Jokes aside he actually plays Neon like a traditional Jett/Yoru duelist. Which looks funny but ends up working quite well if the team plays around it. And unlike what the meme says he does his share of entrying and aggro tanking.
Seen a lot of talk about the round damage thing but that might nor apply here.
According this particular rule, the officials could have restored the round or awarded the point to FUT but chose not to for reasons that have yet to been disclosed.
CN naming >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
| Balance metric | Masters London 2026 | Champions 2025 | More balanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest usage | 63% (Omen) | 80% (Omen) | London |
| Standard deviation | 16.95 | 19.86 | London |
| Top 5 slot percent | 44.7% | 54.3% | London |
| Unique agents | 23/29 | 23/27 | Tie but we've been hearing rumours of a Miks Ascent 👀 |
The compositional spread is also interesting:
| Event | Controller | Duelist | Initiator | Sentinel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters London 2026 | 25.7% | 31.7% | 22.2% | 20.4% |
| Champions 2025 | 29.5% | 26.7% | 26.7% | 17.0% |
London wins out just by a bit, if going by deviation.
Personal thoughts:
Masters London seems a lot more duelist-centric, due to the rise of Phoenix and the fall of initiators, but it has also saw a more balanced spread across the controller-sentinel divide. The omen nerfs seemed like a huge win for balance.
It is to be noted that the current map pool plays a huge factor in this perceived balance. Personally I don't think the data should be read as a sign that sentinels are more meta in London when Fracture and Ascent exists, AND especially with the existence of a certain team comp that can be seen as an outlier. Nonetheless, sentinels had a massive uptick from Santaigo and are much more viable now after Yoru nerfs, and we have saw many outstanding sentinel mains being elevated as the best players of this tournament (Happywei, Yetujey, Vookashu, D4v4i, Neon's Chamber, etc. etc.)
Patch 13.0 is generally viewed as this highly anticipated buff patch. Restoring some strength to the initiators and sentinels is much needed to tone down the duelist usage and orient that game towards that idealized uniform 25% spread. However, there will always be concerns regarding over-adjustment and upsetting this healthier balance.
Imo, this is still not a win for Patch 11.08. We did get months of Waylay/Yoru/Neon dominance and lacklustre sentinel usage, and it took months of balancing to restore the meta to this stat. One light Yoru and Neon nerf post-champs might have done the trick just as well.
I'm a little surprised how many people made GE getting grouped out to such a big upset when NRG, who were supposed to be trophy contenders, getting upset by FUT seems to be a way bigger deal. I don't see a lot of people having GE in playoffs, and for their first international event (after their first ever playoffs), its a pretty ok showing.
I think FUT surprised everyone the most (as the only third seed to qualify), but the firepower on this team is undeniable. XLG lucked out a little with their last two draws, but 11th might have been a little harsh considering that this isn't their first international, and the fact that they still have some really good players.
FS's going out the way they did, with Primmie being the best player of the tournament, was sadly, completely predictable. Primmie might even end this tournament at the top of the leaderboard still. But with no wins to show for, it is an empty victory.
2021 is from the first ever VCT international tournament
2026 data is from the latest Evolution series, which is currently on patch 12.09
5 non-Santiago teams have qualified to Masters London
One could argue that all 5 were upsets as well.
Why is stage 2 playoffs proving to be so much more volatile? Do certain teams just want it more or does the meta favour these new teams as well?
I'm personally excited to see these new faces too. Santiago itself saw so many new teams and rosters and I'm glad that this pattern is continuing for 2026.
Its rare we get to see such diversity of teams in a year.
They have only won against teams that have their ex-players
Of the 4 wins they have so far:
2023 GE t3xture --> win against GenG t3xture
2025 GE kellys --> win against TS kellys
2025 GE yoman --> win against NS yoman (coach)
2023 GE monyet --> win against RRQ monyet
Maybe they should loan one of their players to PRX for their next game?
Video edit from @senlevanter
In the next LFN episode, he also continues to double down on why players shouldn't attend ENC, and why viewers shouldn't watch it by bringing up KeSPA's withdrawal from this event.
There are increasingly less legitimacy to this event with more and more sports associations pulling out.
With that, player's safety and rights are also at risk. For ENC, since they aren't backed by orgs, or in Korea/China's case, by their own national orgs, its hard to say what the ENC organizers can or will make them do.
We've seen them pressure players like Team Spirit's Chopper into taking down content they don't like, but it'll be a lot scarier if the players are on their own and don't have any form of support.
I say this as someone who wanted to support br: Just wait. There will be a more official and safer event in the future and it is not worth justifying one illegitimate event. If our team do win, haters will find a way to use it against team Br anyways by saying how all the major regions and players aren't there.
I would much rather have the IOC or Riot, or some political neutral party, be in charge. For the safety of players.
Our players won't feel safe and for that alone, I personally don't think its worth supporting this event even if all the goats are there.
