times when things don’t go their way.

Let’s just be thankful that Hungrybox didn’t win the tournament, or his pop-off might’ve spelled the end of the universe.

The data pulled is from 1-7 June 2026. Kalshi’s esports markets generated a total of $36.18 million in total contract volume, across 408 matches. Six titles featured on the Kalshi platform: Counter-Strike: 2, League of Legends, Valorant, Call of Duty and Overwatch.

CS2 led comfortably with $23.7 million and 65.6% of all esports volume across 236 matches. Valve’s legendary FPS title is currently in the swing of the IEM Cologne Major, and thus it’s hardly surprising that it sits top of the charts.

I’d expect that to be an even bigger percentage come the finals on 21 June. Counter-Strike has always been open to gambling sponsors and through skin betting has more of an embedded gambling culture than others. So there’s little surprise it leads the way in interest.

League of Legends came in second with $8.7 million across 116 matches, drawing volume from the LCK (Korea), LPL (China), LEC (Europe), and regional circuits. Valorant reached $2.1 million from 13 matches, and Dota 2 generated $1.5 million from 11. Call of Duty and Overwatch were smaller but steady presences on the platform.

BIG vs. NRG in CS2 was the most-traded individual match of the week at $1.44 million in combined volume. GamerLegion vs. B8 Esports ($1.05M) and M80 vs. B8 Esports ($1.05M) rounded out the top three, both also in CS2. The first League of Legends market to appear in the top 10 was Karmine Corp vs. G2 Esports at $1.02M.

Kalshi is a prediction market platform where users trade contracts on the outcome of real-world events, including esports matches. Instead of traditional betting odds, Kalshi works like a market: you buy a “Yes” contract if you think a team will win, or a “No” contract if you think they won’t. Prices move based on supply and demand, and contracts settle at $1 if correct, $0 if not.

Therefore, the volume traded metric does not show us much beyond the “interest” in a market. It shows us how much collective money flowed into a certain match. For example, a match with $1 million in volume simply means that $1 million of contracts changed hands on that outcome. It is not, therefore, a measure of how much anyone won or lost. A person could buy a position at $0.01 and thus, they have not actually wagered $1.

High volume on a match means a lot of traders were interested in that outcome, it could reflect a high-profile fixture, two evenly matched teams, or simply that the match fell at a popular time. It does not tell us who the market thought would win, nor does it tell us how much individual traders made or lost.

Volume is the best measure we have from this data for gauging which matches captured the most attention on Kalshi each week.

However, there could also be a myriad of other factors that explain the volume on esports. Esports is known for its data latency, and there have been public examples of people coding bots to take advantage of data lag to take out positions that the typical fan, and thus market, has not reacted to. Future pieces will look to explore this phenomenon.

Pride Month is a month-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, and many games find ways to take part. Riot is under fire once more after the Give Back V26 bundle in VALORANT leaked during Pride Month, pushing a straight couple rather than its queer agents at this questionable time.

Where is Nanobomb?

Esports titles are improving in LGBTQ+ representation, with many new characters identifying as queer, from gay to bi to non-binary. Overwatch and Apex Legends have a very impressive roster when it comes to representation, with Apex especially having great queer storylines and relationships.

I mean, Bloodhound and Fuse, hello!?! And these relationships don’t just exist. There are comics, short films, voice lines, and plenty of hinting and character development leading up to it. The relationships feel earned and complete, not just thrown in there to pander to the gaming community.

VALORANT has trailed behind with this kind of representation. Unlike Overwatch and Apex Legends, VALORANT will often not outright confirm any of its agents’ orientations or identities.

One confirmed couple is Killjoy and Raze. When Killjoy was added to the game, voice lines created a lot of speculation. Riot shared a romantic drawing of the two agents together in December 2022. This has made Killjoy and Raze the most-discussed relationship in VALORANT.

Despite all the love for Killjoy and Raze, affectionately called Nanobomb by fans, Riot hasn’t done much with the couple. You’d think Pride Month would be the perfect time to put in a bit of effort into their lore, but that hasn’t been the case either.

In the Give Back V26 bundle, we got in-game rewards featuring Viper and Chamber. This cis couple rubbed people the wrong way even when the relationship was first revealed, since Viper appeared to hate him in the game. Featuring them during Pride Month was an even bigger source of frustration.

Reactions to the leak include fun replies like: “These ugly cards are perfectly suited for a dogs*** ship that Riot couldn’t have put less effort into actually making sense if they tried. Well done.”

And: “Viper x Chamber might actually be THE worst ship of all time.”

Then: “Explain why you’re releasing cards for a straight ship no one asked for while completely ignoring the one canon lesbian couple you have during Pride Month. F**k you. Genuinely.”

Agreed.

Someone at Riot admitted back in 2022 that some regional markets censor LGBTQ+ content. And this is something Riot cares about. Clearly.

“The straightwashing of queer characters from games in countries with a poor record of LGBT+ rights is sad and proves that there is nothing more important than making the most money,” Twitch streamer Ben Austwick said at the time.

The continued laziness surrounding VALORANT’s one actual confirmed queer couple, while continuing to hype up an extremely toxic and forced straight relationship, is not something to be ignored.

During Pride Month, it almost feels intentional.

Even though the Mid-Season Invitational is less than three weeks away, teams across the world are busy with their spring splits. Some leagues have crowned their champions while others are still finalizing their seeds, with four teams still to be confirmed.

This past week, Top Esports has booked its place, leaving BiliBili Gaming, Anyone’s Legend, and Team WE fighting for the second spot. G2 Esports came out on top again, beating Karmine Corp in the LEC Versus final rematch. FURIA has proven that Brazil can fight with its own talent.

In North America, LYON dominated Cloud9, with big question marks regarding its true potential. Dplus Kia’s elimination raises many questions, both inside and outside the Rift.

Here are some of the most interesting storylines leading up to MSI

At the start of the split, no one thought Team WE would end up fighting for a spot at MSI, yet the team made the unthinkable reality. Unfortunately, that hope is getting dimmer now after the loss against Top Esports, who have once again locked an international appearance.

TES’ 3-0 win not only ended WE’s momentum but also exposed WE’s weaknesses. The latter had shown their ability to drag their opponents into their comfort zone, which relied on chaotic skirmishes.

Top Esports understood that and did the exact opposite, using their strong fundamentals to fight on their own terms, with jungler Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang dictating the tempo of the game.

With the loss, the scenarios for Team WE are getting complicated. BiliBili Gaming has seemingly recovered from the upset and is looking dominant, with all their players in great form, especially support Luo “ON” Wen-Jun.

