The pair swept aside 3DMAX and MOUZ, respectively, to earn a place in the upper bracket final, securing a place in the top six and a chance to compete at the TAURON Arena.

Team Vitality Maintains Flawless Record

Having defeated BC.Game with a convincing 2-0 scoreline, the defending Major champions took on a 3DMAX side, continuing to spearhead the resurgence of an all-French line-up making an impact on the international stage.

Despite signs of 3DMAX putting up a fight, Team Vitality put its opponent to the sword with a dominant 13-6 victory on Inferno, led by 21 eliminations from Shahar ‘flameZ‘ Shushan. Dust II saw Team Vitality demonstrate its attacking prowess, scoring nine rounds out of a possible 12 in the opening half.

3DMAX managed to string together three attacking rounds of its own in the second half, but Team Vitality’s defence held strong for four rounds to complete a 13-6 win and another 2-0 sweep.

The result continues Team Vitality’s strong Kraków campaign. The French organisation is yet to concede a map across its opening two matches.

Aurora Gaming Heads To Playoffs

After failing to earn a place in Stage 3 of the Budapest Major, Aurora Gaming’s decision to sign Caner ‘soulfly‘ Kesici has paid off with the Turkish team earning a place in its first playoffs since victory at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025.

Nothing could separate Aurora Gaming and MOUZ in the first half of Dust II, until Aurora’s defence in the second half proved pivotal in halting one of 2025’s most consistent teams. 17 eliminations from Engin ‘MAJER‘ Küpeli led the charge to a 13-7 win for an early lead in the best-of-three.

Aurora Gaming’s defence remained a focal point on Inferno, securing an 8-4 lead at halftime. Even with a late resurgence from MOUZ, the Turkish attack continued to break through to round off the map with a 13-9 scoreline and complete the 2-0 victory.

IEM Kraków 2026 Playoffs

Team Vitality and Aurora Gaming join G2 Esports and Team Spirit in the IEM Kraków 2026 playoffs, with two more teams joining them as the Group Stage reaches its climax.

Team Vitality and Aurora Gaming will face off in the upper bracket final of Group B to determine which team enters the playoffs with the higher seed. The top seed starts the playoffs in the semi-finals, while the runner-up begins in the quarter-finals.

Fans can tune into the remaining Group Stage matches across ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

The trio successfully navigated through the Play-In’s upper bracket, scoring two victories across the tournament’s first two days.

Parivision’s Form Continues

After knocking HEROIC into the lower bracket in its opening match, Parivision continued its recent run of strong form by booking its place in the group stage with a 2-1 victory over Aurora Gaming. 

A one-versus-two clutch in the opening map from Vladislav ‘xiELO’ Lysov helped solidify the defence of the BLAST Bounty Season 1 champion, taking Mirage with a convincing 13-5 scoreline. 

Aurora Gaming’s pick of Anubis heavily favoured the team famous for its strong performances on the map. A 13-5 win for Aurora Gaming levelled the series, but Parivision’s class shone through on the deciding Dust II.

A dominant 10-2 half built a lead impossible for Aurora Gaming to overcome. In the end, Parivision closed out the map with a 13-4 scoreline to wrap up a 2-1 series victory and highlight itself as one of the event’s dark horses.

3DMAX Dominates BC.Game

Earlier in the competition, 3DMAX successfully fended off FUT Esports in a tricky best-of-three that required overtime in the first two maps. This victory set up a clash against a BC.Game side that was also riding a wave of momentum after sweeping aside Legacy. 

A lack of cohesion from BC.Game was evident from the outset, with 3DMAX showcasing superior teamplay to take Overpass 13-3. Despite Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev almost completing an unlikely one-versus-four clutch on Anubis, 3DMAX rounded out the second map with an impressive 13-4 scoreline to secure a dominant 2-0 sweep and move on to the next stage.

G2 Esports Marches On

Despite the absence of Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic, Team Liquid has continued to display signs of brilliance during its Kraków campaign. However, in its way was G2 Esports, which remains among the world’s best teams in the early stages of 2026. 

