Sportsbook supplier BETBY has launched SlotBets, a new interface that could turn esports betting into a casino style slot game experience.

“SlotBets transforms live sports and esports into a simple, fast, and familiar slot experience,” the company said.

It promises its partners to bridge the gap between sports betting and casino gaming. “Watching sports becomes an interactive gaming session, not just passive betting,” it added.

Esports make up a key part of BETBY’s product; in addition to major events, the company also offers gambling operators its Betby.Games propriety feed. This includes 25 virtual sports, with the additions of eKabbadi, eTableTennis, and eFootVolley last year.

BETBY will officially showcase its new product at the SBC Summit in Lisbon at the end of this month. It was initially tested with basketball games, but plans are in place to roll out the feature to other sports.

With expanded live betting options on esports and virtual games, these are likely to be near the top of the list for integration.

“Our ambition goes beyond launching one new product. We believe SlotBets Games can develop its own recognizable mechanics, terminology, and player expectations, in the same way that categories such as Crash Games did before,” said Kirill Nekrasov, Head of Innovation and R&D at BETBY. “We are introducing a new way to play sports, and we call it slotbetting.”

The company’s dedicated SlotBets page says over 500 clients are already on board.

SlotBets works by tying 15-second betting rounds directly to a live sporting event. Each round is divided into three five-second windows that represent three reels. Each reel highlights the highest-value event that takes place within its window.

Once the 15 seconds have passed, the combination from the three reels with matching outcomes produces payouts depending on the game’s paytable.

This replaces the traditional random number generators (RNG) that determine the outcome of slots. Real-life events are being used, alowing users to essentially play online slots even in regions that only allow sports betting.

The expansion of prediction markets into sports has led many to believe that casino-style markets will soon come to platforms.

Esports events are competing with major leagues for trading volume on platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi.

The BETBY interface provides a blueprint of how operators may look to integrate the mechanics of casino games into markets.

Prediction markets have found a way to offer sports markets in states that have not yet legalized online sports wagering. BETBY’s product could offer players even more gambling experiences that do not necessarily fall outside current restrictive regulations.

For now, it appears the company is only supplying sportsbook operators. BETBY is licensed in Malta and supplies operators worldwide. The company largely supplies gambling companies in Europe, Asia, and South America with its products.

VALORANT Champions Shanghai arrives at the end of a 2026 season that has refused to settle on a single dominant team, region, or even a definitive player.

That unpredictability has been reflected at almost every major event. Nongshim RedForce clinched the Masters Santiago title; LEVIATÁN took the Masters London title but failed to qualify; 100 Thieves lifted the Esports World Cup (EWC) trophy; and the final regional splits produced another round of unlikely champions.

To get a better picture of who’s leading the field ahead of Champions, we’ve highlighted eight players who defined different parts of the 2026 season. That includes elite fraggers posting huge numbers, breakout prospects, and players who delivered when the pressure was at its highest.

Ștefan ‘Sayonara’ Mîtcu entered Vitality’s 2026 project under unusual circumstances.

The Moldovan prodigy was announced on Nov. 25, 2025, but couldn’t compete until after March 2026, meaning he missed the start of the season despite being a central part of the team’s rebuild alongside veterans Nikita ‘Derke’ Sirmitev and Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov.

When Sayonara finally debuted in EMEA Stage 1, he looked immediately at home, leading Vitality all the way to the grand final. He posted incredible stats across the board, including a 1.13 rating, 221 ACS, 1.17 K:D, 73% KAST, and 149.6 ADR.

Most impressive was his 23% clutch success rate, winning 10 out of 44 clutch opportunities, though Sayonara’s performance dipped to a disappointing 0.92 rating in the final.

His performance at Masters London was also less convincing, ending with a 0.98 rating despite recording the tournament’s first Ace. Back in EMEA Stage 2, however, Sayonara rebounded with a 1.19 rating – the third-best in the tournament – even though his team finished 7th–8th.

In an interview with THESPIKE during Stage 2, Dawid ‘PROFEK’ Święć explained that one of Vitality’s priorities was making Sayonara as comfortable as Derke because “they are our star players.” That is an unusually explicit endorsement for an 18-year-old sharing a roster with two of VALORANT’s most established names.

VALORANT Champions Shanghai now gives Sayonara the chance to prove he belongs among them.

For years, all Matthew ‘Cryocells’ Panganiban needed was an Operator in his hands, and he would get to work on his Jett and Chamber, producing one of the cleanest first-shot stats in the Americas.

However, when 100 Thieves restructured for 2026, Cyrocells moved to sentinel, with Timothée ‘Timotino’ Lavigne Dupont taking over as the team’s primary duelist.

After a season with middling results, the payoff finally became clear at EWC. Cryo finished the tournament with a 1.13 rating, 206 ACS, 1.17 K:D, and 11 clutches, the most of any player in Paris.

He then capped 100T‘s title with 65 kills and 25 assists in the grand final against NRG and received the MVP award. With Timotino usually opening the round, Cyrocells is free to look for timings elsewhere or clean up the fight in late rounds.

In Americas Stage 2, Cryocells‘ overall performance was decent. Still, he showed how comfortable he had become in his new role during the grand final win against LOUD, playing three different VALORANT Agents and posting the highest KAST in the series at 74%. It’s not often that a sentinel wins six out of seven opening duels on attack.

Global Esports entered the final stretch of the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2026 season as one of Pacific’s more unpredictable teams. They had reached Masters London for the first time in the organization’s history, only to exit in the Swiss stage.

Soon after, Global Esports parted ways with head coach Hector ‘FrosT’ Rosario amid a heated public dispute involving Patrick ‘PatMen’ Mendoza. Their first tournament under replacement coach Daniel ‘Platoon’ Zhou went even worse, with GE going winless at EWC.

After an uneven 3–2 Stage 2 group stage, GE found another gear in the playoffs, reverse-sweeping Masters Santiago champion Nongshim RedForce to claim the organization’s first VCT Pacific title. At the center of that turnaround was PatMen, who found himself back in title contention after a turbulent exit from Paper Rex.

What makes PatMen particularly interesting is how difficult he is to define by a single role. During Pacific Stage 2, he bounced between controllers, initiators, and even aggressive duelists depending on the map.

Across 29 maps, he still managed a 1.07 rating, 221 ACS, and 1.10 K:D, while his 70 first kills against 53 first deaths produced an impressive 1.32 opening-duel ratio despite rarely functioning as GE’s conventional entry. That versatility is nothing new, though.

Throughout his career, PatMen has logged meaningful time on multiple Agents, including Fade, Viper, and Breach, and has been recognized for his aggressive pop flashes and map control on Skye. This role flexibility distinguishes him from the player who won Masters Toronto with Paper Rex in 2025.

Global Esports no longer needs him to occupy one fixed role, making him one of the more unpredictable players to watch at Champs.

Lucca ‘lukxo’ Travaioli spent much of his first year in Tier 1 looking like a promising player trapped inside a losing LOUD.

He joined the organization on Jan. 15, 2025, after a Brazilian Challengers run with Galorys. That season, LOUD finished near the bottom of both VCT Americas stages, before opening their 2026 campaign with another 11th–12th-place finish at Americas Kickoff and ending 7th–8th in Stage 1.

In Americas Stage 2, lukxo proved that he wasn’t a passive sentinel/flex player. Over 31 maps and 651 rounds, he produced a 1.16 rating, 238 ACS, and a tournament-best 1.31 K:D, while also leading the field with 572 kills. In the grand final against 100 Thieves, he dropped 90 kills and 18 successful opening duels, giving him the performance of a star duelist.

LOUD went from spending the first half of 2026 outside the conversation to pushing America’s top seed to a five-game series right before Champions. Shanghai will be the ultimate test for whether lukxo can bring that same aggression to the international stage.

Making a choice between Lee ‘Dambi’ Hyuk-Kyu and Kim ‘Francis’ Mu-bin was one of the hardest calls to make because Nongshim RedForce’s success is built around both of them. Their double-duelist system works as a partnership rather than two independent fraggers: Dambi’s Neon creates the initial chaos, while Francis plays off the space with his signature Yoru.

