Nephew qualifies for Street Fighter 6 Esports World Cup alongside Kobayan, while the twins fulfill their destiny in 2XKO: The week before Combo Breaker 2026

This week, the FGC has been comparatively mellow in comparison with the Evo Japan week, however that is perhaps what the neighborhood wants earlier than the gargantuan occasion this weekend: Combo Breaker 2026.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply that completely nothing occurred over the weekend, so I’m right here to interrupt it down for you guys, going over the highlights from DreamHack Atlanta to Purple Bull Knockout.

From Alan “Nephew” Solar qualifying for the Esports World Cup alongside Kobayan to the twins, Toshi and Haru, fulfilling their future of being one of the best duo in 2XKO, right here’s every part that occurred final week in FGC!

Workforce Liquid’s dangerous luck with qualifying within the FGC facet of the EWC continues as Nephew, a participant the workforce had let go earlier this yr, has certified for the Esports World Cup after taking second place at DreamHack Atlanta 2026.

Nephew’s run on the match was nothing wanting spectacular. He beat the six-time EVO Champion Zeng “Xiao Hai” Zhuojun to qualify for the highest eight on the winner’s facet, then he proceeded to comb the home on his method to the grand finals. Nonetheless, Kobayan was additionally having one hell of a match, and the 2 titans clashed within the grand finals and grand finals reset, reaching recreation 5.

Finally, Kobayan gained the entire thing, however Nephew will probably be more than pleased to take second place and the last-minute qualification for EWC.

Final yr, Workforce Liquid let go of Son “Qudans” Byeong-mun and Michael “Riddles” Kim, each of whom certified for EWC 2025 shortly after. This yr, the 2 are nonetheless trying to qualify for the million-dollar match.

In keeping with Liquipedia, 10 slots stay for the Road Fighter 6 EWC 2026. Two will probably be handed out this week at Combo Breaker 2026, two at Evo Vegas 2026, one at an unnamed match, and 5 at a final likelihood qualifier match, which will probably be held close to the principle occasion’s date. 

Over on the Tekken bracket of DreamHack Atlanta 2026, Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique has lastly clinched a spot at EWC after ending third within the match. It’s vital to notice that Arslan Ash appears to nonetheless have issues with discovering a personality on this season of Tekken, as he used Nina, Anna, and Alisa in rotation this match.

Tekken is full of character loyalists and specialists, with a variety of them trying down on individuals hopping onto whoever is powerful that season.

With that mentioned, he gave the eventual champion Han “Mulgold” Jae-gyun a run for his cash with a five-game set. Mulgold managed to wiggle out of Arslan Ash’s grasp, nevertheless, and moved on to the grand closing. Arslan Ash fell 0-3 towards the Kazuya specialist Takaba “Keisuke” Keisuke within the loser’s bracket. Each Mulgold and Keisuke have additionally certified for EWC 2026 for his or her efficiency on this match.

After profitable the match, Mulgold despatched out a tweet saying that he hasn’t practiced Claudio a lot as a result of he bought nerfed in season 3. Nonetheless, after seeing Hafiz Tanveer’s Claudio at Evo Japan 2026, he bought impressed and picked the character again once more. Hafiz Tanveer bought third at Evo Japan 2026 and misplaced to the legendary Tekken participant Bae “Knee” Jae-Min.

Liquipedia lists that there are 15 slots left for Tekken 8 at EWC 2026. The tournaments Combo Breaker 2026, Evo 2026, SOOP Tremendous Match 2026, The MIXUP 2026, and the Final Likelihood Qualifier are all handing out slots.

Notably, Tekken legends comparable to Yuta “Chikurin” Take, Daichi “Nobi” Nakayama, and Jeong “Rangchu” Hyeon-ho have but to qualify for EWC 2026. If the Workforce Liquid Curse (or blessing?) kicks in, Marquis “Shadow20z” Jordan has an opportunity to qualify for this EWC as a result of he was dropped by the workforce earlier this yr. Solely time will inform.