G2 Esports began the series with an excellent attacking display, winning seven rounds in the second half of Mirage to take Team Liquid’s map pick 13-8, securing an early lead. Not backing down, Team Liquid answered back on the BLAST Open London champion’s pick of Inferno, halting any kind of attack to build an 11-1 lead at halftime.

G2 Esports mounted a slight comeback in the second half, but two attacking wins from Team Liquid wrapped up a 13-6 win to force an Anubis decider. 

Similar to Mirage, the offence of G2 Esports proved too strong for Team Liquid in the first half, earning a 9-3 lead after 12 rounds. Still, Team Liquid reduced the deficit, along with breaking the G2 Esports economy in round 19 to take the lead, thanks to a sublime performance from Roland ‘ultimate’ Tomkowiak on AWPing duties. G2 Esports answered back with three defensive rounds to send the map and series to overtime. 

Ultimately, it was G2 that emerged victorious after trading rounds back and forth with Team Liquid, taking Anubis 16-14 to round off a hotly contested 2-1 victory. 

IEM Kraków 2026 Day 3 Details

Day three of IEM Kraków 2026 features more teamslooking to secure one of the remaining places at the event’s Group Stage. The remaining upper and lower bracket matches take place from 1 PM GMT on January 30th.

Fans can watch the remaining teams across ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels

Nossa equipe de suporte está sempre pronta para auxiliar. Se você busca um ambiente seguro aliado a entretenimento de qualidade, a 46e.com é sua escolha perfeita.

Gentle Mates and BBL Esports have qualified for the 2026 VCT EMEA Kickoff Upper Bracket Finals after securing semi-final victories earlier today (January 29th).

As a result, both teams are just one series away from qualifying for the first VCT global event of the season, VALORANT Masters Santiago.

The teams’ opponents, NAVI and Team Vitality, respectively, have dropped down to the Middle Bracket.

Gentle Mates Clean Sweeps NAVI

Gentle Mates’ revamped roster has completely turned the organisation’s fortune around, as it hasn’t lost even a single map so far at VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026. 

The team started with a clean 4-0 on Abyss before NAVI fought back to close the gap to 3-4. However, M8 refused to provide the Ukrainian organisation with many opportunities for the rest of the map, comfortably closing out game one with a 13-7 victory.

The story of the second map, Bind, was also pretty similar. NAVI fell seven rounds behind as the scoreline hit 8-1 in the opponent’s favour. Although NAVI managed to win five rounds back-to-back, the French side stole momentum back to secure the map 13-9 and the series 2-0.

Gentle Mates’ Martin ‘marteen’ Pátekand and Patrik ‘Minny’ Hušekwere were the standout players, with both achieving a 1.36 rating, along with the KDAs of 46/30/11 and 36/22/18, respectively.

BBL Esports Outshines Star-Studded Team Vitality

Next up, Team Vitality, stacked with big names in VALORANT, went up against an in-form BBL Esports, which consists of the PCIFIC Esports’ Ascension-winning roster.

On the opening map, Haven, the Turkish side dominated from the start as it put 4-0 on the board. However, Team Vitality snatched away the lead with five consecutive round wins. Whilst the first half ended evenly with a 6-6 scoreline, BBL’s aggression in the second half proved to be deadly. In the end, the young BBL roster concluded the map with a 13-9 win.

Map two, Abyss, was full of nail-biting rounds. Still, BBL narrowly came out on top almost every time, thanks to a bunch of insane clutches from its players. Team Vitality failed to take the lead even once during the second map, despite trying to put up a fight in the second half. Ultimately, BBL Esports won Abyss 13-8 and the series 2-0, pulling off what some would consider an unlikely sweep.

BBL Esports’ Umut ‘lovers rock’ Pekdoğan was the best performer of the series, finishing with a 1.42 rating and a 41/29/23 KDA.