In an interview with HOTSPAWN, Francis described the relationship at Masters Santiago, saying opponents hate facing Dambi because he “just goes into the site and creates chaos,” leaving Francis to capitalize on whoever is forced into his sightline. Dambi added that, after playing so many matches together, their Neon-Yoru coordination had reached the point where it simply “click[s]” without much overthinking.

The results are difficult to argue with. Dambi finished Nongshim’s Masters-winning run with a 1.11 rating, 238 ACS, and 1.19 K:D, while producing 43 first kills in 215 rounds. Francis was close behind at a 1.08 rating, 223 ACS, and 1.09 K:D, showing how closely their performances are linked.

Even so, Dambi gets the edge because his version of Neon gives Nongshim its most recognizable identity. He routinely commits deep enough to create uncomfortable close-range fights and is even willing to pull out shotguns to make those plays work.

If we’re talking about players to watch, then Dambi is certainly one of the most exciting, with his aggression helping him earn the Masters Santiago MVP as Nongshim swept Paper Rex 3–0 in the grand final.

G2 Esports has changed compositions and roles throughout 2026, but Trent ‘trent’ Cairns’ year has remained a reliable constant as the team’s initiator. After all, when it works, it works — and trent is everything a pro team could want in the role.

At Masters Santiago, he posted a 1.15 rating, 1.11 K:D, and 73% KAST over 16 maps, while adding 111 assists and 10 clutches. Even as G2 exited Masters London in 7th–8th place, trent maintained a 77% KAST and 0.41 APR, showcasing tremendous consistency despite the team’s struggles.

After G2 triumphed at Americas Stage 2, trent recorded an impressive 1.16 rating, 1.12 K:D, 76% KAST, and 236 total assists, the third-highest in the tournament. Trent’s consistency as an initiator, support player, and fragger is even more impressive on a team filled with strong players like Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf and Andrej ‘babybay’ Francisty.

Marshall ‘N4RRATE’ Massey began the year with Sentinels, but returned to Karmine Corp after his exit in the same month. EMEA Stage 1 could hardly have gone worse, with KC finishing 0–5. The team completely turned it around in Stage 2 to lift the trophy with a 3–1 victory over Team Liquid.

Not bad for someone contemplating benching himself after getting kicked from Sentinels.

EMEA Stage 2 saw N4RRATE reach his highest level of the season. He posted 235 ACS, a 1.34 K:D, and 76% KAST across 21 maps, earning a 1.21 rating and finishing as the tournament’s second-best individual player. He also scored 78 first kills to just 41 first deaths, producing an impressive 1.90 opening-duel ratio – the fourth-best of the tournament.

Those numbers are harder to dismiss because N4RRATE‘s value isn’t tied to a single Agent class. In his own words, his Karmine Corp year has alternated between initiator duties and more aggressive roles, while Chamber’s return has allowed him to reconnect with the Operator skills he developed early in his career.

TYLOO spent most of its VCT China history stuck somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Before Stage 2, the organization had never finished higher than 5th–6th in a VCT-run tournament, and even its 2026 season started with another sixth-place Kickoff followed by a 5th–6th finish in Stage 1.

However, in the final regional split, TYLOO fought through the lower bracket and defeated Bilibili Gaming 3–0 to qualify for Champions. They then beat JD Gaming 3–1 to claim their first VCT China title.

At the center of that breakthrough was Sun ‘slowly’ Kelun. He finished Stage 2 with a 1.22 rating, 250 ACS, 1.30 K:D, and 161.7 damage per round across 30 maps, eventually earning VCT China’s 2026 Season MVP award. Slowly led the entire event in total opening kills, 127 first kills to 80 first deaths, frequently giving TYLOO the early advantage.

Statistically, China has been the weakest VCT region so far when playing against other international teams. But now, Champions gives the former Counter-Strike pro a chance to redeem the region in front of a home crowd.

VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026 will ultimately determine which of these performances were the signs of a champion and which ones were simply peaks at their respective tournaments.

In a season without a single dominant player, Champions Shanghai offers one final opportunity for someone to separate themselves from the pack. Whether it’s an established international star, a regional MVP, or one of 2026’s breakout talents, these eight players have the chance to leave Shanghai as the defining player of the season.

Every year, the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) gives us what should be our first proper answer to one of League of Legends’ biggest questions: who is actually the best team in the world?

The strongest teams from across the world meet, and eventually the best of them are thrown into best-of-five series against each other. By the end of it, we have an international champion.

Even though Worlds arrives just a couple of months later, things often look completely different. No matter how dominant they are, the MSI champion usually does not end up lifting the Summoner’s Cup.

Hanwha Life Esports is the latest team to test that theory. HLE beat Bilibili Gaming 3–2 to win MSI 2026, with LYON surprisingly finishing third and G2 Esports taking fourth. HLE has already secured its place at Worlds 2026, but can they bring home League’s most prestigious trophy? History says yes and no.

While winning MSI is a surprisingly poor predictor of who eventually lifts the Summoner’s Cup, performing well at MSI is still a strong indicator that a team could make a deep Worlds run. That has become even more apparent under MSI’s expanded format.

MSI has been played every year since 2015, with the obvious exception of 2020, when the tournament was canceled due to the global pandemic. That gives us ten completed MSI-to-Worlds seasons before 2026.

Across those ten tournaments, only one MSI champion has gone on to win Worlds in the same year. SK Telecom T1 did it in 2016. That is it.

EDward Gaming won MSI in 2015 before losing in the Worlds quarterfinals. SKT won MSI again in 2017 but lost the Worlds final to Samsung Galaxy. RNG won MSI in 2018, 2021, and 2022, but never made it beyond the quarterfinals in any of those three Worlds runs.

G2 Esports came close in 2019, reaching the Worlds final after their famous MSI victory, while JD Gaming and Gen.G have both followed MSI titles with Worlds semifinal exits in recent years.

Even Gen.G’s dominant 2025 season ended the same way. They beat T1 in the MSI final but eventually fell to KT Rolster in the Worlds semifinals, while T1 went on to win Worlds instead.

Overall, the record for MSI champions looks like this:

A 60% semifinal rate is obviously still very good. But if we are trying to use MSI to predict the eventual World champion, a 10% success rate is not particularly convincing.

Across the same ten seasons, there have been 40 top-four finishes at MSI, and 19 of those teams went on to reach the Worlds semifinals.

MSI finalists do even better. Of the 20 teams that reached an MSI final between 2015 and 2025, 12 later made it to the Worlds semifinals that same year.

There is some obvious selection bias here. Teams finishing in the top four at MSI are already among the world’s strongest and generally come from its strongest regions, meaning MSI performance cannot be treated as the sole reason they subsequently succeed at Worlds.

What the numbers can tell us, however, is how frequently the teams that perform best at MSI remain among the international elite months later.

In every single season since MSI was introduced, at least one team that finished in the top four has gone on to reach the Worlds final.

There is also a pretty clear difference between the old MSI format and the tournament we have today.

Before 2023, MSI generally featured one representative from each region. That created an obvious problem if we wanted to use the tournament as a Worlds preview.

Some of the best teams in the world simply did not attend the tournament.

Samsung Galaxy did not qualify for MSI before winning Worlds in 2017. Invictus Gaming was not there in 2018. FunPlus Phoenix missed MSI 2019, EDward Gaming missed MSI 2021, and DRX obviously was nowhere near MSI before completing its miracle Worlds run in 2022.

MSI could hardly predict that those teams would win Worlds when they had never competed in the tournament in the first place. Riot changed that significantly in 2023.

The results since then are pretty hard to ignore.

In 2023, MSI’s top four comprised JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, T1, and Gen.G. Three of them reached the Worlds semifinals.

In 2024, the top four included Gen.G, Bilibili Gaming, T1, and G2. Again, three reached the Worlds semifinals.

In 2025, Gen.G, T1, Anyone’s Legend, and Bilibili Gaming made up the top four. Gen.G reached another Worlds semifinal, T1 won the entire tournament, and Anyone’s Legend made the quarterfinals.

