ZywOo, Caps, Dambi, Nass and Light Lead Q1 2026 Esports

The opening quarter of 2026 saw major international tournaments across Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League and Mobile Legends. Five players-Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Rasmus “Caps” Winther, Lee “Dambi” Hyuk-kyu, Nassim “Nass” Bali and Dylan Aaron “Light” Poblete Catipon-received MVP honors as their teams won key events.

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Team Vitality won IEM Kraków, PGL Cluj-Napoca and the BLAST Open Spring in Q1. ZywOo was named MVP at Kraków and Cluj-Napoca and reached 30 career MVP awards. Team Vitality held the top positions in the HLTV and VRS global rankings during the quarter.

Rasmus “Caps” Winther led G2 Esports to the LEC 2026 Versus title after a sixth-place group-stage finish. G2 advanced through the upper bracket with 3-0 wins over Team Heretics, Karmine Corp and Movistar KOI, then defeated Karmine Corp in the Grand Final. Caps collected six MVP awards across the event, with three during the regular season and three in the playoffs, including the final-match MVP. Earlier in the year G2 reached the final at the First Stand Tournament after 3-0 wins over FEARX and Gen.G, then lost the final to Bilibili Gaming.

Nongshim RedForce advanced from Challengers Korea into the VCT Pacific league and won VCT 2026: Pacific Kickoff followed by VALORANT Masters Santiago 2026. Lee “Dambi” Hyuk-kyu, 19, was named tournament MVP at both events. Nongshim RedForce swept Paper Rex in the Santiago Grand Final.

Gentle Mates won the RLCS 2026 Boston Major at the Agganis Arena, beating teams including TSM, NRG and Team Falcons en route to the final, where they defeated Team Vitality. Nassim “Nass” Bali was named Major MVP. The club’s Boston prize included a $102,000 first-place payout, and the event reached a peak concurrent viewership of 624,316 for the organization.

Aurora Gaming PH won the M7 World Championship for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, held during the New Year period. Aurora reversed earlier losses to Team Liquid PH and advanced through the Knockout Stage, then beat Alter Ego 4-0 in the Grand Final. Edward Jay “Edward” Dapadap and Dylan Aaron “Light” Poblete Catipon earned multiple MVP awards during the tournament; Light received a $5,000 performance bonus for his final-series MVP.

Q1 2026 included premier international championships in Counter-Strike and League of Legends, Major-level events in Rocket League and Valorant, and the M7 World Championship for Mobile Legends, with the named players receiving MVP awards at those events.