Gentle Mates and BBL Esports will meet on February 13th to compete for the first EMEA seed at Masters Santiago. That match, alongside every other Kickoff clash, will be streamed live on VCT EMEA’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.

The Esports World Cup Foundation has announced the inaugural Esports Nations Cup will feature a $20m (~£14.4m) prize pool.

The multi-national esports event taking place from November 2nd to 29th introduces a placement-based framework where every player who qualifies earns prize money in their respective title.

ENC’s $45m Commitment

Overall, the Esports World Cup Foundation will commit a total of $45m (~£32.6m) to support the esports industry with prize money, incentives for esports organisations, and the development of national teams.

In addition to the $20m prize pool, $5m (~£3.6m) will be distributed to organisations that allow their players to compete in the Esports Nations Cup. Rewards are tied to player performance during the event.

If an organisation fields a player who places in the top 16, 40% of that player’s earnings from the event will be provided to the organisation as an incentive bonus. This will be separate from the amount the player has gained.

“National teams bring a powerful new layer to esports, one that is accessible, intuitive, and rooted in identity and pride,” said Ralf Reichert, CEO of the Esports World Cup Foundation. “Our prize model is designed to keep competition fair and sustainable, rewarding performance while supporting the long-term development of players, Clubs, and national programmes.”

The remaining $20m comes from the Esports Nations Cup Development Fund, an initiative supporting the growth and development of national esports teams. Support ranges from event travel to assisting marketing programmes designed to spread the awareness of teams taking part in the event.

Esports Nations Cup 2026 Games

So far, the Esports World Cup Foundation has revealed three of the 16 titles featuring at the inaugural Esports Nations Cup.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will feature, due to the Foundation collaborating with MOONTON Games, which is one of the event’s publishing partners. Elsewhere, arcade racing title Trackmania joins the lineup through a deal with Ubisoft Nadeo.

On January 28th, Dota 2 became the third title featured at the Esports Nations Cup. 32 national teams will compete in the MOBA title for a chance to be crowned the first ENC champion.

After a tough opening stretch, the team picked up two crucial wins in a row last week, bringing its LEC record to 2–4 and firmly keeping its playoff hopes alive.

Following the team’s second consecutive victory against Shifters, Esports Insider sat down with Los Ratones’ support Martin ‘Rekkles‘ Larsson to reflect on the team’s recent performances. 

While pleased with the results, Rekkles remains clear-eyed about where improvements are needed. Pointing at a better use of bot lane pressure, the support aims at reaching a stronger map control by potentially shifting his champion choices.

Read the full interview below.

Esports Insider: How are you feeling after your second win in LEC Versus?

Rekkles: I felt really good right after we won, but I would say the more time goes, and the less emotions I have, the more I realise we got away with something we probably shouldn’t have today. Yesterday [against Team Heretics], it felt like we deserved a win, and today it felt like we did not. But right after, of course, I was really happy because we really needed a win today. 

Today was super duper important, and I’m just really happy we managed to do it. Somehow, I think there have been games where we should have won, and we lost. So maybe it’s just like the world evening out, you have some games you lose that you should win, and you have some games you win that you should lose, and it felt like today was one of the games we probably should have lost, but we won.

So, 2-4 after six games, I think all things considered, that’s a win in our expectations because coming here has been really tough and especially with the short time span we have to work with compared to other teams, it feels like it’s kind of mission impossible doing this. So two and four after six games, definitely meeting expectations in that regard. And now it’s nice to have the opportunity to control our own fate. 

For example, if we went into next week 1-5 or even 0-6, we would have to basically win every game or hope for results in other games. Now it definitely feels like if we’re good enough, we’re going to make it. If we’re not good enough, we’re not going to make it. That’s nice to know. I prefer this situation to having to count games. This team has to win against that team, ‘blah, blah, blah’. It is never nice to be in that situation, so I prefer this one much more. Now it’s on our own plate. 

ESI: What do you think you have to work on this week to improve further?