“There’s not a player in the world that plays like ON right now, truly fearless in the way he approaches every play – and BLG are better for it,” said color caster Alex “Nymaera” Hapgood. A potential rematch is expected to be in BLG’s favor, unless Monki pulls off another miracle.

G2 Esports winning Europe is almost routine at this point. The 3-2 win over Karmine Corp gave the organization its 19th LEC title and will send G2 directly to MSI’s Bracket Stage. KC, after coming close to the title, will start from Play-Ins.

While it wasn’t a clean stomp, G2’s wins were spearheaded by a monstrous Rudy “SkewMond” Semaan, who went deathless in the team’s three wins. The jungler, who rightfully earned the MVP award, even pulled out a Nasus jungle, “bonking” his enemies.

His performances and importance within the team bring up the question that is starting to follow him: Is SkewMond the best European player to emerge since Caps?

Even though the claim is still a bit too early, he’s on course to be that guy. The level of dominance ever since his debut last year, paired with G2’s recent strong international record, is elevating him to that status. He will need a bit more time to build his résumé, but the trend suggests that everything is lining up well for the French player.

For EU fans, G2 and KC were the best teams to send based on what they’ve shown in Spring. The French squad will be one to watch, especially given that they will have to face the LCK #2 seed to enter the top eight. While it could be a short run, it will definitely be a valuable one, especially considering KC is expected to be among the EU representatives for Worlds 2026.

Dplus Kia is not going to MSI. Their run ended after the loss against KT Rolster in the worst way possible. Despite leading in both Game 4 and Game 5, the team dropped both games in heated teamfights. 

Aside from the gameplay, however, a lot of DK’s attention has been outside of the game. At the end of the series, head coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho was once again caught in the eyestorm after making inappropriate comments during the post-match interview, prompting the organization to enforce higher standards for media communication.

This is just the latest controversy around DK’s head coach, following earlier criticism of his harsh coaching style. While the potential is there, as clearly shown by the team throughout the first part of the LCK season, DK needs to create a healthier environment, far away from the drama.

While missing MSI is understandable given the presence of powerhouses like T1, Hanwha Life Esports, and Gen.G, Dplus Kia will need to get into the top four if they want a shot at Worlds.

Cloud9’s 0-3 loss to LYON in the LCS Spring Playoffs is giving fans deja vu from last year, when the team failed to qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational. It’s not just about the loss: the team looked lost compared to LYON, unable to match its teamfights. 

A Reddit user explained C9’s form perfectly: “They used to be the underdogs, the cluch team that could punch above their weight… Now they’re the regular season leaders who anti-clutch and find new and innovative ways to choke every time it matters.” 

C9 has shown repeatedly to have consistency throughout the regular season but fails to level up its gameplay when it matters the most. The sweep will inevitably put a lot of pressure on C9, who will now face Team Liquid for the second MSI spot. 

Mid laner Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung has stepped up lately, taking up more of a carry role within the team, similar to how it was when he played for 100Thieves last year. The mid-jungle will likely be the key to the match.

FURIA earned back-to-back appearances at MSI following a strong showing throughout the second split. 

The victory, however, seems to have also changed the perspective on CBLOL teams’ roster building. The fact that FURIA won with a full Brazilian team proved that Brazil can rely on its own talents to win domestically and earn the international qualification.

This seems to be leading many organizations to follow a similar path, with many teams looking to change their import players. 

LOUD is reportedly looking to change both jungler Ko “YoungJae” Yeong-jae and ADC Song “Bull” Seon-gyu with Brazilian players Enzo “Sinatra” Candido Ferreira and Yudi Leonardo “NinjaKiwi” Miyashiro. V

ivo Keyd Stars will not only have a new head coach in Ludvig Erik Hugo “Smiley” Granquist but also see the departure of Korean top laner Choi “Wizer” Eui-seok and support Ling “Kaiwing” Kai Wing, who was supposed to elevate VKS to new heights. 

Brazil is moving towards more domestic talents again: “Invest in LATAM,” said a user on Reddit. “Stop looking at Korea when there’s proof local talent can go toe to toe with NA at least.”

While imports can quickly raise a team’s ceiling through strong fundamentals, Brazil’s greatest runs were built on the synergy of local talent, with unexpected playstyles and strategies. 

Last year, FURIA came close to upsetting G2 Esports in the play-in stage. With them now directly to the bracket stage, the Brazilian team will have the golden opportunity to showcase CBLOL’s potential to the world.

From multi-million-dollar deals and record-high transfers for League superstars just six years ago, to minimum-wage contracts and players “buying” their own transfer fees out, the Call of Duty League’s economic landscape has crashed and burned.

Call of Duty esports has always had a complicated relationship with Benjamin Franklin. The $100 bills flow like there’s no tomorrow when it comes to the annual releases, making the core game the fourth-highest-selling franchise of all time, but in an esports sense, it’s a different game.

While many competitor titles are built with a competitive mindset, such as VALORANT and Counter-Strike, the large majority of Call of Duty’s community are far from esports enthusiasts. It’s the one war that the franchise has never won, and its $69 billion owners have become satisfied with leaving the professional scene to an afterthought.

Yet, the Call of Duty esports scene has been the leading hub of console gaming for over 15 years, growing from the double-desked pool play pits to sold-out 30,000-seat arenas. With that, wages, buyouts, and prize pools have fluctuated more than the Modern Warfare-Black Ops tug of war.

Recent ebbs and flows on the Call of Duty League stock exchange have hit an all-time low, though, with a chasm of quality opening up, polarising tactics, and putting the player pipeline off making the jump to the professional league.

For the last three seasons, especially, almost every team in the league has suffered from a lack of funding, scaling back the caliber of players they can attract due to budget wages and limited support. It’s the reason so many teams have sold their spots and why others have merged to join forces with bigger sharks in the industry, like Miami Heretics, G2 Minnesota, and Toronto KOI.

Arguably, the biggest change in philosophies is Cloud9 New York. Typically, the old Subliners’ ownership operated with a sensible freedom in their operations. Like everyone, they went big on star talent with a team blessed by Dylan “Attach” Price and Thomas “ZooMaa” Paparatto from the get go, and invested smartly over the years in spearheading legends like James “Clayster” Eubanks and rising phenoms like Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez; the latter of whom was offered a reported $1.5 million three-year deal to stay with the org, back in 2022. 

This seems like a distant memory, though, as just two years after winning their World Championship, Subliners sold their spot to Cloud9. 

