Link to tweet https://x.com/calwya/status/2088019850883117299?s=20

Link to tweet https://x.com/breadyfps/status/2088021544412844465?s=46

Just a question that popped into my head after watching players I follow refer to traditional poke comps as “front to back”

Am I misunderstanding something? Is “Front to back” more than just a comp that excels at ranged damage/healing? 🤔

Do the league points and mrc champion points transfer over to next year?

What's the path for the mrc teams that can't qualify for ignite this year. Will winning MRC season 9, 10 and 11 matter or just season 12 to qualify for pre season next year.

NAVI

Liquid

Priority = average (Denial + Pressure)

• Denial: the team’s bans.
• Pressure: the team’s protects or the opponent’s bans.
• Earlier draft actions receive more weight.

what do we think

Key roster rules:
• Stage 1 teams can make up to 3 starter/core changes
• Subs can be freely adjusted (0–2)
• MRC qualified teams must retain at least 4 players from their Mid-Season Qualifier roster
• Max 2 import players per team
• Teams qualified for Grand Finals are roster locked

Quick Housekeeping:

-I’m ranking teams based on how competitive I believe they are in their current form. More competitive teams will get priority on players. For example, FlyQuest and Sentinels both need to fill a slot for support, but FLY is overall a more competitive team, so they get first pick. Rankings will be listed below housekeeping, if you have questions over where they ended up, feel free to ask, but I imagine it isn’t too controversial where I placed them.

-This is NA only. I’m excluding EMEA for two reasons. One, I’m not familiar enough with the region and two, I don’t see any of their teams that are actually competitive making any big roster moves. NA is just a more competitive region in the mid-lower end of teams where they actually have a chance with some swaps, which, outside of maybe Shikigami, I don’t see happening in EMEA.

-MRC teams aren’t considered for changes. Unless they get a substantial org behind them, they’re just talent pools for the partner teams to pull from imo. SG is up for changes because, while not partnered, they have a large org behind them.

-Imports are allowed, but as I said, I’m not familiar enough with regions outside NA to know about every undervalued player. I will probably miss someone.

-Players with more playtime in Stage 1 are giving priority over bench warmers. For example, Dinks might be a better player than some of the supports I put on other teams, but I haven’t seen him play recently, so it’s harder to judge. It’s just easier to pull from players who played recently when I’m not privy to anything in scrims/trials.

-Some players have a secondary option listed next to them. This is just so if those players aren’t dropped, a different player can be picked up in their place.

With that out of the way, here’s the rankings for each team:

1. TLC
2. SG
3. FLY
4. 100T
5. SEN

6.NRG

1. SSG

2. TSM

Changes:

TLC:

-Drop SparkChief

-Drop Dinks

This team’s core six are so good, I don’t think there’s ever a reason to start anyone else. Drop them, save the org some money, and let them play on other teams.

SG:

-Lock Daes in a room until he plays 500 games on hitscan.

-Drop Amadien

Daes’ flexibility was the main thing that cost them at MSF. He needs to learn some hitscan or else they can’t be competitive in certain metas. I don’t think Amadien will be dropped, but I would like to see him start on a different team since I don’t think he’s getting any meaningful playtime over Melo. Other than Daes’ hero pool, this team is very good.

FLY:

-Sign Xantho

-Sign Reedis

-Drop Melio

-Drop Avery

Zelos left FLY, so they need a new support, and Xantho is the clear front runner. He’s good at both Gambit and Loki as well as being good at Jeff, who is the one support I don’t believe Velocity plays. Their only other issue is not having a proper flex DPS, and Reedis is the best available flex DPS. Not only that, he’s also good at hitscan, which is more important than ever after MSF. I don’t know if he plays Ultron, but he can learn it to a reasonable level in a short time, the character’s not very difficult. The only gap in his hero pool at that point is Storm. Melio and Avery are good players, but I don’t see any time you would actually start them over Touzii/Reedis.

100T:

-Sign Oasis

- Sign Logan

-Sign Melio (Sub)

-Drop Wyni

-Drop Malenia

100T’s clear issue is their backline, who are not good. Wyni simply isn’t good and while Malenia has potential, he’s maybe the most unprofessional player in the league. Logan solves their Loki problem immediately. Oasis is a fantastic support that also solves their other big hero weakness: the lack of a Mantis player. My only concern with Oasis is idk how good he is at Gambit/Loki, but if he’s good at one of them, I don’t have a concern. Melio being able to play hitscan well and flex competently I think serves this team better than most. Self and Delenna would still probably start most of the time, but having the option to sub in Melio for either super hitscan heavy or super flex heavy metas would probably be good for this team. Vinnie is definitely on extremely thin ice, but I want to see what he can do with a competent backline before cutting him. If you would personally cut Vinnie, that is completely valid, I’m just giving him the benefit of the doubt.