Rekkles: I think we have an issue where it was kind of the same in the Karmine Corp Blue (KCB) game — both games I played Nami — I feel like we are really strong bot lane in theory, but when we play on stage, everyone’s a little bit more scared, so we don’t really use that bot pressure for anything. There are situations where the enemy support is roaming, and I cannot really follow because Nami’s gameplay is very connected to my ADC. I cannot run around and do whatever other supports can do with Nami. I’m very much tied to the AD Carry, and my power comes through my ADC. So the game is played in a little bit of a different way. 

I think in the KCB game and this game (against Shifters), both games I have played Nami, and we struggled on the map. It felt like they had all the pressure, all the vision, and we were kind of just giving space all the time. They would slowly chip away at our towers, they would take the objectives, and they would have all the deep vision, and eventually we’d just lose from nothing. I think against an even better team than today — or an even better team than KCB in that game two that we played this week — we don’t get a chance to actually come back into the game and fight our way back into the game because before that, we’re too behind. 

I think it’s really important that we either A, figure out how to play with these supports that stick more to our ADC or B, just stop playing these supports and try to play a support that helps with the map more. I think it’s just an honest discussion we need to have as a team, what kind of direction we want to take moving forward now, because obviously, these games we are in a pretty tough spot and it would be nice to be able to contest the game from the get go and not let the enemy team get a gold lead and all that. I think it might be a better approach to have me on roaming support and play around Nemesis, for example.

ESI: Speaking about supports, there are a lot of people asking when you’re going to play your Janna. How do you think she fits in the current meta?

Rekkles: Sadly, Janna has no place right now in the meta, and I also stopped playing her after last year. So when I went to Korea in 2024, my first year of support, Janna was one of my strongest champions together with Senna and Ashe — which is quite a weird champion pool to start with — but that’s where I started last year. Then I dropped the Senna, and I dropped the Ashe, and I played a little bit of Janna. 

But basically every time I played Janna, I felt like I was handicapping my team, and in the end, I think I should do everything I can to help my team, not necessarily to help myself. Even though I’m really good at Janna and it would feel great to play Janna, and I’m very comfortable with her, I think I wouldn’t help my team the best I can. So I kind of dropped her now, sadly. 

But I think I have some champions I haven’t played that I’m really good at, for example, I think I’m really good with Rakan. He’s probably my most-played support since I made the swap in 2024. I think I’m a really good Alistair player as well and a really good Neeko player too, and I’ve played neither of these champions yet. So even though we’re playing best-of-one, and maybe I don’t get the chance to play them, I don’t feel like I’m restricted in any way. I feel like if the situation arises, I can easily pull out some more champions that I haven’t played yet that I feel really good on, maybe even better on than Nami. 

I think both Nami and Braum are also good champions for me, but I really want to use Rakan. I think I’m really good, and I think my Neeko improved a lot. I’ve been playing a lot of Neeko to get her ready. I think she’s a very game-impacting support because with Neeko, you can make miracle plays out of nowhere; other supports don’t really have that upside. 

Sometimes, if you’re in a bad state, for example, with Nami, you can’t really do anything to come back into the game. But I think with Neeko, with Rakan, you have that. With Alistair, you have that too. So even though we’re playing best-of-one and I can’t really control how many champions I play it, it would be fun to make it to the best-of-three and actually get to show a bit more.

I think I have worked really hard on my champion pool, and it’ll be nice to show that. Not for anyone else really, just for myself to be on stage and actually play different champions and show my strength every time. I guess in the end I just want to go further than the best-of-one stage.

I feel like best-of-ones don’t satisfy me as a League of Legends player. I have played this game for 16 years now, and 12 of those years were professionally, so when I only get to play one champ, I feel like I’m not expressing myself in the way I think I can on the Rift. I would really like to go best-of-three, best-of-five, especially with Fearless Draft in place, and showcase my improvement as a support and my champion pool. I think best-of-one, sadly, we are just quite limited with one champion per day.

ESI: Having played both as an ADC and a support as a pro, what are the qualities that you looked for in a support and are really important for a support player to develop?