Cloud9 decided to operate in a completely different manner. At the start of the 2025/26 season, Cloud9 announced that it’s changing its structure and picking up a full Tier 2 team, hoping to grow throughout the year and become a long-term investment. 

On shoestring budgets, helped by the removal of the CDL’s minimum requirement of a $55,000 annual salary in favor of state-mandated wage requirements ($33,300 in New York), Cloud9 reportedly told players that they will be heavily compensated on winnings and bundle sales, rather than a base wage – the waitresses of Call of Duty esports.

CEO Jack Etienne told Breaking Point: “Our thinking is focused on putting players in a better position while they are with us regarding MTX sales and prize earnings. Players and coaches will earn 100%.

“I don’t want to lose money for my investors, but I also want my players to earn. The key behind this will be to incentivize players to drive the most skin sales.”

It’s a system that they no doubt deploy in VALORANT to some extent, having signed the skin salesman himself in Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro.

Unfortunately for the roster, they’ve failed to earn a penny in winnings, with an insurmountable gulf in class between them and the next caliber of teams.

This approach was capped off last week, when the team decided to pick up a new Tier 2 rookie, Jason “Wevy” Medina, who was contracted to Telluride Bush. The Barstool tangent revealed that Cloud9 refused to pay $10,000 for Wevy’s buyout but would agree to a $2,000 fee. However, this was soon found to have been money pulled from Wevy’s inevitable Esports World Cup earnings, as he would be the only one on his team not to keep the full amount.

From offering $1.5 to the CDL’s best player to refusing to pay $2,000 on a Challengers up-and-comer, Cloud9 is the biggest indictment of how the CDL economics have fallen beyond repair.

But it’s not just Cloud9.

Toronto KOI is one of the most prestigious orgs in the CDL, having won multiple events throughout its tenure, similarly to Subliners/Cloud9, and it too has fallen into the checkbook shenanigans.

Earlier this week, Toronto Ultra – despite pushing for an outside chance at a World Championship upset – sold their best player, Joseph “JoeDeceives” Romero, to Paris Gentle Mates for a reported $125,000.

The buyout continued the precedent that the OverActive Media and KOI joint ownership group simply cannot afford to keep their top talent when the biggest fish come calling.

It wouldn’t be the first time, as Toronto let Thomas “Scrap” Ernst leave for LA Thieves, who now serves as one of the top three assault rifle players in the League. His skill was evident since being on Toronto, but money talked and the organization listened.

It’s a clear consequence, even a motivation not to do well, as the org recoups money in transfers rather than take the gamble on better results.

Following the departure of JoeDeceives, OverActive Media CEO Adam Adamou said: “The offer was one neither the org nor Joe was going to turn down. It was a good deal for the club and the right move for him, and those two don’t always line up. 

“Letting him go was on me, and I’d make the same call again. He earned a shot at the bag with how he played and how he carried himself. When a guy gives a team everything Joe gave us, you don’t stand in the way. You do right by him. So that’s exactly what we did.

“This was a hard call, but it’s the one that sets us up to keep delivering for you. We’ll do what we’ve always tried to do best: find talent and grow it. But that’s a conversation for another day.”

From Adamou himself, the need for futureproofing the team outweighed the financial risk to push for a World Championship.

Of course, revenue is hard to come by, and although Cloud9 and Toronto KOI are out there baiting their lives for the rest to benefit from, it shouldn’t be an indictment on them for choosing how to survive, but rather the League as its own entity.

It wasn’t always like this.

The birth of the franchised CDL system during the pandemic boom saw investors pour endless financial support into teams entering the elite league of arguably the most popular game of its time. From mainstream sports titans like the Kroenke Entertainment Group (Los Angeles Rams) and Sterling VC (New York Mets) to established esports giants partnering with huge sponsors, money wasn’t short in the early League days.

Now, that same system is hindering the esport. The locked licenses in the 12-team CDL are strangling the life out of the organizations, for very little gain back, and even dissuading more investing orgs from joining.

Earlier this year, SpaceStation Gaming CEO Shawn “Unit” Pellerin revealed that he tried to enter the scene, but the financial burden of the license was so heavy that it was almost impossible to justify.

“What we found after deep diving into the economics is that the license, which would be ‘transferred’ at a cost, was more of a liability than an asset,” he said. “The real value is the brands attached to the license, making it hard to justify a heavy cost to obtain it. 

“The cost to operate vs revenue potential would also make it impossible to be competitive in the current ecosystem.

“The other issue entering as a new organization was the lack of available talent to build around. Challengers does its job cycling new talent to the CDL teams but lacks purpose for a Challengers teams to improve with limited opportunities to compete against the best.”

What’s clear is that the Call of Duty League needs to revise its structure. A less-gatekept partnership system, similar to Rocket League’s, could work, allowing the most devoted orgs to reap the rewards of skins while opening the bracket to more competition and an entry point for new teams.

However, it’s about time that the League and its teams realize that the 2019 goldmine is no longer there. Sponsors are harder to come by, content is harder to profit from now that Warzone has plummeted, and direct capital investment carries a huge risk.

Of course, you can win, as Gentle Mates has proven, but there can only be a handful of these success stories, and there needs to be a lower running cost and greater emphasis on visibility.

The Call of Duty League never lacks for action, but there’s a real disconnect that is hurting everyone’s pockets.

Despite a lack of VCT action, the VALORANT esports scene saw massive shake-ups and heated discussions last week.

From Fnatic’s coaching changes to the most-anticipated teams at Masters London, here’s a rundown of everything you might have missed!

Fnatic, one of the historically most successful VALORANT organizations, made significant changes to its coaching staff last week. After the controversial kicking of former Head Coach Milan “Milan” de Meij two weeks ago, Fnatic announced Andrey “Engh” Sholokhov as Milan’s replacement. 

Engh previously spent nearly three years at Karmine Corp before stepping down amidst disappointing year-on-year results. He joins his new organization at a time of turbulence. Fnatic, which had finished second place at Masters Toronto and Champions Paris last year, recently failed to qualify for its second global VCT event of 2026.

These unusual regional performances have also led to increased pressure – even harassment – from Fnatic “fans.” The hate escalated following the team’s elimination from the Esports World Cup (EWC) EMEA Qualifier, prompting Fnatic representatives and community members to speak up.

“That result is super sad, but I legit have never seen such disgusting comments under some match coverage in my life. PLEASE be normal, man,” stressed Fnatic’s Senior Social Media Manager, David “Davard” E.