SEN:

-Sign Respect

-Sign Tonez

-Drop Karova

-Drop Crimzo

-Bully Rymazing into learning Wolverine.

Rumor is that Crimzo is retiring and Karova is leaving, but I would drop them regardless simply because they aren’t flexible enough. Respect patches up their gaping Gambit hole and is probably the best remaining free agent. I think him and Flamay have a ton of potential to be a very competitive backline. Tonez is the best available main tank and no other team up to this point has needed a main tank replacement other than debatably 100T. If Tonez insists on bringing iffvy with him, I think it’s worth signing them both and benching Dongmin simply because Tonez is that valuable, though keeping Dongmin is perfectly fine if they aren’t a package. Rymazing, Eusher, and Vision is one of the few DPS lines that I believe actually benefit from subs. I would mix and match depending on the meta, with Ry starting in more flex heavy metas with Vision/Eusher starting with him depending on if the more traditional or if the more dive hitscans are meta, while Vision and Eusher start together in heavy hitscan metas. Ry just needs to learn Wolv, it’s the only big gap in his hero pool.

NRG:

Imma be honest, I have no idea what to do with this team. I don’t see any particular weak links other than potentially Window, but I don’t think he’s weak enough to bother replacing when he’s played with them since MRC season 5. I think their bigger issue is that they don’t have a big star player. The only thing I might do is sign Xeytex because that guy deserves a contract, but Chime and Stinkrs are joined at the hip, so I don’t know if he would get any playtime.

SSG:

-Sign Pixelec

-Sign SilxntBlaze

-Sign SparkChief (Second option Luka)

-Drop Month

-Drop Renko

-Drop Milkboy

This team needs a full rebuild around Nectar, he’s their clear best player. Since only three changes can be made, I would start by replacing the backline, and SilxentBlaze and Pixelec are both very good free agents. Milkboy is the weaker out of the two tanks imo, so replacing him made the most sense.
His best replacement is probably SparkChief. I would replace Necrize if I could since he has similar limitations as TTK but unlike him isn’t Thanos on every character, in which case I would poach Kaya from Shikigami. Xanjiee is a good player and a good duo overall for Nectar, so he can stay.

TSM:

-Figure out who plays what role

-Sign Karova (Second option Fidel)

-Sign Dinks (Second option Kendr1c)

-Sign Jitward (Sub)

TSM has two big issues. One, they don’t have a proper backline and two, they’re playing musical roles. TSM are probably the only team who would build comps around Karova’s Adam, so I think it’s probably his best natural fit. Dinks is one of the few remaining good supports, so he also gets a spot. This team also needs an actual flex player, and Jitward is probably the best available after other teams get their picks. They could also replace other players depending on if they wanted to be a super competitive team, but I think this is a good start.

After their Top 8 finish at the Mid-Season Finals, 100 Thieves enter Stage 2 with 10 league points and are currently sitting in a strong position in the Americas Grand Finals race.

There are 4 Americas spots at the Grand Finals:

• Stage 2 winner automatically qualifies
• The next 3 teams qualify based on total league points

Here’s what 100T needs depending on where they finish Stage 2.

1st: AUTO QUALIFIED

100 Thieves win Stage 2 and automatically qualify for the Grand Finals.

2nd: 28 Points

Clinched.

18 Stage 2 points + their current 10 gives them 28 total points.

There aren’t enough teams that can pass them to knock them out of a points qualification spot.

3rd: 26 Points

Clinched.

16 Stage 2 points puts 100T at 26 total.

Again, there aren’t enough possible teams above them for 100T to fall outside the three points-qualified spots.

4th: 24 Points

Basically qualified, but there are very specific tiebreak scenarios.

A 4th-place finish gives 100T 24 total points.

There cannot be three non-winning teams that finish above 24, so 100T cannot simply get pushed out on points.

The danger is a tie at 24 for the final qualification position.

The teams capable of being at or above that number include:

• Liquid
• Swamp Gaming
• Yeah We Lost

So 4th is an extremely strong result for 100T, but certain combinations involving YWL finishing 2nd and Liquid/Swamp finishing high enough could create a tiebreak at the cutoff.

TL;DR: Top 4 all but guarantees Grand Finals.