Rekkles: I think when I played ADC, my best supports were always the ones that created space for me, which is kind of a weakness of my own now when I’m playing Support. Because, I think very much like an ADC.

So sometimes my positioning is in the wrong place, and it’s not that I’m intentionally putting myself there. It happens almost unintentionally, so to speak, because I have all these years as AN ADC, then my natural instinct is to place myself as if I were one. But I think that’s something I have gotten better at. 

For example, when I played in 2024 in Korea, my range supports were good, and my melee champions were terrible. I couldn’t play a melee champion, even though I tried really hard; I just couldn’t do it. My Leona wasn’t good, my Alistar wasn’t good. There were even a few I didn’t actually play, and I worked on that a lot last year.

So coming into the LEC, I’m not scared to play a melee champion because I think I really improved on how to create space and be helpful for my carry to take a better position in team fights. 

Even though I played Nami and Bard so far, which doesn’t really do this, I think my Braum games have been pretty good, and if I got to play Alistar or Rakan, I think I could really make a lot of space. For me, this was the biggest thing I noticed when I played ADC myself. The Supports that gave me space were the best ones because they would allow me to then play my best game. 

I think, especially now as well, ADCs are really strong. So if I can put Crownie in a good spot, then there’s a high chance we actually win the game. Because right now, ADC is a strong enough role to actually carry the game. If we get the ADC to a certain item situation, or on a specific champion, on a specific draft. For example, the Caitlyn, I think is working really well for us. It seems like it scales really well and we still have a strong lane. So I definitely think the more I can improve on this and the more I can help my ADC, the higher the chances of us winning. 

Kyrylo ‘ANGE1’ Karasov is a true esports veteran, carrying nearly 20 years of competitive experience in Counter-Strike and VALORANT.

Following a three-year tenure as NAVI’s in-game leader (IGL),  ANGE1 announced his retirement in late 2025. But rather than enjoying a well-deserved break from competition, the VALORANT legend has returned to support his organisation as its new Head Coach.

“I know the team is prepared,” ANGE1 told Esports Insider in an exclusive interview following his first series win against Karmine Corp at the 2026 VCT EMEA Kickoff. “Obviously, not everything works. We still have a lot of gaps and some misunderstandings. […] But I’m not sure if I went back in time, I could have done the preparation better.”

ANGE1 spent almost 15 years as a professional Counter-Strike athlete before making the switch to VALORANT in 2020. Throughout his time in VALORANT esports and VCT, the Ukrainian player became known for his fearless Omen playstyle and unique strategies. 

ANGE1 On His Approach To Coaching

When asked how his unconventional in-game leadership might affect his coaching style, ANGE1 responded: “I’m not always going for it to be unique strats or unique comps. I have a few priorities. First priority is players’ comfortability. […] I want my players to deliver so I want to make sure they’re playing comfortable agents, comfortable spots. Sometimes it even makes me use an agent which I would not, that I don’t think it is optimal for the map.”

However, the new coach still sees value in playing off-meta team compositions and throwing the occasional curveball at his opponents.

“It’s much better if you play comps outside the meta because enemies are not practising against it. They’re not playing officials against it. So each new game will be something new. And it adds up. Like two or three rounds per game, we just win by surprise factor. […]  And then of course, if I see both of these click, you might see something special. But in the end, the win is what matters.”

ANGE1’s coaching vision appears to be right on target so far, as NAVI secured a confident 2-0 victory against KC, also marking his first appearance sitting in the VCT coaching booth.

“It was fine. You’d think I’d be more nervous, but when you prepare the team, when you see that the team is actually prepared, that it has all the tools to deal with most things – both inside and outside the game – you feel pretty calm,” explained the retired player.

“Maybe it’s gonna become more nervous later […] when it’s gonna get too shaky, but right now, I’m good.”

Shao Steps Into ANGE1’s Shoes

When ANGE1 stepped away from NAVI’s active roster to pursue coaching, he left a significant structural gap within the lineup. For nearly three years, the players relied on his decisive leadership, both on and off the server, to establish the team a consistent top-three contender in VCT EMEA.