Put it together, and the difference is striking.

From 2015 to 2022, 11 of 28 MSI top-four teams reached the Worlds semifinals, or 39.3%.

From 2023 to 2025, that rises to eight of 12, or 66.7%.

Even more impressively, every MSI finalist from those three years reached at least the semifinals at Worlds:

That is six out of six. It is still a tiny sample size, and three years of results are nowhere near enough to call it a rule. But so far, at least, the expanded MSI has lined up much more closely with what eventually happens at Worlds than the old tournament did.

There is also a slightly ridiculous T1 statistic hidden in all of this. The last three League of Legends Worlds winners all finished near the top of MSI earlier in the year.

They just did not win it.

T1 finished third at MSI 2023 before beating Weibo Gaming in the Worlds final. They finished third again at MSI 2024 before going on to win Worlds against BLG. Then in 2025, T1 finished second to Gen.G at MSI before clinching a third consecutive World Championship.

Obviously, that does not mean losing MSI somehow “improves” your chances of winning Worlds. Most of this is simply T1 being T1.

HLE won MSI 2026, but historically, that does not automatically make HLE the Worlds favorite. Nine of the previous ten MSI winners failed to complete the double.

But MSI has been much better at identifying Worlds contenders, especially if we look at teams that reached the semifinals. For 2026, that group is HLE, BLG, LYON, and G2.

There is no guarantee the streak will continue, but more than a decade of results suggests at least one of them could be around very late in Worlds.

So, can MSI performance predict Worlds success? To an extent. Winning MSI has rarely translated into Worlds victory, but finishing near the top has consistently identified teams capable of making deep runs.

Almost half of all MSI top-four finishes since 2015 have subsequently been followed by a Worlds semifinal appearance. Under the expanded MSI format since 2023, that figure has risen to 66.7%.

MSI may not tell us exactly who will lift the Summoner’s Cup. But it does a pretty good job of telling us who belongs on the shortlist.

For many years, Fnatic was considered the strongest team in the VCT EMEA circuit. With two international trophies under its belt and countless global VCT appearances, Fnatic’s consistency and regional dominance stood out amid EMEA’s glaring struggles compared to other VCT regions.

Heading into the 2026 season off the back of two top-2 international finishes last year, Fnatic had high aspirations once again. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the team failed to qualify for any of the three global VCT competitions this year.

This left the VCT community in shock: What happened to Fnatic this season? What led the leader of a once-called “one team region” to miss out on VALORANT Champions for the first time in VCT history?

On September 8th, Fnatic stunned fans by announcing it would allow its VALORANT players to explore other opportunities. Fans were immediately anxious since this includes Jake “Boaster” Howlett, whom many expressed was the backbone and face of the team. Losing Boaster would be a huge blow… But Fnatic had already decided that this was the right direction for the team and its players.

“This doesn’t represent a final decision on any one individual’s future with Fnatic, but gives all sides a chance to explore what a future apart could look like before we settle on a direction of travel for 2027. We will continue to work closely with all of the team throughout the offseason and will share further updates as things progress,” Fnatic wrote.

What led to this shocking update?

Disclaimer from the author: As fans, viewers, or analysts, we only have limited insight into an esports team’s performance. We can draw conclusions from on-stage showings, interviews, and other public statements, but ultimately, we don’t know the behind-the-scenes conversations and decisions needed to piece together the full picture.

Moreover, a team’s or player’s performance never merits any kind of hateful response. All analysis or feedback should be voiced in a constructive and respectful manner.

Before the start of the 2026 VCT season, Fnatic was faced with the impossible challenge of finding a replacement for Timofey “Chronicle” Khromov, one of the roster’s longest-standing members and one of the most accomplished professional players in the history of VALORANT Esports.

Like former Fnatic member Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev one year prior, Chronicle made the decision to switch to Team Vitality. Fnatic chose former Gentle Mates player Sylvain “Veqaj” Pattyn to fill Chronicle’s shoes. Veqaj was a bit of an unknown variable to many Fnatic fans but left a positive impression during the organization’s off-season event with INZONE.

In VCT Kickoff’s new triple-elimination format, Fnatic dropped down to the middle bracket right after its first series against BBL Esports. Already then, the squad showed concerning signs of not adapting to VALORANT’s new fast-paced and micro-focused meta. Instead, Fnatic stuck to its favorite slow-paced, default-heavy playstyle.

This trend continued throughout the remainder of Kickoff. Despite surviving in the middle bracket with close matches and incredible pop-off performances from individual players, it became clear that Fnatic had missed the mark with its initial read of the meta. Now, the roster found itself playing catch-up and scrambling to implement double-duelist team compositions mid-competition.

The squad tried to introduce faster plays into its playbook, but these often didn’t look refined in official matches. Similarly, Fnatic drew criticism for not putting one of its star players, Emir “Alfajer” Beder, on duelist or Chamber on some maps. 

Speaking of maps, Fnatic didn’t seem to have a comfort map throughout Kickoff, with Corrode looking especially shaky. This weakness was exploited by Team Liquid in the Lower Bracket Final by overwhelming Fnatic on Corrode with a new curveball team composition. Fnatic had previously lost a tight Middle Bracket Final to Gentle Mates (2-3) and then bummed out against Team Liquid (0-3).

“The Lower Bracket one I’m not as surprised by in a weird way. […] when I think about Fnatic in terms of endurance, I always think that because they put so much hard work in, I feel like they’re more susceptible. And because the expectations are so high, they’re naturally more susceptible to this kind of thing,” said former Fnatic coach Jacob “mini” Harris on Plat Chat.

“I think it’s better to be the team that isn’t expected [to win] or better to be the team that doesn’t actually put in as much work, and just turns on a day and just shoots.”

Still, the community sentiment after Fnatic’s back-to-back losses in the Kickoff Finals stayed hopeful. After all, the team has a history of underperforming at Kickoff and having to “scale” into each VCT season.

Fnatic started with an incredible 5-0 win streak in VCT EMEA Stage 1. But after securing the first seed in its group during the Group Stage, the squad was swiftly eliminated from the Playoffs due to two consecutive losses. How did that happen?

One way of viewing it is that Fnatic’s dominant start to the stage created a somewhat “inflated” image of the team’s power level. Many considered Fnatic the best team in EMEA and guaranteed to secure its spot at the second global VCT event of the season, Masters London. And when the team kept winning games despite playing with its Assistant Coach Casper “Desmo” Rasmussen and later with Clément “CyvOph” Millard as last-minute substitutes for Veqaj, Fnatic looked simply unstoppable.

Under this shining surface, however, signs of weakness had been brewing for quite some time. Yes, Fnatic was on top of the Neon-Waylay meta, but the squad failed to recognize the value of Vyse over more traditional Sentinels.

“I do think there’s now very easily a narrative that Fnatic haven’t been ahead of almost any meta for a long time now,” explained mini on Plat Chat. “Like, what is a ‘Fnatic comp’ nowadays? I can’t remember the last time someone would be like, ‘Oh, they’re using the Fnatic comp.’”

Furthermore, the team’s map pool seemed to be an issue once again, with Fnatic losing its own map picks towards the end of the stage. Ultimately, the roster hadn’t been properly challenged throughout the Group Stage. In the high-stakes environment of the Playoffs, its weaknesses were exploited, and unexpected player substitutions mid-competition eventually caught up with the squad.

With Fnatic missing back-to-back global VCT events for the first time in history, concerns rose about the weight of expectations on the team. This sentiment was echoed by a heart-breaking interview with Fnatic’s in-game leader (IGL) Boaster conducted by independent journalist Pedro Romero.

“I think just last year for me, the three lost finals, and like I still get sad thinking about it. I haven’t really […] come to terms with it, yeah, recovered from it,” shared Boaster after the Stage 1 elimination. “And I think I’m having so many mental fights with myself. Not even that bad, really, but it’s just like after game losses and stuff, I just feel like it’s just honestly just my fault all the time.”

