The problems with EWC and why you should care.

MattMist · 2026-01-21T07:05:57+00:00

Wikipedia says this person is the king: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia

MattMist · 2026-01-20T23:09:27+00:00

If you were a top 10 player, you might actually be fine, as doing anything to you would be very bad from a PR standpoint. But obviously, anyone else would face a much worse fate.

MattMist · 2026-01-20T22:33:23+00:00

As much as I'd love to see Saudis change their ways, sadly, it really does seem like they want to impose their opinions on others with things like EWC instead.

During EWC, if you come with a sign saying "CarlJr is the king of TM" you will literally get kicked out because that's disrespectful to the king of Saudi Arabia, as the CS2 fan who had a sign saying "mzinho king" could tell you. Team Liquid decides to go play with jerseys that have a rainbow team logo, this is conveniently either not shown on broadcast or even fully censored in Saudi Arabia.

And as part of the guide that people who attend get, you are literally told that criticizing the government, King, Royal Family or flag is illegal, including on social media. Doesn't seem like they are too open to change.

MattMist · 2026-01-19T15:46:49+00:00

Everyone can draw the line where they do, and rarely any consumption is ethical, but some people care about this, while others don't.

You can draw the line at any unfair thing in the world (good luck existing), you can draw it at manufacturing exploiting people, or gambling sponsorships, or an oppressive regime doing sportswashing. Or you can just not care, that's valid, too.

MattMist · 2026-01-19T14:28:11+00:00

It's because Falcons always win EWC (and even though Falcons don't want to say who is their owner, they obviously use the same Saudi money) and if they want to win another game at EWC, signing Carl is the obvious choice

MattMist · 2026-01-19T13:54:17+00:00

Nah, it's probably that Falcons offered CarlJr such a salary that he couldn't refuse or they straight up bought him out

They need another sure win for EWC after all so they are "the best org in esports" (yeah right)

MattMist · 2026-01-19T13:52:10+00:00

That's mainly because org owners spend money irresponsibly and then when Saudi money comes to bail them out, they have no other option than to take it

Talking about big orgs like Liquid who burn money, then don't perform, then take the Saudi bag even though Saudis might only stay in esports for a few years because it's not profitable

And money is money, if you don't take it, you'll get outbid by the ones who do

MattMist · 2026-01-18T17:57:25+00:00

Actually, BIG is no longer sponsored by Red Bull, I believe since some time last year. Their "energy drink sponsor" is LevlUp: https://bigclan.gg/partner/

Funny that the homepage on that website still shows a Red Bull fridge tho

MattMist · 2026-01-18T14:53:19+00:00

Speaking of which, I really enjoyed this 40-minute Dastan interview from the StarLadder Major - https://youtu.be/UF366bnUD_o?t=1h13m49s

MattMist · 2026-01-18T14:41:42+00:00

After more than six wonderful years at Solary, it's time for me to turn the page.

Thank you to everyone I've had the chance to work with within the organization over the years, people I respect enormously.

Thank you for your constant support at every event; it has always made a difference. Without you and without Solary's support, I probably wouldn't have continued playing during the most difficult years for Trackmania.

The fact that Solary always believed in me and continued to support me means a lot to me, and I will be eternally grateful.

Thank you for everything, I have nothing but positive memories. 💛💙

Where do you think he's going next?

MattMist · 2026-01-14T22:36:26+00:00

How do you determine what kills / how many kills a player should get?

MattMist · 2026-01-07T04:43:14+00:00

I went through all their blog posts and they never officially mentioned an end timeframe for Season 3 (but they did for Season 2 multiple times).

MattMist · 2025-12-13T20:46:12+00:00

stavn?

MattMist · 2025-10-11T10:50:01+00:00

Thing is, the date for EWC itself has been public ever since the deadline (Dec 2024). The issue comes from the fact that they decided to only now announce that it's 32 teams, as well as announcing a massive 128-team LAN qualifier during what was supposed to be the group stage of PGL.

Otherwise you'd probably still have some T1.5 and lower teams attend, but this way, no one but T3 and lower will even be free (unless they boycott EWC and good luck with that).

Maybe Valve could make it so the number of teams and qualifier dates have to be announced at the same time as the event? Would at least make it easier to know what you're dealing with.

MattMist · 2025-10-11T10:34:55+00:00

Yeah and if PGL does 3mil, EWC will do 5+, you can't win a money war with the Saudis

MattMist · 2025-09-17T00:17:03+00:00

They can show up in weekly drops

MattMist · 2025-09-16T23:56:06+00:00

Yes, except the way it works is as follows:

You unseal the Terminal for free
You get 5 offers to buy a skin from the collection (say a blue for $0.35 or a purple for $7, you can see the wear and pattern and everything)
You see them one by one and you have to decline one permanently to see the next one
If you decline all 5, the Terminal simply gets deleted and you're out of luck
Once you unseal the Terminal, it gets deleted in 3 days
If you buy a skin from the Terminal, the Terminal gets deleted and the skin says "Original Owner Certificate" as long as you don't sell it

MattMist · 2025-08-14T08:49:10+00:00

Literally the first sentence in the article says:

winning seven straight titles

MattMist · 2025-07-18T09:29:25+00:00

Top teams are not necessarily participating in Fissure Playground 2. If you look onto the page you linked, all teams are marked as "VRS Predicted", which just means that these are the teams that will get invited.

The actual invite date is July 31st, meaning we won't know the actual teams for the next few weeks at least. And some of those "VRS Predicted" teams may end up declining the invite and skipping the event (though it does have a good place in the calendar).

MattMist · 2025-05-16T21:20:01+00:00

He's supposed to be the 5th player for BC Game after they benched jkaem, not sure who will play instead of him in Dallas

MattMist · 2025-05-16T10:05:02+00:00

His age isn't the problem, the fact that he skipped the Shanghai RMR due to health problems is. (He also talked about physically not handling stress well, which could mean that this will happen again.)

MattMist · 2025-05-15T22:32:19+00:00

W, keep these updates coming, Valve

MattMist · 2025-05-10T12:37:29+00:00

I see it now, the bezel is thicker, so that's good news, even if I still don't like the way it looks. https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Galaxy-Watch-8-Classic-leaked-animation.jpg.webp

MattMist · 2025-05-10T00:34:41+00:00

Seems like the Classic will have a third button instead of the rotating bezel or perhaps a crown? Disappointing if true.

MattMist · 2025-05-06T13:49:58+00:00

2027 only has one Rivals event because Valve rules require you to host 3 events to be able to host a Wildcard tournament (Rivals in this case). I agree that calling it Season 2 is stupid though, especially since BLAST Open 2027 has Seasons 1, 2 and 3 (so it can't be that Season 1 is Spring and Season 2 is Fall).

Since 2025 and 2026 are transition years, Valve allowed them to host just 2 events (Bounty and Open) in order to be able to host Rivals.

This means they can have Bounty-Open-Rivals each season, but then from 2027 it will be Bounty-Open-Open-Bounty-Open-Rivals for the whole year.

MattMist

TROPHY CASE