Last weekend, VALORANT esports veteran Enzo ‘Enzo’ Mestari fell short of winning VCT Ascension EMEA for a second time.

As the in-game leader (IGL) for Mandatory, Enzo led his team through a year of Challengers competition and the stacked Ascension bracket. However, just before the finish line, it was ULF Esports that secured VCT promotion by defeating the French organisation 3-0 in the Final.

Despite the loss, Enzo looked fondly upon his year with Mandatory and how far the team had come.

“We went to the finals. We reached our goals. It’s just that one final step. Yeah, I think we can be proud of what we’ve achieved,” shared the player in an interview with Esports Insider.

Starting as a professional Counter-Strike player, Enzo made the switch to VALORANT esports in early 2020. Since then, he has played for a myriad of tier-one and tier-two organisations in EMEA, including Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Liquid.

Enzo was also part of Fnatic’s 2022 roster, during which the player competed at Masters Reykjavík, Masters Copenhagen and VALORANT Champions.

His first Ascension run was with Apeks in 2023. Similar to this year’s conclusion, Apeks suffered a 0-3 defeat in the Grand Final, resulting in Gentle Mates’ Ascension instead.

Enzo signed with Mandatory ahead of this year’s Challengers season, together with duelist player Wassim ‘keloqz’ Cista and smokes expert Michael ‘mikee’ Lim. The three newcomers joined 2024 signing Clément ‘CyvOph’ Millard as well as veteran member Jonathan ‘TakaS’ Paupard.

“I was recruited into this team with the goal to get to Ascension and have a chance to qualify for VCT, and I think they chose the right person because we eventually got to the final when nobody really expected us to do so,” explained Enzo.

Kicking off the year strong, Mandatory placed second in the French Challengers circuit and third in the following EMEA Stage 1 event. The first hurdle came with CyvOph’s departure to VCT’s Team Vitality. Jonathan ‘TakaS’ Paupard was signed as a replacement, but the new roster couldn’t qualify for EMEA Stage 2.

However, for the final chapter of the 2025 Challengers season, Mandatory bounced back to secure second place in the French Revolution series and third place in Challengers EMEA once more. 

Mandatory’s consistency was rewarded with a qualification to Ascension EMEA 2025 via Ascension Points. With both previous Ascension teams, Gentle Mates and Apeks, relegated to the 2026 Challengers circuit, this year’s Ascension tournament offered two VCT promotion slots for participating tier two teams.

According to Enzo, the team made significant improvements throughout the year, both at the macro level and in individual skill.

“What I think I brought the most is the basics, the fundamentals. And as long as you follow those fundamentals really well, then suddenly your performance goes up really high…” added the IGL.

“…when you’re an IGL, you have a vision about how to play the game, and I just shared that vision and we followed. And we made sure that every single day we work on that […] and it went pretty well. I think everybody improved in the team. Every single player improved this year a lot.”

Heading into Ascension 2025, Mandatory had to prove itself versus Group B opponents BBL PCIFC, Twisted Minds and FOKUS. Making matters worse, the French roster lost its opening match against Twisted Minds 0-2.

However, Mandatory eliminated German team FOKUS (2-0) and took revenge against Twisted Minds with a dominant 2-0 statement.

Group A’s ULF Esports was the final hurdle to overcome on the path to VCT 2026. But just like in the EMEA Stage 3 Lower Bracket Final, Mandatory couldn’t win a single map against the Turkish team.

“There are a very aggressive team. They’re all good players. I think it’s up to us to have the answers to what they do and be up to the task in terms of individual skill. And I think it was just not the case today,” reflected Enzo on the match.

“All I know is that sometimes on maps like Sunset we overplayed a little bit when we had the upper hand. And that’s the only thing I remember that’s maybe in our hands to control. But apart from that, I think the better team won.”

During the post-match interview with Esports Insider, Enzo emphasised several times how grateful he is for his time with Mandatory and his teammates.

“I think it’s a group of lovely people, lovely humans – the club, the players, everyone,” he said. “I really love them, and it’s just sad to lose like this because that means most likely we don’t get a chance to play again together.”

He also highlighted the undying support from Mandatory fans and how much their presence during the Final meant to him: ”It means everything. The arena was on fire. I mean all the French fans came here.

“They came here from France, and they made huge noise in the arena, and we could hear everything they said. It was so good. And to me it means everything cause that’s what you wanna do when you’re a player. I want to be on a stage again, and have a crowd chanting, and feel the intensity of the game, and have fun in the game. Honestly, it means everything.”