Not only is online toxicity never merited, but it’s also crucial to remember that Fnatic had been competing with substitute player Clément “CyvOph” Millard since the Stage 1 Playoffs. With Sylvain “Veqaj” Pattyn returning to the active roster, the team can leverage the eight weeks leading up to Stage 2 to get back on track.

As for Engh’s new role on the team, the coach shared in the announcement video that he already has some ideas for what Fnatic could improve on. He further highlighted that he aims to support the roster’s in-game leader Jake “Boaster” Howlett without disrupting the system the IGL has created for Fnatic.

DACH’s VALORANT community was hit with sad news last week. PROJECT V announced the end of its four-year tenure as a tournament organizer in the region’s VALORANT esports scene. 

“After thorough discussions and much deliberation, we have made the difficult decision not to continue any league under PROJECT V from 2027 onwards,” explained the organization in its official statement.

“The upcoming changes surrounding the future ecosystem undoubtedly open up new opportunities for new ideas and concepts within the scene. Nevertheless, we have come to the conclusion that we no longer see our place in this new chapter.”

PROJECT V was responsible for the DACH sub-region within VALORANT’s EMEA Challengers ecosystem. Each stage offered its top teams qualification for the respective Challengers EMEA tournament. In addition, the organization hosted co-ed Tier 3 events and a DACH-focused tournament series for women and marginalized genders, called Equal Esports Queens.

Throughout its time as a tournament organizer, PROJECT V grew into a fundamental part of VALORANT’s esports scene in EMEA, providing career opportunities for both players and up-and-coming broadcast talent. Following the announcement, many community members came forward, sharing fond memories and expressing their gratitude towards PROJECT V’s work. 

“Without PROJECT V there would be no Akamask in international broadcast. The Dach scene became my home for the past 3 years, and I am grateful for everything,” commented VALORANT on-air talent Patrick “Akamask” Decker.

German observer and producer Timon “Timon” Praast posted: “This concludes the chapter that began my journey into esports. I want to thank everyone I’ve met along the way in PROJECT V. For the time we shared and for helping me grow as a person. Thank you for everything, PROJECT V.”

With the sunsetting of PROJECT V’s tournament operations, all previously announced events have also been canceled. However, THE POKAL 2026 will still be held as a “joint final chapter” to this era of DACH VALORANT esports.

Another major shake-up in VALORANT esports EMEA was introduced by Riot Games last week. And it did not achieve the community resonance Riot would have hoped for.

Starting with VCT EMEA Stage 2, Berlin’s Riot Games Arena will switch to a dual-stage broadcast setup for its VCT and LEC products. Previously, both circuits shared the same stage, which meant there were no weekend matches for the VCT. 

The new system allows Riot to broadcast both leagues simultaneously. VCT EMEA will receive weekend matches, but these come at a steep price. Stage 2 will run on the broadcast-only “Studio Stage” until the Playoffs. That means no live audience except for one Playoffs week and the Finals in Barcelona.

“If you want to grow the esport, you gotta invest in it, don’t you? I don’t understand how you can simultaneously say that live audiences are a big part of the experience while ACTIVELY REMOVING US???!,” replied VALORANT caster YuLi under Riot’s announcement.

Understandably so, the news left many community members and professionals concerned about the sustainability of the VALORANT esports ecosystem outside regions like Pacific and China. In particular, Western VCT viewership has been declining, and live crowds contribute significantly to the atmosphere and appeal of LAN tournaments.

VCT veteran Patryk “starxo” Kopczyński also pointed out how prioritizing broadcast-only matches might impact player motivations: “Making internationals in VALORANT is already insanely hard challenge with so little spots per region compared to other games. 

“The reason why many of us young kids chase the dream of being a pro player is because of being able to feel the connection with fans from around the world, feeling the adrenaline of playing on big stages around thousands of people watching. In VALORANT, it’s been very limited since the beginning, and it doesn’t seem like things are getting any better anytime soon.”

In my opinion, missing out on a live crowd at most games will surely make the viewing experience during Stage 2 feel hollow, even for the most dedicated fans. With massive ecosystem changes on the horizon next year, we can only hope that Riot continues to actively listen to and incorporate community feedback before that community shrinks even further.

The latest regional VCT match ahead of Masters London was the VCT Americas Stage 1 Grand Final between Leviatán and G2 Esports. Despite hailing from the Lower Playoffs Bracket and suffering a double map-ban disadvantage, G2 Esports defeated its Americas rival 3-2 and is now back at the very top of its region. 

With the team securing its fourth VCT Americas trophy, it’s time to ask the same old question: Can G2 Esports replicate its regional dominance and finally score its first international title?  After all, G2 Esports failed to reach these ever-elusive global VCT heights all across 2025 – the same year where the organization achieved its back-to-back-to-back VCT Americas trophy lift. 

The team never significantly underperformed at VCT global events, but consistently crumbled just before the finish line. This problem was meant to be fixed with the permanent signing of Andrej “babybay” Francisty ahead of the ongoing season. He took on the role of the roster’s hypeman and emotional anchor. 

Yet after another Playoffs elimination at Masters Santiago, the first international VCT event of the year, doubters are once again questioning whether G2 Esports has any chance of redeeming itself on a global VCT stage.

Aside from the mental pressure this roster might be under, I believe G2 Esports is not at its best right now. It can outperform its regional competitors, sure. However, the recent Grand Final against Leviatán also revealed concerning weaknesses in the team’s map pool, particularly on Breeze.

On top of that, some of the roster’s star players, including Nathan “leaf” Orf, have not shown their best possible individual performances during Stage 1. Although Phoenix has been dominating across all VCT regions, leaf just hasn’t been able to reach the same stats as other top Phoenix players. 

My prediction is that G2 Esports will likely make another top-four finish at Masters London.

So, if G2 Esports isn’t the top contender for the Masters London trophy, then which team is? The answer is obviously Paper Rex. After a rollercoaster of a season kickoff, this team just completed a three-match Lower Bracket win streak to wipe FULL SENSE 3-0 in the VCT Pacific Stage 1 Grand Final. 

In the same process, Paper Rex also 3-0ed Global Esports, the organization that had sent Paper Rex to the Lower Bracket in the Upper Bracket Semifinals.

If you’re getting a deja-vu, well, that’s because Paper Rex pulled off a similar Lower Bracket Run during last year’s Stage 1 competition. And that was right before the Southeast Asian organization lifted its first-ever international trophy at Masters Toronto. 