He later added: “Maybe my time… No, I don’t think it’s up up, but I don’t know. I just wish I was better.”

At this point, Fnatic was unlikely to qualify for VALORANT Champions via VCT Points, meaning that a top-2 finish in EMEA Stage 2 was the squad’s best bet. 

In this high-pressure phase of the season, the team surprised the VALORANT community with two roster moves: Former Head Coach Milan “Milan” de Meij was dropped for Karmine Corp’s Andrey “Engh” Sholokhov, while CyvOph was replaced by GIANTX’s former IGL Kirill “Cloud” Nekhozhin.

Although some analysts were concerned about the short-term effectiveness of these changes and potential role issues within the roster, Engh was seen as someone who could provide Fnatic with much-needed fast set executes.

Instead, though, Fnatic couldn’t fully bid farewell to its slow and methodical calling style in Stage 2 whilst simultaneously attempting to pull off double-duelist team compositions. In addition, map pool issues persisted throughout the stage. Fnatic’s map theory was lackluster across Sunset, Summit, Ascent, and Breeze. 

What also didn’t help was that one of the best fraggers on the roster, Kajetan “kaajak” Haremski, had uncharacteristically weak performances in Stage 2. By now, Fnatic looked like it was crumbling, reaching its arguable lowest point during the 0-13 loss on Ascent versus Team Heretics. 

For the Play-Ins, the squad tried to fix many of its weaknesses through role and strat adjustments. However, the myriad of changes pushed Boaster to micro-manage his team, making Fnatic easily overwhelmed by confident, fast-paced opponents.

“I think Boaster has a higher standard than what is allowed in this meta,” is how mini summarized Boaster’s IGLing struggles on Plat Chat.

In the end, Fnatic fell to the Challenger team Joblife in the Play-Ins lower bracket. Analyst and content creator Thinking Man’s Valorant described Fnatic’s core problem as follows: “This is the thing I think that is consistent with Fnatic and why they’re struggling so much is because any time their opponents do anything unexpected, they seem to just not know how to react.”

And now the future is even more unexpected than ever, for Fnatic, its players, and its fans.

There’s a Nintendo Direct tomorrow (September 9th) and there’s a rumor that we will get the first confirmation that Super Smash Bros. 6 is on the way. This isn’t really a big surprise or secret: Kirby’s father, Masahiro Sakurai, has been saying he wants to work on another Smash for years now. He just needed to finish Kirby Air Riders first.

Super Smash Bros. 6 is more a matter of when.

The Ultimate scene is getting a bit stale as players wait for a new title. While older games like Smash 64 and Melee have a dedicated scene formed over decades, the Ultimate scene is often full of a wide range of players and characters. It’s not as set in stone. It’s ready to be shaken up. Refreshed.

However, Smash 6 needs a few things to keep the Smash esports scene growing. Although knowing Sakurai and the rest of the team at Nintendo, we can just keep on daydreaming.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is said to have better rollback netcode than the previous console, but it’s still quite far behind for those who are looking to compete in online tourneys or have competitive practice matches.

Said one player on Reddit: “The online scene is quite alive, never ever have trouble finding a match since the game came out to this day. It’s just frustrating due to the not-so-great netcode. So if both players don’t have an optimal connection, it’ll have input lag or stuttering. With two wired connections, it’s pretty good.”

Added another: “Putting such a bad netcode in your MAIN fighting game, quite possibly your best-selling game of all time for that console, shows the greed and the carelessness we can expect from Nintendo. Just devastating.”

Despite the horrendous lag making online play totally different from LAN matches, Nintendo has no interest in doing much about it. In fact, Nintendo is actively working on keeping it this way. A recent update specifically targeted Delay Mod, a mod meant to fix Nintendo’s rollback netcode. Apparently blasphemous.

If Nintendo doesn’t fix the rollback netcode for Super Smash Bros. 6, it will continue to reduce the number of competitive players who don’t want to deal with online lag in matches. One of the reasons that other fighting games have continued to grow is good online play, something severely lacking in Smash. That lack of connectivity among players and having fewer practice options is most definitely a struggle for the esports side of things.

The competitive stage pool for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a bit snoozeville. Previous games, like Melee, had a lot more interactive and dynamic stages. Pokemon Stadium 2 has that one transformation with a potential glitch, but the rest of it creates a lot of opportunities for varying strategies and gameplay styles.

While stage hazards are definitely unappealing to competitive players, it seems that Ultimate overcorrected its stages, making them almost too safe. They’re all very similar to one another, lacking in transformations and shapes in exchange for Battlefield in a variety of sizes.

“The stages in Ultimate overcorrected previous stages’ faults,” noted one player on Reddit. “While they’re not awful like the retro, scrolling, and giant stages, there’s little to say about Ult’s new lineup. It makes even less sense that a lot of the stage gimmicks are mostly cosmetic now that hazard toggles and the Battlefield/FD layouts were implemented for every stage.”

While Melee has the same six characters fighting over and over again in the Top 8, the stages offer a lot more switch-ups, strategy, and entertaining moments than the three platform stages with various backgrounds over in Ultimate.

I DON’T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS, I’M STILL FIGHTING FOR CAPTAIN TOAD!

I’m so sick of Captain Toad being looked over. Yeah, yeah, Waluigi is a hilarious, outdated, overdone meme. Sure. But Captain Toad has actual potential. He has an actual moveset just waiting to be implemented.

Toad has such a long history in Mario’s universe. Captain Toad himself can pluck and throw turnips, use a pickaxe, and use power-ups to restore health or duplicate himself. But Toad has super speed, poison, wall climbing, and super strength. He was the strongest character in Super Mario Bros. 2, capable of carrying Mario and Luigi.

I mean, you guys accepted Piranha Plant. Why can’t Captain Toad be on the roster?

At the same time, however, I want the roster to be smaller. I know the “everyone is here” thing was hype. But we really don’t need that many characters on the roster. Melee proved that.

Ultimate had a lot of “echo fighters” like Peach/Daisy and Mario/Dr. Mario, where there was very miniscule changes between the characters. I always thought, “Why can’t Daisy just be a skin for Peach?” Just seems not necessary.

There are also tons of very similar characters, like all the swordies that are the same archetype with different speeds and strengths, and a few special movements. Why not just drop Ike and others that are less used? I’m sure Ike wouldn’t be missed.

In fact, I think Sakurai should look at the play hours of all the characters and just cut the ones that nobody cares about. I think Ultimate would become a lot more competitive if the roster was more selective. Right now, Ultimate feels a bit chaotic. It could be seen as fun to have that kind of variety in the Top 16, but there’s a reason that the Melee pros have to really push themselves to master characters in order to be at the top. When everyone is playing the same characters, you really have to find all of the secrets and techniques that set you apart.

It’d be fun to see that kind of competitiveness in the modern Smash scene, which is often condemned for being less serious.

With such a massive roster and Nintendo’s disdain for competitiveness, there’s just not complete balance in Ultimate.

Said one fan: “Perfect balance is impossible simply due to characters having differences, as even if two characters have the smallest of differences, it means that one will be better than the other, that is just the nature of balance.”

There’s blatant stuff like getting rid of OP characters like Steve. Or at least completely reworking their moveset. There should never be characters that have no weak spots, an answer to everything, and the ability to camp the entire match.

But each character also needs a bit of a rework. It’d be nice for some characters to have more interesting passives and more unique moves. Other characters need to be a bit faster and not as powerful. I’m sure the Smash community could go on and on with characters that need some changes. I’ve seen people complain about Pit’s triple jump despite others saying he’s the most honest in the game.

It’s tough with 90ish characters on the roster. You won’t please everyone.

I mean, I personally hate Hero’s randomness. I think that’s not needed in a competitive game. Of course, Nintendo doesn’t want Smash to be competitive. But this is just a wishlist, alright?

And that brings me to the last one: Nintendo has to actually care about the Smash esports scene for it to become viable at all beyond just the passionate top players.

Unfortunately, it’s a well-known fact that Nintendo does not care at all about Smash esports. In fact, it has actively fought against it for decades. This includes removing Smash from Evo, shutting down Smash World Tour, sending cease and desist letters to locally run tournaments, and never offering any prize money or marketing materials. Ever.