Finally, Enzo took the time to thank every single member of his team: “I’m so grateful to Damien (HyP) for being such an adaptive person and a very, very, very dedicated person to what he does. He changed his role. He made a huge effort, and he did everything he could to improve his game. I love that.

“I’m so grateful to TakaS for being light-hearted. When you’re next to him, everything is so easy with him…He’s confident, he’s easy. Practising with him is good. He adapts to everything really well, too.

“I’m grateful to mikee, as well, for just being himself and being a part of the team. We laughed so much with him the whole year. He’s such a good Omen, and he did everything he could to make everyone improve with the tools he had.

“I’m grateful to Wassim/keloqz for being an amazing duelist. Cause I’m so proud of him. He improved so much over the year. I remember at the start of the year, yes, he was doing some crazy mistakes and so on. But it’s part of what a player has to do to evolve and to improve. And he improved so much over the year. I’m so proud of him. Honestly, I’m proud of everyone, like this team is amazing.”

The most recent Arc Raiders playtest gave us all a good chance to test out the best skills ahead of the incoming launch. This extraction shooter is brutal, and your Raider’s build is instrumental in defining your capabilities in both offence and defence.

Little perks like passive stamina regen, increased melee damage, and crafting enhancements make a world of difference, especially when your life is on the line. We’ve created a list of the best skills in Arc Raiders, no matter your playstyle.

There are roughly 45 skills in Arc Raiders across three skill trees. They’re going to give you advantages in your movement speed, how you attack, how you respond to damage, and more. These upgrades give you meaningful perks beyond gear, which rewards different approaches and playstyles. 

Your skill allocations transfer across games, meaning you won’t have to waste time at the start of each match figuring out what your strategy will be. Once you’ve allocated points, the effects persist across each future raid until you decide to respec. Importantly, you cannot reassign your points while in a raid, so it’s important to be confident in your selection before you start.

There are three main categories of Arc Raiders skills: Conditions, Mobility, and Survival. They’re each separated quite distinctly on the skill tree, allowing players to invest in different playstyles accordingly. However, we’ve found that a balanced mix between the three is the ideal strategy for maximising your chances of survival.

Our three best skills for Conditioning focus on stamina management, absolutely essential in mitigating many of the late-game nuisances that players have to endure. If you’ve played much of Dark Souls or Elden Ring, you’ll remember Giant Dad builds. That’s what we’re going for in Arc Raiders.

Because the Arc Raiders maps are so manoeuvrable and dynamic, you’re going to want to ensure that you can do that without constantly searching through your inventory for items to discard, while also attacking without throwing away stamina.

Like with Conditioning, our favourite skills for Mobility that we used in the Arc Raiders beta also focus on mitigating stamina loss. This means skills like Nimble Climber and Vaults on Vaults are going to be prerequisites for most builds, as they give your Raider a much more dynamic movement range. To add to that, we’ve also included Slip and Slide, which gives you a really fluid movement range.

For Survival allocations, you’re going to want to consider how effectively and efficiently you can loot items. This is usually a vulnerable process as your defence is limited, so cutting down on loot times is a solid way to stay on your toes. As with the theme, we’re also investing points into even more stamina – the most important attribute of them all… 

There’s nothing particularly complicated about unlocking the different skills in Arc Raiders. They’re mostly unlocked one after the other, with skill investments in the early roots of the tree going towards later unlocks.

Some will require multiple prior allocations, such as Vaults on Vaults, which requires two other skills before it can be unlocked.

With the Arc Raiders release date just around the corner, this guide should put you in a strong position when the game is fully released. Throughout my time in the playtest, I found that focusing on stamina management was the strongest strategy, as offensive and defensive traits could be developed through gear and loot.

There are also a few skills we haven’t included in our list that are worth considering, including Looter’s Luck, which may double your loot, and Back on Your Feet, which gives you health regeneration when critically hurt. These can be worked into your builds quite easily.

ENVY has secured a spot in the 2026 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) by winning yesterday’s VCT Ascension Americas 2025 Grand Final.

The team achieved a 3-1 victory in a rematch against VALORANT Challengers North America Stage 3 champion, TSM.

North American esports organisation ENVY is a veteran of the esports industry, having competed in VALORANT from 2020 to 2022. However, the brand was only re-established earlier this year following its re-acquisition by Mike ‘Hastr0’ Rufail.

The current ENVY roster was brought together by former 100 Thieves Hunter ‘inspire‘ Schliner. Recognising the potential of a group of fellow ranked players and streamers, inspire formed a Premier team, RANKERS, which later qualified for VALORANT Challengers.

Ahead of this year’s Challengers North America season in March, the RANKERS roster was acquired by ENVY. Despite a rough start in Stage 1, ENVY bounced back to win Stage 2 and reach second place in Stage 3.