Now, you might say I’m just biased, which is true. However, even from a more rational point of view, the stars are clearly aligned for Paper Rex. The team has a great map pool, its players are in top form, and it excels with the currently highest-win-rate agent: Phoenix. Moreover, Paper Rex will likely benefit from the upcoming Neon nerfs, as its players never warmed up to the agent during her prime. 

As a result, Paper Rex has been ranked as the event favorite by numerous notable VALORANT personalities, including Thinking Man’s VALORANT and The Wingmen podcast.

To wrap it up with the words of VALORANT broadcast talent Josh “Sideshow” Wilkinson from the latest Plat Chat episode: “We literally have to put Paper Rex almost in a rank of their own, don’t we? If we all said that they were the favorite, and we had different answers for number two, don’t we have to put them in S on their own almost? There’s like a tier gap between Paper Rex and the second.”

Co-streaming has become a huge part of the esports ecosystem, for better or worse. The industry has mixed feelings about co-streaming’s place in esports, so we figured we’d share our own opinions.

Aaron Alford is a professional debater, and I’m just here to rant and rave about a topic. But we are both just having some fun looking at an interesting and complex topic in our industry. However, see if either of us convinced you of anything.

I was recently covering the RLCS 2026 Paris Major because Rocket League fans were wondering why this major had such a massive viewership decline compared to the Boston Major. I know people love to say that things are “dying” constantly around here, but it’s actually the opposite. Rocket League was never super popular, and Boston’s numbers did not reflect the actual fanbase. 

That’s because Boston had massively inflated viewership since extremely popular variety streamer Nicholas “Jynxzi” Stewart had been co-streaming. With nearly 16 million followers between his Twitch and YouTube, Jynxzi had plenty of built-in, loyal viewers that would have watched him whether it was the RLCS Boston Major or just him farting and playing Among Us. 

When Jynxzi didn’t co-stream the Paris Major, the fans didn’t stick around to keep watching the RLCS. They remained on Jynxzi’s Twitch watching him play whatever game was next on his schedule. Rocket League didn’t gain a massive number of fans and the viewership went back to normal. 

I’m here to argue that co-streamers are an awesome addition to the esports ecosystem in many ways, but they don’t actually prove that esports tournaments have a large number of viewers. 

Another example of that is League of Legends esports. League of Legends is viewed far more than Rocket League, but its numbers are still inflated by co-streamers. In 2025, co-streamers surpassed official broadcasts for tournament hours watched. The esports community even acknowledged that Marc “Caedrel” Lamont was practically required to co-stream LoL Esports or the viewership would decline drastically. 

I’m not here to say that viewership doesn’t increase when popular co-streamers are involved. That’s is obvious. I’m here to say, once more, that these viewership stats don’t actually mean that esports is gaining popularity or fans. These people are watching because they would watch anything the streamer does. Therefore, I don’t count these viewership numbers towards the esports event itself. They count in the sense that they are a number, but it doesn’t count as genuine interest in esports. 

And why does this matter? It doesn’t. I just like debating with Aaron (even though it’s intimidating). But I would like to point out that many esports scenes, like the FGC, are also frustrated by publishers’ and tournament organizers’ desperation to inflate esports’ popularity rather than focus on actual fans. 

Shoving streamers and content creators into events will get random people to tune in and make the tournament get more ad revenue or fake popularity, sure. But it takes away from the realness of these events. It shouldn’t be about the streamers and their fans. It should be about the top pro players and their talent. It should be about the community, the ones that actually care about the game and the players. 

Co-streaming isn’t terrible. A few people may stick around and become fans of the esport title on their own after seeing the content creator stream it. And that’s the point. However, I don’t think this happens as often as people think. Based on numbers. 

But again, don’t listen to me. I’m just here to see if I can hold my own in this debate. 

Co-streaming, a broadcast format that allows certain streamers to watch-party an event, has become a mainstay of the esports broadcast scene, as Olivia pointed out. 

Not only have costreams helped build community and awareness around different esports, but they are also contributing significant numbers of viewers to events — this I do not question. In some cases, co-streamers have been known to exceed even the official broadcast in viewers, as was the case at the peak of Tarik’s viewership for VALORANT esports events.

But does that mean, saying that the esport isn’t popular, because the views are coming through watch parties instead?

I disagree with those who would question the validity of these views. While it is true that some number of viewers on a co-stream would not have otherwise tuned into the event, the popularity of costreams does not take away from the success of an esport — it shows that the esport is a spectacle that can hold the attention of casual and hardcore fans alike when its brought to their attention.

But more importantly, it demonstrates that success in esports isn’t just about how many people can name all the players on stage, it’s about the ability to foster community. 

Unlike traditional franchise sports, esports don’t have the benefit of tens millions of dollars in corporate sponsorship on every event, with their athletes showing up on cereal boxes (unless it’s Faker), and where their tournaments are celebrated across broadcast television and broader culture as the next big thing (perhaps with the exception of something like League of Legends Worlds).

They rely on word of mouth and organic growth, and one of the methods of organic growth is co-streaming.

Competitive scenes aren’t just about sick nasty gameplay. They are about connecting with like-minded people and experiencing the drama of sports together. They are, in a very real sense, about connection. Even in the case of Jynxi watching RLCS, suggesting they weren’t a valid part of the viewership is like suggesting that Swifties who tuned in to watch the Chiefs don’t demonstrate the NFL’s success.

Speaking of the NFL, even in that league, co-streamers are becoming an extension of sports culture. Much like how the NFL has its ManningCast, where Eli and Peyton Manning watch American football games, so too does esports costreaming culture add to the ecosystem of esports — even when only a temporary boost. The mistake is believing that costreaming audiences are somehow separate from the esport and its culture.

Even if Jynxi doesn’t show up to every RLCS event, the fact that he tuned in at all shows the esport is reaching broader audiences.

I think the mistake here is believing there is such a thing as absolute popularity, a quantity that can be measured and derived absent cultural context. There is a reason people go to Super Bowl parties in the United States, even if they don’t watch the regular season. There is a reason that everyone gets together to watch the World Cup, even if they don’t watch soccer regularly. It’s because sports are more fun together, and sports peak at certain moments due to a variety of factors — all of them valid.

Esports is still pretty niche. It doesn’t have the same physically located locus of culture that sports has in the form of sports bars. It simply hasn’t grown big enough in many parts of the world to support esports bars (though they exist in some places). For many fans, if you want the experience of watching esports with a community, with fellow fans of the sport or the same team, watch parties are the best way to do that.