With no support from Nintendo, pro players like Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma and streamers like Ludwig Ahgren have stepped up to run tournaments, fund players, and grow local scenes. Unfortunately, Nintendo has not provided any financial support to these dedicated players. Instead, Nintendo has argued that Steve can’t be banned and continued to ignore its horrible console lag.

It’s clear Nintendo doesn’t care about the competitive scene right now, which could mean a lot of these meaningful changes to Super Smash Bros. will not happen. Instead, we may get more silly moving stages. More items. A bloated roster. Broken characters. What would Nintendo care? It only wants families to have fun and Steve is fun for children, right?

Let’s see if Sakurai has come around. Even a little.

The International has always sold Dota 2 as a global competition, yet the teams carrying each region’s banner have rarely been national squads. Instead, rosters have usually comprised a mix of players from different countries, making team-level labels a poor guide to where TI’s strength actually comes from.

To look beyond the organizations, I analyzed every Dota 2 pro who competed at The International between 2011 and 2026. Across the 15 editions held during that period, the analysis covers 1,282 player representations, each linked to the player’s listed country and region and their team’s final placement.

Here’s what the data reveals about how TI’s global balance of power has shifted over the past 15 years.

No country comes close to China’s historical footprint.

Chinese players account for 280 of the 1,282 representations at The International from 2011–2026. This represents more than double Russia’s 138 and well ahead of Malaysia’s 85 and the United States’ 79 representatives. Adding Macau to the regional grouping takes China’s total to 288, representing 22.5% of all players in TI history.

The more striking figure, though, is what those players actually did with their opportunities.

Chinese players reached the top eight 171 times, reflecting an impressive 61.1% conversion rate. Including Macau takes the regional top-eight total to 176. Additionally, China’s share of deep finishes was about 30% higher than its share of total representation, giving it the strongest index among large regions.

However, that dominance was mainly concentrated in The International’s early years.

Between 2011 and 2016, China supplied 140 of 482 player representations and 98 of the period’s 241 top-eight places. It also contributed 14 champion representatives through Invictus Gaming in 2012, Newbee in 2014, and Wings Gaming in 2016. Wong ‘ChuaN’ Hock Chuan’s Malaysian listing on Invictus Gaming‘s winning roster is why those three titles produce 14 Chinese champion representatives rather than 15.

Since Wings lifted the Aegis in 2016, China has not won a single TI. Chinese players accounted for as much as 35% of all TI representatives in 2015, but that share fell to 12% in 2022 and 9% in 2023. Even though China recovered to 16% in 2026, none of its 13 representatives finished inside the top eight.

Team Spirit‘s triumphs in 2021, 2023, and 2026 are perhaps the clearest symbol of Eastern Europe’s resurgence at TI. However, the roster data shows that the shift extends beyond a single organization.

Eastern Europe supplied 131 player representations across the five Internationals from 2022 to 2026, compared with 75 from Western Europe, 71 from Southeast Asia, and 57 from China. Its share of the field climbed in every edition during that period: 19% in 2022, 29% in 2023, 31% in 2024, 34% in 2025, and 39% in 2026.

Moreover, thirty-one of the 80 players at the latest International were grouped under Eastern Europe, which is more than three times the region’s nine appearances at TI 2019.

This increase has been driven heavily by Russia and Ukraine. More specifically, Russian players recorded 138 TI appearances, reaching the top eight 75 times and winning on 12 of those occasions. Ukraine players added another 70 appearances, including 32 top-eight finishes and eight title-winning runs. 

Together, the two countries make up  208 of Eastern Europe’s 234 appearances, or almost 89%.

Eastern Europe’s recent strength is not purely a volume effect, either. The region secured 68 of the 200 top-eight places available from 2022 to 2026 and 11 champion representations. Overall, Eastern Europe supplied 29.8% of all players from 2022 to 2026 but accounted for 34% of the period’s top-eight appearances

Western Europe comes in second place, behind China with 260 appearances, but leads all regions with 26 TI champion appearances. It has also placed 129 representatives inside the top eight, giving it a 49.6% conversion rate across the full period.

Its championship spread is also quite broad.

Alliance‘s all-Swedish lineup won in 2013, Team Liquid‘s multinational roster triumphed in 2017, and OG followed with back-to-back TI titles in 2018 and 2019. Later, Tundra Esports lifted the Aegis in 2022, Team Liquid returned to the summit in 2024, and the European members of Team Falcons added two more champion representations in 2025.

Sweden has provided more players than any Western European country, recording 65 TI appearances.

Of those, 33 ended in a top-eight finish, and eight claimed the TI title. Finland, Poland, and North Macedonia have fewer representatives, but performed well. Finnish Dota 2 players converted 14 of 19 appearances into top-eight finishes, while Poland and North Macedonia each went six-for-seven.

Those samples are too small to crown them the “strongest countries at TI,” but they show how a limited player base can repeatedly appear on elite multinational rosters.

Across the five most recent editions of TI, Western Europe placed 49 of 75 representatives in the top eight – a 65.3% conversion rate. That was higher than every region with at least 50 appearances during the period, even though Eastern Europe supplied 56 more players.

Southeast Asia produced the most interesting results.

The region accounts for a massive 241 appearances across the dataset, only 19 fewer than Western Europe, but recorded just 80 top-eight finishes and three champion representations. In the most recent five TIs, it recorded 71 appearances and only 11 top-eight results, reflecting a conversion rate of 15.5%.

The same pattern appears at the country level. Malaysia has the third-most player appearances in TI history with 85, while the Philippines ranks sixth with 68. However, Malaysian players have reached the top eight 33 times, compared with just seven for Filipino players.

Among the countries with at least 20 appearances, the Philippines has the lowest top-eight rate at 10.3%, below Brazil’s 11.5%.

South America has followed a different trajectory.

The region had no player representation at TI before 2017. Only five players competed that year, with the number peaking at 22 in 2023. Peru alone accounts for 55 appearances, the eighth-highest total among all countries. However, only 21 of South America’s 87 appearances ended in the top eight, and none claimed a title.

MENA has a very different record.

Its 51 appearances are fewer than a quarter of Southeast Asia’s, but 34 reached the top eight, while six became champions. The 66.7% top-eight rate is the highest of any region, although the relatively smaller number of appearances means it shouldn’t be taken as proof that MENA has TI’s strongest overall talent pool.

Based on this analysis, it’s clear that The International’s country map is far more diverse than it was during Dota 2’s early “China vs. Europe era.” South America is now a permanent part of the field, MENA players are appearing on more elite rosters, and multinational teams have made national boundaries increasingly more porous.

Even so, the very top of TI remains highly selective. China, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe supplied 61.0% of all player representations but 70.5% of all top-eight finishes. They also account for 60 of the 75 champion representations recorded across the 15 editions – exactly 80%.

Though China has recovered a bit in terms of player representation, its original center of gravity has weakened dramatically as it chases its first Aegis in a decade. By contrast, Eastern Europe has expanded into the largest modern talent bloc, while Western Europe remains the most reliable championship connector.

All data, including player rosters, nationality, and final placements, were collected from Liquipedia on Sep. 3, 2026.

The analysis covers all 15 editions of The International from 2011 to 2026, excluding TI10, which was postponed to 2021. A player is counted once for each TI in which they appeared, meaning repeat participants contribute multiple appearances across different years. Country labels follow those shown by Liquipedia for each tournament and do not account for dual nationals.

Players listed on the main roster or separately as substitutes were included, while coaches and other staff were excluded. Notably, TI 2011 produced 82 player appearances. This is because Liquipedia lists six players for Scythe Gaming and includes Roman ‘rmN-’ Paley as a substitute for GosuGamers that year.

For tied placements, players finishing 3rd–4th were included in the top-four totals, while those finishing 5th–6th or 7th–8th were included in the top-eight totals. Countries were subsequently grouped into broader regions to track how TI’s geographical balance has changed over time.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) launched globally in 2016 and found extraordinary success in Southeast Asia (SEA), becoming one of the region’s biggest mobile esports titles.