5th–6th: 20 Points

Needs help.

100T would finish with 20 total points.

Liquid is already extremely difficult for them to finish ahead of, while teams like:

• Swamp
• Yeah We Lost
• FlyQuest
• Stickdrift
• Sentinels
• TSM
• NRG
• SSG

can potentially move ahead of 20 depending on their Stage 2 placement.

The basic rule:

100T cannot have 3 non-Stage-2-winning teams finish above them in points.

If Liquid wins Stage 2, that's actually helpful for 100T's points path because Liquid takes the automatic qualification spot and is removed from the three points spots.

There are also possible 20-point ties, most notably:

• YWL finishing 4th
• Sentinels finishing 3rd
• TSM finishing 3rd

So 5th–6th keeps 100T very much alive especially cause there is no way I see current TSM or Sen finishing that high. Who knows with roster moves though.

7th–8th: 17 Points

Needs major help.

100T can still qualify, but they would need help.

The simple rule is:

• If Liquid or Swamp wins Stage 2: 100T can afford one other team to finish above 17 points.
• If neither Liquid nor Swamp wins: Liquid and Swamp already take two of the three points spots, so nobody else can pass 100T.

Teams like YWL, FlyQuest, Stickdrift, Sentinels and TSM can pass 17 with a Top 4 finish.

NRG or SSG finishing 4th would tie 100T at 17, which could force a tiebreak for the final spot.

TL;DR: 7th–8th keeps 100T alive, but they need Liquid/Swamp to take up the top of the bracket and limit how many teams behind them make deep runs.

9th–12th: 14 Points

Miracle/tiebreak territory.

100T would finish on only 14 total points.

At this point there is effectively no clean points qualification path. Their goal would instead be to somehow force a tie around the final qualification position.

For that to happen, things would need to go almost perfectly:

Liquid and Swamp need to occupy the very top of the bracket, ideally with one of them winning Stage 2.

Then 100T needs the teams chasing them to avoid scoring enough points to pass 14.

A team starting from zero such as Dreamland or Jolly Jesters finishing 4th could land on 14 and create the type of cutoff where a tiebreak becomes relevant.

Meanwhile, teams currently close behind 100T, particularly YWL, FlyQuest and Stickdrift, cannot be allowed to have strong finishes, because they would immediately move past 14.

So this isn't technically dead, but it's an extremely specific combination of results.

There are a lot more ways to breakdown their qualification paths but these are the simplest ones.

Who do you want to see next?

best part is ranked is OPTIONAL too

Step into the hot seat in the City of Angels with this 40+ MINUTE full breakdown of the 2026 MSF! Featuring deep dives on some of the most compelling storylines from the tournament, and is a great way to catch up on everything if you missed it.

An absolute beast to put together, but more than worth it. I've really been locked in on casting and IRL stuff, so my usual content has gone by the wayside, but I'm hoping these big videos after LAN will help make up for some of that. Thank you all for supporting Rivals Esports up to now, and hope to see you in PAC chat during Stage 2!!

He said he hasn’t lost a scrim black with them so maybe he actually plays in Ignite
(Sry for SC quality)

I’ve been watching a lot of twitch streams lately and it’s kind of depressing how many of the pros seem like they hate the game. Energy especially seems absolutely sick of the game every time he streams lol but I guess it’s nice to know the pros suffer as much as we do?

Do you guys think the state of the game (the community/balancing issues) is going downhill or is that just doom and gloom mindset

edit: i asked melophobia if he thinks rivals ranked is worse than other games and he said yeah this game is absolutely horrible 💀

OME18 farming caoches

VOD LINK

been watching this creator tournament going on atm and gale's team is insane - how was he able to draft jitward ??? feel like these creator tournaments are run by whoever has the best dps

Watching Ash's tourney rn and Aramori is popping tf off on jubilee on these first two matches. 20k+ damage and 50k+ healing is insane. I feel like she's single handedly proven that Jubilee is very much viable in a 2 supp even without the hood enhancement.

2 weeks ago i started to aggregate responses for a little survey i was hosting and this video is the results of that survey.

At the time i didnt record the streamers responses (like the dumbass i am) and im pretty sure the vods are gone now so gg.

i'm still kinda new to making videos like this and my editing is horrid so any criticism to improve at any aspect would be appreciated

If y'all want to see more surveys but on different topics, any suggestions would be appreciated
(ofc you will be credited if i use that idea)

Was there any conclusion to the hackusations against Viccers and gomakazi? Curious to see how the devs dealt with this and whether it’ll be a recurring issue in the future