To suggest that these viewers aren’t valid, even if they are just there because their favorite streamer is costreaming, is to ignore almost entirely the social aspect of watching sports.

Sports is social, esports is too, and every viewer is valid no matter who.

The thing is, esports isn’t a traditional sport. There are no pay-per-view games (usually), merch barely sells, there aren’t men breaking televisions when Team Liquid loses at a Counter-Strike major. Esports are nowhere near as big, which could explain why so many companies and publications focus on views. It’s like they are trying to prove that fans exist, that esports is growing. 

Because it needs to. 

Watch parties are super fun for esports fans who don’t feel so isolated in their fandom anymore. Maybe they even force their friends to go and see what it’s like. Maybe. And co-streaming is neat, temporarily boosting viewership and engagement as non-esports fans check out what’s going on because they want to see what their favorite streamer is yapping about. 

But again, these kinds of things shouldn’t really count as factual viewership numbers, especially if we want to pretend that the viewership increased. All viewers are valid as people. I hope they had a fun time checking it out. However, these viewership stats still don’t count for me if we are talking about strict data and attempting to prove esports is growing. Or getting watched at all. 

Claiming that the RLCS Boston Major was massive and counts as some Rocket League record is just silly. People see that and run with it, claiming that the game is growing and has all this potential. The reality? Those Jynxzi fans did not stick around. All it did was make the Paris Major look sorta like a failure when in reality the Boston Major was just a farce. Yes, those views did happen. But if we want to really look at how an esport is doing, it’s all skewed now. 

Remember when Ludwig said he wanted to have the “biggest” Rivals of Aether II tournament ever so he bought people’s tickets to get them to register? Same idea. It’s now the biggest one. Congrats. But it’s not real if we want to go by actual interest. Many of those people will drop out and do something else at Evo, which will actually negatively impact that bracket. You can argue that it’s “all in good fun” or that it’s “supporting community” or “getting people out there.” 

And I’d agree. But the interest is still fake. Those numbers are exaggerated. Those people are not clamoring to compete in Rivals of Aether. They are just supporting Ludwig, a streamer they like, and getting free tickets to an event. Some people even said on Reddit that they weren’t going to Evo at all. They were selected after signing up for the free three-day pass, but couldn’t actually get to Las Vegas. It’s all just a publicity stunt at the end of the day.

That “word-of-mouth” tactic inflated numbers for the weekend, but didn’t create an impactful number of fans that will stick around for the next one. 

Going by patterns, the next tournament will have waaay less registration. And very little viewership. And those are the numbers I’m going by. I’m not saying that Evo won’t be fun or that these guys with free tickets won’t fiddle around with the game. I’m saying that the true fighting game players are still quite low compared to the exaggerated hype. Do with that information what you will. 

But at the end of the day, co-streamer numbers don’t count when you’re trying to calculate esports’ actual growth and success. They only create temporary fun moments. 

You have asserted that co-streaming shouldn’t be considered real views that show a growing interest in an esport. Unfortunately, you have failed to provide a standard by which we can delineate “real” from “fake” co-streamers. If we have to choose between throwing out all the viewership data from co-streams, or keeping it all, we should err on the side of keeping it all.

In your response, you started by arguing that sports and esports differ in size, and that’s why focus on views matters more in esports than in sports. This is not true. Ratings for sports is a big discussion in traditional sports – views matter for both. 

Whether sports and esports are the same size is irrelevant to the question of whether or not we should count costreamer views as part of the valid viewership of an event. The goal of viewership data is to accurately represent the number of people who watched an event, period. If millions of viewers tuned in via costreamering instead of the official stream, regardless of who those costreamers are or their relationship to the esport, they should be counted to maintain the most accurate view count possible.

Sure, interpretation of that data from an intelligent person will take into account factors like Jynxi co-streaming the event, where the event was held, the time zone it was held in, the popularity of the teams that did well at the event, and more. Strong data analysis will easily control for outliers. But your suggestion isn’t that we should adjust our understanding of growth based on costreaming, your argument is that we should ignore costreaming data, because it is irrelevant to the question of whether an esports is growing or not.

This is analytically flawed.

Nothing you have said here in any way demonstrates that co-streaming views aren’t actual valid views. Given that many people who are watching co-streams would have watched the official stream if there was not a co-streamer watch partying the event, there is no way to fairly determine which viewers were just casuals passing through and which ones would have watched another streamer or the official stream, so throwing out all costreamer data doesn’t actually improve your understanding of the growth of the esport.

The thrust of your objection is that Jynxi watching a Rocket League event is an outlier, so it doesn’t speak to the growth of the esport generally. But the fact is, you have presented no criterion to decide which views should be thrown out and which ones should be kept. Viewership did go up because Jynxi watched, that’s factual. 

Going back to my previous example, should NFL viewership for Super Bowl LVll be thrown out because Travis Kelce brought Switfies out of the woodwork? After all, those Swifties won’t watch now that he retired, right? But the NFL had no issue bragging about its 113 million viewers who tuned in to watch.

Why should esports hold itself to an arbitrary standard, where we split hairs to determine which views are valid, when the biggest sports leagues in the world don’t?

Your entire discussion about the Ludwig drama is irrelevant to this topic. Nothing about it is about co-streamers or esports viewership, that is a discussion of a streamer who allegedly manipulated Evo’s rules to promote his game. Jynxi didn’t manipulate his view count, he didn’t engage in the inflation of views, he just co-streamed an event fair and square. The situations aren’t similar, and can’t be compared.

These are the facts. Co-streaming is here, it’s here to stay, and the views garnered for an event when an opinion leader co-streamed it are fair game to include when we discuss the event’s total viewership.

If there is any team you should be rooting for right now in League of Legends esports, it should be Team WE. This mid-pack team pulled off not one, but two of the greatest upsets of the season and are now one series away from qualifying for the Mid-Season Invitational.

While everyone loves an underdog story, Team WE’s success feels different. Once considered one of the faces of Chinese esports, the team is far from its glorious days. Could this be the start of a new chapter? And are they one of the most dangerous teams to face in the world, right now? 

At the start of the season, Team WE had formed a roster that didn’t really stand out from the pack. It kept its top side trio of Dai “Cube” Yi, Wang “Monki” Meng-Qi, and Kim “Karis” Hong-jo and brought in a new bot lane with Korean ADC Moon “About” Hyeong-seok and Chen “yaoyao” Si-Yuan, following the departure of Kim “Taeyoon” Tae-yoon and Zhao “Vampire” Zhe-can.