Even as Free Fire led installs and Honor of Kings emerged as a major challenger, MLBB has remained SEA’s leader in engagement and revenue. It took a traditionally PC-heavy genre and made it accessible through shorter matches, low hardware requirements, and extensive optimization, lowering the barrier to entry for a new generation of MOBA players.

Over time, MLBB adapted itself to local cultures, turned casual play into community, and built an esports structure that gave players something to compete for. While its competitors can copy the mobile MOBA formula, reproducing the history, rivalries, and communities that have developed around MLBB is much harder.

MLBB was particularly well suited to SEA because of its mobile accessibility and shorter match format.

For starters, SEA is a mobile gaming powerhouse, recording approximately 1.93 billion mobile game installs in Q1 2025 (Sensor Tower, 2025). Mobile devices also generate roughly 70% of the region’s gaming revenue and account for more than half of all hours played (Mordor Intelligence).

MLBB‘s success in SEA has also been unusually persistent. It remained among the region’s top five mobile games by downloads throughout 2017–2025. It ranked No. 1 in mobile-game revenue in six of the nine periods shown (Sensor Tower, 2025). MLBB also has over 35 million monthly active users (MAU) in Indonesia, 15 million in the Philippines, 10 million in Malaysia, 5 million in Thailand, and 1 million in Singapore.

Against that, MLBB offered a lower barrier to entry than MOBAs traditionally associated with PCs, such as Dota 2 and League of Legends. Instead of asking players to invest in expensive gaming hardware, Moonton optimized MLBB for mobile and made the genre accessible on devices that were already the preferred platform for play.

The format also fitted around how people used those devices. MLBB matches generally last 10–30 minutes, significantly shorter than PC MOBAs that can run up to an hour. More importantly, these shorter matches also gave MLBB players instant gratification, encouraging them to return (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute). 

The mobile gaming market in SEA became even more important during COVID-19, when restrictions disrupted access to traditional gaming spaces like internet cafes. For players already familiar with MOBAs, switching to MLBB felt like a natural transition. While that accessibility helped get players through the door, keeping them there required something more.

MLBB has become a cultural symbol in SEA, with much of that success linked to the region’s gaming culture. Niko Partners reported that 87% of SEA gamers want some form of localization. MLBB did exactly that, going beyond simply translating text.

Instead, it brought extensive localized content and built a 130+ hero roster that includes characters inspired by regional history and folklore. Lapu-Lapu takes his name from the 16th-century Filipino chief who resisted Spanish colonization, Gatotkaca draws from the Javanese telling of the Mahabharata, and Badang is based on the legendary strongman of the Malay Annals.

Sensor Tower described this kind of hyper-localization as one of the keys to MLBB’s success, citing culturally relevant content, characters inspired by regional folklore, local tournaments, and community building.

However, localization extends beyond the game itself. ISEAS reported that Moonton adapts tournament operations to individual countries, including holding prayer ceremonies in Cambodia and Indonesia before event setups to respect local customs. These efforts have made MLBB feel local rather than simply available.

As MLBB’s characters and stories became tied to local culture, they also began reaching audiences beyond the game itself.

In September 2021, Moonton’s first animated series, Legends of Dawn: The Sacred Stone, aired on multiple television channels across SEA, following the hero Claude and his sidekick Dexter. That put MLBB’s heroes in front of audiences who had never touched the game and expanded the IP beyond the phone.

The relationship between MLBB and regional popular culture also worked in the other direction. Gatotkaca, now one of the game’s most recognizable heroes, was licensed in 2017 from Indonesian artist Is Yuniarto’s Garudayana comic series.

Moonton later published its own original title, Mobile Legends: Outlaw, in 2024, with a second animated series now in production. Together, these strategies helped make MLBB familiar even to people who had never queued for a match.

Beyond cultural familiarity, MLBB understood the social importance of gameplay.

Indonesia arguably offered the clearest example. Playing games together is closely linked to the country’s “mabar” (short for main bareng) culture. MLBB’s 5v5 competitive format naturally fits into that behavior, turning ranked matches into something that friends can share rather than a purely individual progression system.

This social emphasis is supported by Niko Partners’ report, which found that 52% of SEA players watch gaming livestreams, while more than 45% want social features, such as in-game chat, rankings, or scoreboards. Beyond that, MLBB also makes competition feel local.

Rather than measuring MLBB players against an anonymous global ladder, local leaderboards allow them to compare themselves with players from their own town or city. A 2025 analysis from Universitas Brawijaya’s ASEAN Society Community described the game’s evolution from simple entertainment into a genuine cultural connector for the region’s youth.

Moonton began building MLBB’s competitive structure relatively early in the game’s life.

The first MLBB Southeast Asia Cup was held in 2017, before the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) circuits launched in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore later that year. The Philippines followed with its own MPL in 2018. 

What started with a regional competition soon developed into a much larger ecosystem. Today, MLBB has domestic MPL leagues, the Mid Season Cup, and the M-Series World Championship, providing a clear pathway from local competition to international play. MLBB has even been a medal event at the Southeast Asian Games since 2019, giving it legitimacy that outlasted any individual tournament.

Moonton also invested in grassroots tournaments, giving regional players opportunities to become local celebrities and teams the chance to establish their own fanbases. Even fans are kept engaged at MLBB tournaments, predicting match outcomes in exchange for limited skins and voting for their favorite regional team.

For SEA audiences, MLBB offered something other esports often cannot: the chance to watch familiar players and teams compete while representing their home markets.

As the competitive ecosystem matured, those regional identities began colliding on the international stage – and few illustrate this better than the Philippines and Indonesia.

Filipino teams have dominated the M-Series since M2 in 2021, triumphing at six straight world championships through Aurora Gaming PH’s M7 victory in January earlier this year. More recently, the Philippines-Indonesia rivalry has become a fixture on MLBB’s biggest stage.

The last three M-Series World Championship grand finals have all featured teams from the two countries: AP.Bren against ONIC Esports at M5, Fnatic ONIC Philippines against Team Liquid ID at M6, and Aurora Gaming PH against Alter Ego at M7.

Aurora’s 4–0 victory over Alter Ego in Jakarta extended the Philippines’ winning streak. Still, repeated meetings between the two countries have given international MLBB a recognizable regional rivalry that a game update simply cannot manufacture.

Those rivalries and established leagues turn regional loyalty into sustained viewership. In fact, the scale of MLBB’s esports audience is evidence enough of how powerful that combination has become.

According to Esports Charts, the MLBB M7 World Championship reached roughly 5.68 million peak viewers during its grand final in January 2026, growing 37% from M6 the previous year and becoming the most-watched mobile esports tournament of all time. More impressively, the huge audiences are not limited to global events.

MPL Indonesia Season 17 reached almost 3 million peak viewers, the second most-watched esports tournament in the first half of 2026. Meanwhile, MPL Philippines Season 17 peaked at around 1.69 million during its grand final. This shows that millions of viewers follow the regional leagues and teams all the way to the international stage.

MLBB’s biggest competitive advantage today is one that cannot be downloaded, developed, or copied. Competitors can reproduce its basic formula, offer better graphics and new heroes, or even build a technically stronger mobile MOBA. But none of that can recreate what MLBB has accumulated outside the game itself.

Nearly a decade of growth has created a layer of social capital that an MLBB competitor cannot build overnight. Millions of players already have friends in the game. Professional teams have established fan bases. Players have become celebrities whose names are recognized across borders.

Beyond that, there are domestic leagues with their own histories, rivalries, and storylines that fans have followed across multiple seasons and international championships.

Arena of Valor and League of Legends: Wild Rift illustrate how difficult it is to challenge that position. Both entered the mobile MOBA market with major publishers behind them, but neither has managed to displace MLBB’s position at the center of Southeast Asia’s mobile esports ecosystem. 

As MLBB’s community has grown, simply offering a similar — or even technically stronger — alternative has become less likely to persuade players to start over elsewhere.