Whereas Road Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 nonetheless have fairly a number of tournaments handing out invitations for EWC 2026, Deadly Fury: Metropolis of the Wolves solely has three left and 12 slots remaining. Shoji “Fenritti” Sho has clinched an EWC invite to DreamHack Atlanta 2026 by profitable the entire match.

Fenritti gained the entire match with out dropping a set. His grand finals opponent was Daniel “Dany” Fuentes Garcia, a participant he had despatched to the loser’s bracket earlier within the match. Along with Fenretti, Luo “Vxbao” Yanxin, Kao “RB” Fu-pin, and Charalampros “H-DOPE” Lamprou have additionally obtained an EWC invite for his or her efficiency within the match.

On Twitter, the participant merely celebrated with a single tweet, saying he can lastly relaxation after securing the EWC ticket. In the event you’re all in favour of seeing who else will qualify for EWC, Combo Breaker 2026, Evo 2026, and the Final Likelihood Qualifier are the three closing tournaments that ship invitations to the highest 4 placers.

If one of many high 4 placers already has an invite, the invite goes to the subsequent highest inserting participant who doesn’t have one.

That is fairly presumably the spotlight of this weekend.

Purple Bull Knockout 2026 occurred on Might 16, 2026, the place eight dous duke it out for the title of one of the best workforce in 2XKO! And would you imagine it, the precise twins, Haru and Toshi from Japan, gained the entire match! That is the twins’ first massive win, as they’ve at all times fallen wanting expectations within the tournaments that they’ve entered.

In Evo Japan 2026, they misplaced to Ikura and bought seventeenth place, and at Frosty Faustings XVIII, they misplaced to Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and Lenwood “INZEM” Arnold and bought twenty fifth. Nonetheless, they appear to have crushed their demons on this match as they lastly took the title of one of the best 2XKO duo on the planet after beating SonicFox and INZEM within the grand finals.

SonicFox talked concerning the loss on Twitter, saying they’ve performed towards the twins a lot that they’ve tailored to their playstyle. He then congratulated the 2 and informed them he’s trying ahead to operating it again towards them at Evo Vegas.

The twins, however, are very ecstatic about their first massive worldwide win. They’ve additionally acknowledged SonicFox’s tweet and informed them that it’s an honor for them to be acknowledged because the combating recreation legend’s rival.

Haru was superb on this match. His fearless Yasuo gameplay has sparked conversations a couple of particular second within the grand closing the place he ran as much as SonicFox’s Ahri and did a uncooked final to name out the seize within the closing moments of the match. It was the one approach the twins may have gained the spherical, and Haru’s callout uncovered the duo from the US. The FGC legend Justin Wong saw the clip and said it ought to be thought of for the Evo Awards’ Second of the 12 months.

With this win, expectations for the twins are certain to rise as they’ve simply ended the titleless stoop they have been in. Is it lastly time to see a dominant duo in 2XKO? Solely time will inform!

Over on Twitter, Road Fighter 6 high participant Adel “Huge Hen” Anouche printed a tweet complaining concerning the schedule of Road Fighter 6’s World Warrior on-line match in his area, the Center East.

He tagged Capcom and Qiddiya and requested them why the swimming pools are going to be performed in sooner or later, then the highest eight 11 days after. He provides that there’s no motive for the match to be two weeks lengthy. Then, in a reply, he additional criticized the match, saying that there’s “nothing proper” on this season’s World Warrior. He notes that swimming pools begin at 8pm on a random weekday as an alternative of a weekend, making him much more pissed off.

World Warrior is a collection of regional on-line tournaments hosted by Capcom, which awards factors to the highest 50 gamers. By the tip of the season, quite a lot of gamers will obtain an invitation to Capcom Cup in the event that they’re inside a sure rank within the leaderboard. This can be a nice method to showcase abilities from totally different components of the world, nevertheless, it looks like Capcom is perhaps slipping up with how they’re doing the match in different areas.

Capcom must make this match work, because it’s an enormous theme within the Road Fighter franchise to journey and combat robust opponents. You’ll be able to’t actually declare your self because the strongest fighter on the planet with out combating individuals from different locations, proper?