The first split of the 2026 season went by without many surprises, with Team WE constantly in the mid-pack. Their top-eight finish, however, allowed them to be placed with the big boys in Group Ascend for the second split.

While playing with strong teams can help weaker teams improve, Team WE struggled to find its footing in the LPL Split 2 regular season, winning only 1 of 14 matches. 

Even though the addition of support Shi “Erha” Xu-Ye didn’t yield much in results initially, Team WE was slowly improving and building all the necessary elements bit by bit, just in time for when it mattered the most.

This is proven by the team’s game record: after losing the first 8 series with 0-2 records, Team WE began winning games and taking maps from most teams, including JD Gaming. 

Despite a few wins, the team still finished last in Group Ascend, forcing them to play LNG Esports in the play-ins stage.

Team WE’s rise in form came exactly during this series. After being pushed to five games, Team WE came back from a 5,000-gold deficit through their teamfighting and kept their playoff hopes alive. The issue was that BLG picked WE in their first round: the best team in the league was facing the bottom team of Group Ascend.

Against all odds, Team WE took BLG down with a 3-1 record. The series wasn’t clean, but the victory wasn’t just down to pure luck or BLG having a bad day: Team WE fought back from losing positions and outplayed what was considered the best team in the world through stronger coordination and cohesion.

Team WE proved to everyone that the victory was not a fluke, proceeding to dismantle the #4 seed Anyone’s Legend with another clean 3-0. 

The scariest part of Team WE right now is their cohesion as a five-man unit. They have proven to be more coordinated than any other team in the league, with all five players making the same decision.

And at the heart of that cohesive decision-making is jungler Monki.

The guy has established himself as the main voice and shotcaller of the squad while also matching the best junglers in terms of individual performance. When Monki calls for a play, everyone on the team will follow his directives, even if they might not be perfect. 

Dplus Kia head coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho had explained this concept in the past: “If all five members come down to make the same decision in any given circumstance, they can turn a wrong answer right.”

By removing the need to question whether a play is correct in the moment, Team WE can always be the first to move, putting pressure on opponents to fight back. This is what happened in the series against both BiliBili Gaming (BLG) and Anyone’s Legend (AL). In particular, BLG was often caught off guard in teamfight scenarios despite having the gold lead. 

Top laner Cube himself shared in an interview that he’s now more prone to listening to Monki’s plays: “I just do whatever he tells me to do.”

According to Chinese esports analyst Lan Bao Shi (蓝宝石), Monki also has another strong tendency in his gameplay that has worked out in the recent victories: his willingness to change tempo. In a meta where most junglers tend to full clear before making plays, Monki often tries to disrupt the orthodox jungle clears through unexpected gank timers and pathings.

While it’s a high-risk strategy that can cause him to fall behind in gold and experience, Monki won out on many of those plays and built substantial leads for his team. 

That does not mean WE is flawless. The team still has some clear weaknesses; it’s just that the meta is helping hide some of them.

For example, top laner Cube has been thriving in recent weeks now that the meta has shifted towards a more weakside environment. At the start of the split, when it was still about lane dominance, he struggled to keep up with the best top laners.

Now, he’s able to absorb that pressure and consistently show up in the fights with enough resources.

Bot laner About also had initial struggles in adapting earlier this season. It’s not a coincidence that Team WE’s rise also aligned with About’s improved performance. All esports teams need to rely on their ADC in the late-game teamfights, so the Korean marksman must keep his form moving forward.

Additionally, Monki could also be targeted by other teams moving forward, knowing how vital his pathings are for the squad. 

Could Team WE make it to the Mid-Season Invitational? To put it simply, the chances are real. Not only did Team WE prove they can take down the top teams, but their gameplay is solid as well. 

The upper bracket final series against Top Esports will not only be crucial for determining which LPL team will be the first locked for MSI, but will also shed light on whether Team WE can be exploited for its weaknesses.

If Top Esports (TES) manages to win, it will become golden material for Team WE’s future opponents to review and study. If they can’t, then this Team WE roster can be a frightening opponent for MSI.

Regardless of how it goes, Monki and his teammates will have the momentum on their side. Caedrel said it best: “This team just feels like they’re on a run. They’ve got something behind them. They’ve got momentum. They’ve got belief. All the players are bought into this idea, this style they’ve adopted… It’s like lightning in a bottle.”

The question is: Will Team WE continue to evolve, or will the other LPL teams catch up first? The answer will directly dictate whether they are going to be a top dog for the rest of the season.

Combo Breaker 2026 was one of the biggest non-EVO fighting game tournaments of the year, with different nationalities flying in to experience the event. But behind its massive success, there lies a problem in the community that, while reduced, persists in the darkest corners of the FGC.

Yup. I’m talking about harassment of women in the FGC.

This has been a hot topic in the FGC for quite some time now, and for good reason. What kind of community lets things like this happen and turns a blind eye to it? The pandemic lockdown was the time when the community started cracking down on sexual harassment cases. While a lot of them have already been dealt with post-COVID, thanks to the women who had the courage to talk about their experience, it doesn’t mean that the whole thing is gone.

Cases like these still exist, and I believe it’s time the community starts cracking down on them again.

In a tweet posted on May 23rd, Jax shared her experience with someone who tried to take an upskirt picture of her while cosplaying as Emilie De Rochefort, also known as Lili, from Tekken.

I reached out to Jax to ask for more details regarding the incident, and she mentioned that it happened while she was waiting for her 2XKO set. While standing there, she decided to fix her cosplay, and that’s when the culprit struck.

Luckily, she had a friend with her who stepped in the way, essentially blocking the guy, who then proceeded to run away. Unfortunately, neither she nor her friend had any idea who the culprit was.

Miranda “Super_Yan” Pakozdi, another woman who attended the event, also experienced harassment, but this time, from the staff. According to a tweet she posted, she was handed a spectator badge because she’s a woman, even though she said she’s a competitor and has been one for almost two decades.

In a subsequent tweet, she mentioned that this had happened to her multiple times and that she made the post because it was so frequent. While she understands that some of the people working in tournaments, especially in major ones, are volunteers, it doesn’t change the fact that these kinds of situations made her uncomfortable.

According to her: “Years of this and every time it’s a message that I don’t look like a fighting game player, or I don’t belong here, or I’m not to be taken seriously. It doesn’t feel good!”

During our interview regarding the Combo Breaker 2026 incident, I asked Jax whether she had experienced harassment in the past five years at locals or tournaments. She mentioned that there hasn’t been any blatant harassment post-COVID. She added that nothing outwardly crazy or harmful had happened to her recently until the Combo Breaker 2026.