It seems self-explanatory why Andrei ‘Shao’ Kiprskii, the only person to have played alongside ANGE1 for the longest time, was chosen as his IGL successor on NAVI. 

Just like ANGE1, Shao started his VALORANT esports journey with orgless team PartyParrots before joining FunPlus Phoenix in mid-2020 and NAVI two years later. This makes him the longest-standing active player on the roster, followed by Emirhan ‘hiro’ Kat and Uğur ‘Ruxic’ Gü, who were signed in 2024.

“I’m 90% sure that with any other IGL, it would be much harder. Because we played so much with Shao. We have the same vision. We went through the same wins, the same losses, and we actually understand the game the same way,” emphasised ANGE1.

As a retired IGL turned Head Coach, ANGE1 has focused on making Shao’s transition into the IGL role as seamless as possible.

“Right now, I’m trying to take off as much work from Shao’s shoulders as possible. I’m trying to do strats. I’m trying to do defaults, game plans. I want to give him all the tools possible to react to anything happening on the server,” explained ANGE1 in the post-match interview.

“Yes, it might be sloppy in the beginning because, for example, even though we both love playing rounds slow to burn down the time, sometimes he’s not experienced enough to manipulate rotations properly. And it’s fine. We lost today, even 3/2 rounds because of it. But it will come with time, and it’s an important part of the game.”

ANGE1’s Goals For NAVI in 2026

Heading into the 2026 VCT season, ANGE1’s retirement was not the only major change to the NAVI roster.

The organisation bid farewell to Alex ‘alexiiik’ Hawlasek, signing former KOI duelist Dawid ‘Filu’ Czarnecki and BBL Esports’ Volkan ‘sociablEE’ Yönal. According to Ange1, hiro has also gone through some role adjustments.

With this in mind, ANGE1 has set fundamental goals for his team: “My goal for Kickoff is for us to be consistent. […] Care about advantage. Make sure we have the mentals on the proper level and this the main focus. Yeah, we might be a bit off in individual decisions still, but I want to have structure.

“I want to start with a structure and then out of that give more and more freedom when people actually have something to go back to. Because I don’t want them to join the server and they have to improvise to win. I want them to have a basic structure where they go and play with.”

Similarly, while NAVI has showcased the potential to become a top-performing team in VCT EMEA, ANGE1 is not seeking result-based targets or qualification for a global event. Instead, he aims to keep his players focused on whatever match comes next.

“I never set goals to like top three or top two. I tell my team that our goal is to win the next game,” shared ANGE1 with Esports Insider. “Focus on this task and do your best. Whatever happens happens. It’s a game. It’s like if you think too much about some goals, results or qualifying to LAN or getting top two […] you’re gonna lose the focus on what is important.”

NAVI will return to stage on January 23rd to face Team Heretics and the match will be streamed live on VCT EMEA’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.

Two weeks after the start of the new season, the League of Legends developer is looking to tune down some of the best-performing champions in pro play and solo queue, while buffing six champions. Patch 26.2 is scheduled to go live on Thursday, January 22nd.

Esports Insider dives into some of the biggest changes and how they could impact the competitive ecosystem.

Nerfs in the Jungle Pool and Bandlepipes

The focus of the second update in the 2026 season is on jungle champions, with nerfs targeting Gwen, Jayce, Malphite, Nunu and Willump, Lillia, and Zed.

In particular, Gwen and Lillia have been performing exceptionally well, with both their win rates above 52%, according to the data platform lolalytics. The former has been abusing the new item, Dusk and Dawn, and both champions are taking advantage of the power farming meta in the jungle.

With the introduction of Faelights, which lower the success rate of ganks, as well as the removal of Atakhan, junglers are now focused on farming as quickly as possible to gain resources and experience on the map.