MLBB‘s dominance in Southeast Asia was never the result of a single feature, hero, or tournament.

Its mobile-first design gave it the right foundation at the right time. Localization helped the game feel familiar across very different Southeast Asian markets. Its social features turned playing into a community activity, while professional leagues gave those communities players, teams, and national rivalries to support.

Over time, those advantages began reinforcing one another.

That is why MLBB‘s history may now be more important than any individual feature inside the game. Competitors can replicate the mobile MOBA formula, but they cannot recreate overnight the friendships, fanbases, rivalries, and shared moments that players have accumulated over almost a decade.

On August 28th, VCT China organization FunPlus Phoenix issued a statement announcing that it had “terminated all cooperation” with its IGL and controller, Blendi “kovaQ” Kovaci. According to FPX, the player made “inappropriate remarks while communicating with teammates during a game.”

As a result, the organization launched an internal investigation in cooperation with Riot Games before cutting ties with him. In the meantime, FPX has said it will strengthen its internal management and player education, while expressing regret for the negative impact of kovaQ’s actions.

“We will complete the necessary arrangements for upcoming competitions in accordance with the league’s final decision and regulations,” the organization stated.

The incident, however, is part of a recurring pattern in esports. While team members are expected to maintain professional conduct on stage, they sometimes fail to uphold those same standards in real life.

The result? One moment of poor judgment can end up leading to roster cuts, suspensions, lost sponsorships and, in some cases, the end of a career.

After that, the player is often left with nothing but regret, something that can also be seen in kovaQ’s statement: 

“Hello everyone, I wanted to apologize for what I wrote. I sent something to my teammate that was inappropriate towards a lot of people. In that moment, I meant it as a joke, but looking back at it, I deeply regret ever writing it.

“I made a mistake that I shouldn’t have made, and I take full responsibility for it. Thanks to FPX for the opportunity to be part of this project and for everything you’ve done for me,” he added.

And every time something similar happens, one question comes to mind: Why does the esports industry still struggle to give enough importance to consistent PR and professional conduct training?

In esports, players are competitors, entertainers, streamers, influencers, brand ambassadors, and the public faces of the organizations they represent.

Yet, while teams invest heavily in coaches, analysts, performance staff, and training facilities, one very important area still receives little attention: public relations and communications training.

As a result, we have seen multiple players and organizations face serious consequences. In 2023, Japanese VALORANT player Kim “TenTen” Tae-young was fired by NORTHEPTION after he made racist remarks during a ranked match. Riot Games later suspended him for four VCT matches.

Overwatch League player Park “Viol2t” Min-ki was fined and suspended by the San Francisco Shock in 2020 for repeated use of toxic slurs on stream.

Let’s also not forget the massive loss Team Liquid faced after Honda terminated its six-year sponsorship following an inappropriate post by its Rainbow Six player Lucas “DiasLucasBr” Dias, which was insensitive towards Japanese players.

I have sometimes personally seen players behave disrespectfully towards journalists during press conferences. I remember one player calling a fellow journalist’s question “dumb” in a particularly rude tone in front of everyone, then refused to answer it, even though the question itself was logical and not even critical.

Now, some might argue that this is simply the result of the pressure that comes with losing. But let me remind you, players do have the choice to decline press conferences and interview appearances if they are not ready to face the media.

The thing is, esports players often enter professional play at a young age (which makes sense in a profession where the mid-30s are considered old). Moreover, many have spent most of their time on PCs, communicating with others through Discord, streams, and social media platforms rather than socializing in traditional ways.

Then, as they transition into professional esports, the shift can be incredibly abrupt.

On top of that, multiple esports organizations still prioritize mechanical skill, game knowledge, and results above almost everything else. Soft skills such as communication and behavior often come second. As a result, their PR team only begins working after something has already happened and the community becomes angry.

Basically, a player who was just a normal teenager playing ranked games in their bedroom is suddenly representing an organization in front of thousands of fans.

Not only that, but they are expected to conduct interviews, appear on broadcasts, livestream regularly, remain active on social media, and fulfill sponsorship deals, often with little to no preparation.

That creates an obvious problem because players are used to the constant toxicity and unfiltered communication of competitive games. Thus, being good at an esports title does not automatically make someone good at professional communication.

However, that doesn’t mean these skills cannot be taught.

Inappropriate behavior by one team member not only hurts the person involved; it can affect everyone around them. Sponsors, for instance, don’t just want numbers, but also want to build meaningful connections with the community, making the public image of both players and organizations even more crucial.

In addition, especially in the digital world, one small mistake or controversy can go viral almost instantly, with the recent incident involving Hector “FrosT” Rosario and Global Esports being a good example of this.

I am not saying organizations need to set up extensive programs like those in traditional sports. They can simply hold regular training sessions covering multiple areas, including handling criticism, knowing when to respond publicly or remain silent, crisis communication, and more.

Some progress is already being made in this area. Clauses related to professional codes of conduct are now a part of the contracts, tournament organizers actively punish breaches of those rules, and multiple organizations work with sports psychologists to support players and staff.

However, one very important thing that needs to be kept in mind is that the goal should be to help players develop empathy, take genuine accountability, understand where they went wrong, and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

In short, PR training should not be designed to make esports players behave like traditional athletes and instead should be viewed as career protection.

Of course, this doesn’t mean team members shouldn’t engage in banter, as that’s the heart of esports. The goal is to help them understand the fine line between healthy, harmless banter and outright disrespect.

FPX and kovaQ’s incident is another reminder to the esports industry that skill alone is not enough. Unless organizations take PR and professional conduct training seriously, we may only be weeks or months away from another contract termination, suspension, or controversy.

As the dust settles on the 2026 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 2 events, we turn our attention to the crowning event of the year: Champions Shanghai. At the heart of the discussions is one simple question: which teams are the strongest in each region?

Building on an earlier analysis of the strongest VCT regions in 2026, I’ve identified four teams leading the race before Champs. Before I highlight the most impressive squads, though, here’s how I decided which ones to feature.

Many fans might disagree with my picks and would rather see fan favourites such as Paper Rex or NRG named. Instead, I selected the VCT 2026 Stage 2 winners as the strongest teams in each region. 

At the highest level of esports, teams that peak at the right time often put themselves in contention for titles. With that in mind, triumphing at Stage 2 gives each regional champion valuable momentum heading into VALORANT Champions 2026.

The elephant in the room is “recency bias” – basically, overvaluing recent events while ignoring historical context. However, recent results hold significant weight as indicators of player form and how teams tactically adapt to the current meta. 

Last but not least, Riot Games uses Stage 2 performance and Championship Points to seed the draw, which determines Champions groups. You might not agree with the reasoning for picking these teams as the “strongest,” and that’s totally fine.

Note: Individual player ratings and stats were sourced from VLR.gg and are accurate as of Sep. 7, 2026. I’ve included the overall Rating (2.0), Average Combat Score (ACS), Kill: Death (K:D), Average Damage per Round (ADR), Kills Per Round (KPR), and Kill/Assist/Survive/Trade (KAST) percentage.

There’s no better example of hitting peak form at the perfect time than 100 Thieves.

The North American juggernaut finished 4th in Stage 1 and missed qualification for both Masters events. However, they hit their stride at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026, earning a spot by sweeping LOUD 3–0 in the qualifiers. 

In front of a crowd in Paris during the EWC 2026 playoffs, 100 Thieves went on to beat MIBR 2–1, Nongshim RedForce 2–1, and finally NRG 3–1 to lift the trophy. Matthew ‘Cryocells’ Panganiban was the spearhead of the attack, earning the MVP award.

Proving that their success at EWC 2026 wasn’t a fluke, 100 Thieves proceeded to top Group Omega in VCT 2026 Stage 2 Americas with a 4–1 record. 

In the playoffs, Jordan ‘vora’ Pulwer led his team to decisive 2–0 wins over Leviatán and NRG in the upper bracket to secure a grand final spot. In a slugfest of a series, 100 Thieves took down LOUD 3–2 to earn the top Americas seed going into Champions Shanghai.