I also asked her about the worst case of gender discrimination she experienced/saw, and that’s where she mentioned that it wasn’t a good time to be a woman in the scene pre-2020.

She said it was back when she played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and guys would “accidentally” kick her chair as they walked past her when their friend was down a stock. She also mentioned that there were times when she had to purposefully lose her sets because she was genuinely scared of some male competitors’ reactions if she had actually won.

Unfortunately, during that time, her experience wasn’t an isolated one. In 2020, the Super Smash Bros. community experienced a #MeToo movement in which victims of abuse stepped forward to expose the bad apples. Jax was one of the women who stepped up and exposed her abuser. Outside of the Super Smash Bros. community, the greater FGC also suffered a huge blow when Evo 2020 was canceled due to sexual misconduct allegations against its co-founder, Joey “MrWizard” Cuellar, surfacing.

Discrimination like this doesn’t appear out of nowhere. There should be some kind of culture that has clung to the community’s roots and has been normalized to the point that people just don’t think of it as offensive, especially to newcomers to the scene. 

An article by Ars Technica published in 2012, named “Is pervasive sexism holding the professional fighting game community back?” gives us a peek at what the culture was like back then. The article discusses Aris Bakhtanians, a competitor-turned-commentator-turned-streamer in the fighting game community.

During a Cross Assault event, a reality show-style competition where two teams fight each other in Street Fighter x Tekken matches, Bakhtanians made inappropriate remarks regarding Pakozdi’s bra size and even said that he had a desire to spy on her in the women’s bathroom, eventually leading to her being creeped out about the interaction.

Pakozdi confronted him about his behavior, but she said it was obvious that the Bakhtanians didn’t really care. 

When asked about his inappropriate comments, Bakhtanians mentioned that “those are jokes and if you were really a member of the fighting game community, you would know that,” and that “this is a community that’s, you know, 15 or 20 years old, and the sexual harassment is part of a culture, and if you remove that from the fighting game community, it’s not the fighting game community — it’s StarCraft.”

[Editor’s Note: I’m not surprised to hear rhetoric like this. The FGC prides itself on being raw, authentic, rough around the edges, and real. It’s not a polished scene with over-the-top productions. It comes from dudes grinding in grungy arcades, not caring they are ‘nerds.’ But let’s not bring the sexism aspect of that nostalgia with us.]

However, Bakhtanians’ tone changed following the backlash. In a statement he provided to Ars Technica, he apologized for what he said: “I unfortunately used extreme examples in the heat of the moment and feel that my statements don’t actually communicate how I feel.”

Even though Bahktanians eventually apologized, this was a huge tell about the culture back then. The Ars Technica article even talked about a girlfriend of Jared Rea, a Twitch Community Manager at the time, leaving the venue of a fighting game tournament after hearing the audience hurl misogynistic or homophobic comments inside the tournament hall.

Jax also weighed in on this when I asked her why she thinks discrimination against women is still a thing in the FGC. She mentioned that she believes it’s from older men who miss the “good old days” when gaming was still a boy’s club. She also adds that younger men also fall for that toxic nostalgia, which only adds to the problem.

Jax also said that instead of reflecting and growing from their actions, some men simply channel their anger into disliking the women who have entered their “club.”

“Instead of acknowledging that women joining the scene has enabled growth and accountability and safeguards that are inherently good things for the gaming community/industry as a whole, they just think ‘Well, back in my day none of this existed and wouldn’t be relevant if things had just stayed the same.’” Jax added.

I think everyone (normal) in the community agrees with me that no woman should be harassed, whether physically or sexually, in the FGC. However, it still happens. Sure, people can say that these were freak accidents or isolated incidents, but that’s just washing your hands of the fact that they still happened. We, as a community, should be ashamed when things like these take place at our events.

With that being said, what needs to change? Pakozdi mentioned in her tweets that safety should be the priority. She adds that people should stop assuming that women only attend fighting game tournaments as an extension of their partners or men in general. Things like that can go a long way and make them feel like they belong.

Jax, on the other hand, went after those who enabled the harassment in the first place. She said that men should hold their friends accountable for sh*tty behavior and eliminate the “boy’s club mentality.”

She said: “No more ‘it’s just a joke, no more ‘that’s just how he is’ or ‘well, he’s my boy.’ Do not excuse or enable poor behavior just because it’s your friend or someone who happens to be good at a game.”

With all of this said, I still asked Jax if she thinks women should attend fighting game tournaments, and her answer is a resounding yes. She said that these are such fun experiences that she only found in the FGC, and that “the good heavily outweighs the bad in my opinion.”

She also added: “You meet new people from all over, you can find artists and small businesses to support, you get invaluable info and practice at games, you can try so many new games. I could go on for so long about all the wonderful things about FGC majors, each one I’ve personally attended has been an overwhelmingly positive experience.”

However, she also said that women should go with friends and people they trust.

“It’s no different from being at a con or concert or any other large-scale event in that regard,” Jax told Esports Insider. “So many situations that absolutely could have gone worse were diffused by having friends around to step in or have my back or work through after the fact.”

Finally, I asked Jax if she had something to say to her fellow women who have been harassed in the fighting game community: Here’s what she said:

“I’m so sorry, and please know that you’re not alone. There are so many wonderful, kind, supportive, and caring people in the FGC who are here to help.

“Please keep speaking up about harassment and discrimination. It’s the only way we can get the word out about it and get it addressed and hopefully corrected. Even in just the last five years, it is incredible to see how much the scene and events have improved in terms of safety and inclusivity. It can and will continue to get better and better.

“Even with my unfortunate experience at Combo Breaker this year, the outpouring of concern and support and love, I don’t think I can put into words how heartwarming it was that so many people cared. People I’d never met or only knew in passing came to check on me, which never would have happened if I hadn’t spoken up.

“And it also encouraged others to be more vigilant — people were on the alert to look out for themselves and their friends, knowing that there was someone being creepy. Yeah, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but considering how vocal everyone was condemning that behavior, I feel much more confident that it’ll be less likely to happen again in the future.”

We should be vigilant to ensure the women around us are comfortable. There’s no excuse for sexual harassment or any of this sort to exist in the community, and we should be ashamed that it has existed longer than it already has.

I know, some people will say that they’re not here to do feminism or politics and that they’re in the community to just play games, but that’s the thing. They also want to play games. What’s stopping the FGC from making it an enjoyable environment for them, too?

At the end of the day, we all just love fighting games, and what better way to enjoy fighting games than to share them with the people around us?