Zed and Jayce have also been quite strong in recent weeks, with the assassin getting a major nerf to its jungle monster modifier. Jayce, despite the lower damage on the Q, should still be a powerful pick due to his flex potential. Speaking of flex picks, Malphite is also getting nerfed due to its high pick status, both as a top laner and a jungler.

Support item Bandlepipes is also getting a major nerf, with the item’s cost increasing by 300 gold. Built by nearly all support champions with crowd controls, its value was way too high at its current state, according to Riot Games.

Varus and Taliyah Receive Love

Among the buffs, the main benefactors of the patch are expected to be Taliyah and Varus. The latter is getting extra damage on both his Q and W, which should push him higher in the priority list.

Taliyah, on the other hand, is getting increased bonus damage to monsters, which might push her to become a flex pick between mid and jungle, further increasing her priority.

While the Master Yi and Viego buffs should improve their clear speed, the jungle meta is still set to favour other power farming champions.

How Will This Impact Esports?

Even though it’s still early to make a clear breakdown of the competitive meta, the first indications seem to be pointing at a mid-focused meta.

Teams that can snowball their respective mid laners on scaling mages will generally have a higher chance of success. To achieve this, teams need to have a strong priority in the bottom lane, which will then allow the support and jungle to make plays on the rest of the map.

Nonetheless, the bot lane will still need good late-game scaling, given the increased power from the introduction of Role Quests. This is why the bot lane meta is primarily dominated by champions like Yunara, Corki, and Aphelios, as all these champions have some of the highest DPS in the late stages of the game.

The only outlier was Varus due to his stronger early-game with his long-range poke. Given he’s getting buffed in Patch 26.2, fans could see more of him in the coming weeks.

Aside from that, however, the meta is set to be somewhat similar. Jayce and Sivir might drop in priority following the nerfs, but both are likely going to stay relevant, especially in the Fearless best-of-series era.

Both teams have advanced to the next round of the Upper Bracket, where the organisations will battle against Team Heretics and GIANTX, respectively.

The losing squads, on the other hand, will be continuing VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026 in the Middle Bracket, starting January 21st.

NAVI Clean Sweeps Karmine Corp

The opening map, Split, was NAVI’s pick, and the roster was ready to dominate on stage as it led 7-2 in the opening first half. That said, Karmine Corp won three back-to-back rounds to reach a respectable score heading into the second half.

However, the French team was not able to carry over that momentum, as NAVI claimed five of the first seven rounds to reach match point. Karmine Corp once again fought back, but it wasn’t enough, with the Ukrainian organisation closing out map one 13-11.

Karmine Corp struggled heavily on Haven, as the scoreline once again started 7-2 in NAVI’s favour. The team attempted to recover in the second half but managed to win only five rounds, allowing NAVI to secure a 13-7 victory and lock down the series 2-0.

Uğur ‘Ruxic‘ Güç was the highest-performing player of the series, finishing with 1.28 rating and a 37/25/13 KDA.

Gentle Mates Return to VCT With a Win

Gentle Mates was relegated to Challengers after failing to qualify for Champions Paris or the EMEA Stage 2 playoffs. However, the organisation quickly returned to VCT for another year, this time as a partnered team, following KOI’s removal from the International League.

Gentle Mates was the worst-performing team in EMEA in 2025, winning just three series across the entire season. As such, heading into the 2026 VCT season, its entire roster was revamped, with Patrik ‘Minny‘ Hušek being the only player retained.

The new line-up made its VCT debut against FUT Esports on Abyss, racing to a 4-0 lead before the opposition levelled the scores with four consecutive round wins. The French side regained control and concluded the half with a 7-5 advantage.

The second half belonged entirely to Gentle Mates. Despite FUT Esports winning the first two rounds, Gentle Mates hit match point without dropping a single round and ultimately secured the map at a 13-8 scoreline.

Gentle Mates was even more dominant on its map pick, Split, as the first half concluded at 8-4. FUT Esports was not able to fight back as it managed to secure just two rounds in the second half before M8 closed out the map by 13-6 and the series by 2-0.