ENVY kicked off the VCT Ascension Americas Swiss Stage with a 2-0 victory against 9z Team. But after losing 1-2 to TSM, the squad had to defeat Stellae Gaming 2-1 to survive in the tournament.

From thereon, ENVY recorded an impressive Playoffs run. The team took down Team Solid (2-1) and secured revenge against TSM, not only once, but twice. The first recounter was in the Upper Bracket Final (2-1), which saw TSM descend to the lower playoff bracket.

The final showdown yesterday began with two close maps. ENVY claimed the first map, Abyss (13-11), while Sunset went to TSM (13-11). However, ENVY ultimately came out on top with two dominant showings on Bind (13-6) and Ascent (13-5). Moreover, four of its members scored more than 60 kills throughout the series.

The highest-performing player was duelist prodigy, Alex ‘canezerra’ Banyasz, who delivered a kill-death ratio (KDA) of 77/65/26 and 167 average damage per round (ADR).

Unfortunately, both canezerra and Ayan ‘ion2x’ Rastogi won’t join ENVY for VCT next year. The two players are underage and therefore are not eligible to compete in VALORANT’s franchised tier-one circuit.

Canezerra will have to wait until March next year, while ion2x can only commence his VCT career in 2027.

With all VCT Ascension 2025 tournaments concluded across the globe, six Ascension teams will join VCT’s partner teams for the 2026 season:

VCT fans will have to wait until January to watch the newcomers perform in the annual Kickoff competitions.

Halo has announced its esports plans for 2026 following the Halo Championship Series’ (HCS) departure from Halo Infinite.

As part of the plans, Halo Studios has partnered with ESL FACEIT Group to host an open tournament at DreamHack Birmingham in 2026.

As part of the deal between the studio and ESL FACEIT Group, the two parties will collaborate to ‘continue the legacy of the grassroots competitive scene’ by hosting tournaments featuring a variety of Halo titles.

DreamHack Birmingham 2026 is set to feature four-versus-four, two-versus-two, and free-for-all tournaments. Ahead of the four-versus-four event, online qualifiers will take place to determine the teams competing at the NEC from March 27th to 29th.

“Halo has been part of DreamHack for nearly a decade now and has always delivered an unforgettable experience for the Halo community,” said Tahir ‘Tashi’ Hasangjekaj, Director of Competitive Engagement at Halo Studios.

In addition to DreamHack Birmingham, the franchise will also feature at another DreamHack event in 2026. The gaming festival and the HCS have yet to share details on the second event featuring the first-person shooter title.

Alongside DreamHack, Halo has also partnered with LVT and the European Halo League for other grassroots initiatives.

In addition to partnering with ESL FACEIT Group for DreamHack, the HCS has joined forces with four North American esports organisations.

2025 World Champions Shopify Rebellion, Spacestation Gaming, FaZe Clan, and Cloud9 have partnered to bring more Halo esports action to the community throughout 2026.

Details on what the community-focused initiatives are have yet to be revealed.

Despite the lack of a competitive esports circuit for 2026, it’s clear that Halo Studios is committed to supporting the community through a variety of grassroots tournaments and collaborations across Europe and North America.

Team Liquid has been crowned champion of the Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 16 event after defeating Aurora Gaming 4-0 in the Grand Finals.

The roster competed against seven other teams from August 22nd to October 26th, 2025, and has taken home the lion’s share of a $150,000 (~£112,600) prize pool.

Team Liquid entered the tournament as one of the favourites to win following its performance in the Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) Mid Season Cup during the Esports World Cup. However, its journey throughout Season 16 wasn’t without its challenges.

The roster began its run in MPL Philippines by placing third in the Regular Season, with a 9-5 win/loss ratio, placing below ONIC Philippines (ONIC) and the strongest team so far, Aurora Gaming.

In the Playoffs, Team Liquid won 3-1 against Team Falcons and followed with a decisive 3-0 win over ONIC. However, the roster fell short in the Upper Bracket Final after losing 1-3 to Aurora Gaming.

It clawed its way back to the Grand Finals after defeating TNC Pro Team 4-1 in the Lower Bracket Finals, before claiming a revenge win against Aurora Gaming with a landslide 4-0 victory.

Both Team Liquid and Aurora Gaming have successfully qualified for the M7 World Championship taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia next year. From January 3rd to 25th, 2026, 22 teams (14 Group Stage, eight Wildcard) from across Asia will compete in the crowning event of the 2025 MLBB competitive season.

MPL Philippines Season 16 recorded strong viewership throughout its online broadcast during its multi-week long competition.