100 Thieves hold the #3 spot on the Global Power Rankings (GPR), with a 17–8 record and 1449 points. They are technically 2nd in the Americas, behind Leviatán, who failed to earn a spot at Champs.

100 Thieves roster:

Asuna was named the MVP of the VCT Americas Stage 2 grand final.

Find the individual player stats for the 100 Thieves roster outlined below. 

Ranked #2 globally and #1 in Pacific with a 16–12 record and 1455 points, Global Esports is my top pick for the Pacific region. Sorry, Paper Rex fans!

Global Esports has been slowly gaining momentum throughout the year. At the VCT Pacific Kickoff, they finished 7th–8th, and in Stage 1, they finished 3rd, qualifying for Masters London, where they finished 9th–10th. While Global Esports dropped out early at EWC 2026, they bounced back in style.

After a solid 3–2 record in Group Alpha of VCT 2026 Pacific Stage 2, Global Esports powered up during the playoffs. They defeated DRX 2–1 and VARREL 2–0, before suffering a 1–2 defeat at the hands of Nongshim RedForce. A 3–1 victory over T1 earned Global Esports a spot in the grand final.

Nongshim RedForce took a commanding 2–0 lead and, with their backs against the wall, Global Esports delivered one of the greatest comebacks in VALORANT esports history. They won the last three maps in a row to complete a historic reverse sweep.

Bouncing back from a 0–2 deficit to win Stage 2 showed incredible big-match temperament and should give Global Esports all the confidence they could need going into Champions Shanghai.

Global Esports roster

South Korean superstar Go ‘UdoTan’ Kyung-won was named the Finals MVP of VCT 2026 Pacific Stage 2.

Get acquainted with the Global Esports roster by checking out various stats.

Despite not qualifying for either Masters Santiago or Masters London, TYLOO hold the #1 spot in China and #13 globally on the GPR, with an 18–10 record and 1,321 points!

TYLOO produced improved form in Group Alpha of Stage 2, recording an impressive 4–1 record to earn a spot in the playoffs, but lost the seeding match against one of the favourites, XLG Esports.

After defeating Titan Esports Club, TYLOO got knocked down to the lower bracket by JD Gaming, who went on to beat Bilibili Gaming 2–0 for a spot in the grand final.

TYLOO impressed me with their resilience on the brink of elimination, making a dominant lower-bracket run as they eliminated All Gamers 2–0, NOVA Esports 2–0, and Bilibili Gaming 3–0.

Despite JD Gaming taking the opening map of the grand final, TYLOO stabilised and won the next three in a row to claim the trophy with a 3–1 victory.

TYLOO roster:

Indonesian player Moses ‘Splash’ Jonathan picked up four MVP awards during Stage 2, making a “splash” to help his team qualify for Champs.

Check out the individual player stats for the current TYLOO roster for an overview of their performances at VCT 2026 China Stage 2.

Ranked #9 globally and #1 in EMEA according to the GPR, Karmine Corp has 1,384 points and an 8–9 record. They did not manage to earn a spot at Masters Santiago or Masters London.

Karmine Corp performed poorly at both the Kickoff and Stage 1 events. After finishing 9th–12th at EWC 2026, their season looked beyond recovery. However, they bounced back in VCT EMEA Stage 2, showing improvements in both individual form and tactical depth. 

Karmine Corp topped Group Omega with a 4–1 record. In the upper bracket of the playoffs, Hazem ‘avez’ Khaled led his team to a 2–1 win over Enterprise Esports and an impressive 2–0 sweep of FUT Esports.

In the grand final against Team Liquid, one of the favourites, Karmine Corp showed no mercy, winning convincingly 3–1 to lift the trophy.

Karmine Corp roster:

Kazakhstani star Dastan ‘dos9’ Zhumagali was named the MVP of the grand final, testing Team Liquid at every turn.

For an overview of Karmine Corp’s player performances throughout VCT 2026 EMEA Stage 2, check out the table below.

The changes to League of Legends’ Tier 2 system have long been whispered about, but the lack of commitment has created a regional imbalance among teams.

Riot has now made its first step in making Tier 2 a healthier ecosystem. The company announced a collaboration with TJ Sports to host the 2026 World Star Challengers Invitational, featuring 16 Tier 2 teams from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, to support player development.

The event will take place from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2, featuring teams from the five League of Legends regions, and will serve as a test pilot for the potential of other Tier 2 international events in the future. Fans can watch the event on their regional Tier 2 channel on various platforms.

The format was met with cautious optimism by players and coaches in the North American Challengers League – the Tier 2 system in the United States and Canada.

“I honestly am very pleasantly surprised that an event like this is happening involving the T2 space and would be very excited if I got the opportunity to play in it,” NRG top laner Frankie “Zamudo” Lin said to Esports Insider.

Riot revealed the event in a blog post, announcing the dates and format.

Each region will have its own pathway to qualify for the event, with three teams per region – North and South America, Asia, Asia-Pacific Islands (APAC), and Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) advancing to the event. The final spot will join the 2026 Asia Masters Champion Dplus Kia Challengers for the event.

The teams will be drawn into four-team groups, with rules stating that the teams from Pool 1 and 2 will not be joined by another team from their region. The teams will play in a best-of-one, double round-robin tournament. The group stage is set to begin Sept. 20 and conclude Sept. 25.

Teams that qualify out of the group stage move onto a single-elimination bracket from Sept. 27 to Oct. 2. All series in the playoffs will be the best of five.

While the event has been announced, details on where it will be played have not been revealed, nor even what support Riot and TJ Sports will provide teams for travel.

Additionally, the NACL team that qualifies will have about nine days’ notice before figuring out all the logistics of getting to the event.

“I wish the NACL had more than one spot, and we had a bit more time,” Cupid Esports coach Samuel “boc” Boudrie said to me. “I’m just happy that Tier 2 is getting more resources, so I’ll take it.”

The NACL has five teams remaining – Cupid Esports, NRG, Maryville University, Winthrop University, and Conviction Gaming – competing in the NACL Playoffs to earn a spot in the LCS.

But the WSCI provides a few things for the NACL.

The first is that it provides players with an opportunity to play internationally and get exposed to other playstyles and cultural differences.

“There is stuff to learn from every region,” boc said. “EU is no slouch, especially at the top end of the Tier 2 level. The common sentiment I’ve heard is that Tier 2 Asian teams are superior mechanically, but not as adept at the macro level.”

The biggest thing that boc sees as a benefit beyond having an international event is the ability to see different team constructions and talent pools.

“It can get really stagnant just playing against the top 7 or 20 permanently,” boc said.

Contingent team owner Jose “beardsandcats” Graham viewed it as a “ray of light” for the Tier 2 scene, which has seen a decline in play quality and viewership in North America.

“The WSCI is a ray of light for not just current Tier 2 players and organizations, but potential up-and-coming ones,” beardsandcats said. “It shows that Riot wants to continue its effort in investing into Tier 2 League of Legends.

“Contingent is, was, and will continue to pursue player development as a key part of what we do. This tournament gives a window to play and practice vs international talent, which I think will be a huge boon for players’ development overall.”

As for Riot, the long-term goal is to foster a stronger Tier 2 scene where players develop by regularly playing against styles they don’t typically encounter in their home regions.

“Playing against unfamiliar opponents to different styles, strategies, and competitive environments, while giving the players the experience of performance in higher stakes environments,” the press release said.

The event joins Riot’s increase in events, which added China and expanded its Demacia Cup to invite international competition, which runs Oct. 3 to Oct. 17. Once the Demacia Cup ends, with the teams from Tier 1 that didn’t qualify, the World Championships start Oct. 23.

“Going to Worlds is something very important for every player from bronze to Rank 1,” boc said. “I have dreamed about something [that would happen] in my prime.”

Many questions remain, such as where the event will take place and whether there will be a second iteration.

But if NRG mid-laner Kolby “Phymini” Ashby has his way, the event would become a staple in the Tier 2 ecosystem.

“I have always worried about the livelihood of Tier 2,” Phymini said. “Announcing this feels like creating hope for the future.”