While Gentle Mates’ IGL Patryk ‘starxo‘ Kopczyński was the highest-rated player of the match with 1.31 rating, FUT’s duelist Doğan ‘xeus‘ Gözgen delivered a tremendous performance, achieving the highest ACS of 240.

Round two of the VCT EMEA Kickoff Upper Bracket will see NAVI facing Team Heretics, while Gentle Mates will go up against GIANTX on January 22nd. All the matches will be streamed live on VCT EMEA’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.

Since its launch in 2024, the Esports World Cup (EWC) has generated a wealth of debate from within the whole esports community. 

The annual multi-title event, organised by the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF), takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and has raised concerns around inclusivity since its creation. 

Ahead of this year’s edition, Mike McCabe, COO of the Esports World Cup Foundation and Fabian Scheurmann, Chief Games Officer, discussed LGBTQ+ and women’s representation at the event in a press conference attended by Esports Insider.

More Competitive Opportunities

At the press conference, McCabe reiterated to Esports Insider that everyone is welcome to compete at the Esports World Cup, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. 

“Everybody is welcome. Everyone who competes at EWC is welcome to the Kingdom. What Saudi Arabia is trying to do to shift the culture is to support competitive play,” he stated.

In recent years, the Saudi Esports Federation has invested in the women’s esports industry as part of its National Gaming and Esports Strategy. As a result, the Saudi eLeague hosts regional women’s tournaments for numerous titles, including VALORANT and Overwatch 2.

“As for the tournaments we have, we would love to have more competitive tournaments for women in EWC,” added McCabe. 

“What we need to do is work with publishers to build the circuits and pathways for those competitions to get onto the big stage. We hope that we have more and more women’s competitions in the future.”

While the Esports World Cup continues to reaffirm its stance on inclusivity, Saudi Arabia’s stance on LGBTQ+ communities still remains an area of concern. Homosexuality in the Kingdom is illegal and punished, resulting in backlash from several members of the community. In June 2025, Apex Legends player Hambino refused to attend the ALGS Mid-Season Playoffs due to the Kingdom’s human rights record and concerns for their safety.

Last year, geography-based guessing game GeoGuessr withdrew from the Esports World Cup Festival, an event that runs alongside the EWC. The creators of the title’s maps used for competitive play made them unavailable in protest of GeoGuessr’s presence in the festival. Shortly after the protest, GeoGuessr became the first title associated with the EWC to withdraw.

For the 2026 edition of the Esports World Cup, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) will once again feature a dedicated women’s tournament. The MLBB Women’s International will see 16 teams from across the world competing for its $500,000 (~£372,939) prize pool and to be crowned world champion.

The MLBB women’s esports scene is widely regarded as one of the most popular women’s ecosystems in the industry, alongside the likes of VALORANT. 

The Importance Of Ecosystems

Stable esports ecosystems play a pivotal role in providing a platform for women to compete in events for their respective titles. For several years, ESL Impact acted as the world’s biggest women’s Counter-Strike circuit, offering large prize pools and attracting major organisations. 

However, in October 2025, ESL suspended the circuit indefinitely, citing an unsustainable economic model behind the decision. When asked about the potential for hosting a women’s Counter-Strike event as part of EWC, Scheurmann revealed that more needs to be done to improve stability. 

“We cannot carry ecosystems by themselves. Imagine you have a three or four-day tournament once a year, that’s not an ecosystem. You need to give professional players something to do all year round.”

He continued: “If we see that there are ecosystems being built for women, we will continue to double down on those, but they need to be existing, and it can’t be only us. If we see that they are growing, we are super happy to include them or consider them for inclusion in the future.”

Following the suspension of ESL Impact, ESL FACEIT Group joined forces with Brace for Impact to support women’s Counter-Strike as organisers look to fill the void left by the circuit’s absence.

“Hopefully, more organisers create more women’s tournaments for CS,” the Esports World Cup Foundation’s Chief Games Officer added.

“This will also help us make sure that we will introduce women’s Counter-Strike esports.”