According to the data platform Esports Charts, Season 16 reached a peak viewership of 1.53m during the Grand Finals match, with an average of over 178,000 viewers. The livestreams gathered over 28.5m hours watched in total across an airtime of nearly 160 hours.

Season 16 ranks as the third highest in terms of peak viewership for the league, falling just short of Season 14 (1.61m) and Season 15 (1.8m). For 2025, it is the sixth most popular MLBB esports event in terms of peak viewership, with the most popular being MPL Indonesia Season 15, which attracted a peak viewership of 4.1m.

Shopify Rebellion has won the Halo World Championship 2025 to round off Halo Infinite‘s time as an esports title.

The North American esports organisation defeated OpTic Gaming in the Grand Final.

From the outset, Shopify Rebellion looked to continue its impressive form into the World Championship. A flawless Pool A campaign secured qualification for the opening round of the upper bracket.

A narrow 3-2 win over FaZe Clan set up a clash against Complexity in the quarter-finals, where the American org hit its stride with a comfortable 3-0 sweep.

OpTic Gaming awaited Shopify Rebellion in the upper bracket semi-finals, a rematch of the HCS Salt Lake City Grand Final.

Similar to Salt Lake City, the roster knocked down the Green Wall with a 4-1 scoreline to secure a place in Halo Infinite’s last HCS Grand Final.

OpTic wasn’t done yet. A clinical 4-0 sweep over Envy in the lower bracket final set up one last showdown between Halo Infinite’s best teams.

The Green Wall bounced back after an opening map loss to level the series, but struggled to keep up with SR’s pacing and strategy.

Shopify Rebellion won the series 4-1 to secure the World Championship for the first time. For Bradley ‘Frosty‘ Bergstrom and Mathew ‘Royal2‘ Fiorante, the win sees the pair become four-time world champions.

Victory at the World Championship rounds off an impressive year for Shopify Rebellion’s Halo division.

During the 2025 Halo Championship Series (HCS) season, the team placed no lower than second, a result achieved at the Arlington Major in April.

Following the second place finish, the team went on to win the Salt Lake City Major and the Charlotte Major before lifting the biggest accolade Halo esports has to offer.

With the HCS off-season underway, Shopify Rebellion has become a supporting partner of the esports circuit, as it transitions towards community-focused events for 2026.

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has announced a commitment to establish new guidelines for ethical influencer marketing in the European gambling sector.

The commitment, which was made public by Brussels on October 21st, 2025, intends to strengthen best practices with an emphasis on independent oversight, transparency, and the protection of minors.

In addition to the EGBA’s already-existing Code of Conduct on responsible marketing, the pledge — created with input from the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) — is the first coordinated framework for influencer activity in European gambling.

The new guidelines address the rapidly changing online marketing environment as gambling operators employ digital influencers more frequently.

The pledge tightens regulations to make sure advertising doesn’t reach children or encourage dangerous behaviour.

It covers all types of influencer content, including livestreams, posts, stories and videos.

Members are urged by EGBA’s pledge to establish three fundamental pillars for each influencer collaboration.

First, strict age-gating and explicit transparency are necessary under enhanced advertising regulations to prevent marketing from reaching minors.

In order to strengthen safeguards against exposure to minors, the framework also incorporates demographic and content moderation checks.

Second, all influencers that EGBA members work with must undergo a pre-screening process for ethical marketing practices. Members must also receive continual training to stay current on advertising laws and regulatory changes.

Ensuring compliance and promoting moral marketing strategies are the goals of this step.

Third, every influencer campaign will be independently monitored on a regular basis, and any content that is not in compliance will be promptly eliminated.

Customers and regulators are reassured by this measure that marketing standards are consistently maintained.

Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA, remarked: “This pledge demonstrates our members’ commitment to responsible advertising and willingness to go beyond regulatory requirements to ensure the highest standards of transparency and minor protection in their influencer partnerships.”

ULF Esports and BBL PCFIC have won their respective VCT Ascension EMEA 2025 Grand Finals to qualify for the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) next year.

ULF defeated French opponent Mandatory 3-0 last Saturday, while BBL PCFIC won its final against Italian team DNSTY 3-1 on Sunday.

ULF Esports is a young esports organisation, having entered the VALORANT Challengers Türkiye circuit only this year. However, in its first year in tier two, the full Turkish roster secured top placements in its regional league as well as a Challengers EMEA Stage 3 victory.

Known for its high-calibre firepower, ULF defeated Challengers EMEA veterans Joblife (2-0) and DNSTY (2-1) to reach the top of Group A at this year’s VCT Ascension tournament.

However, to earn a one-year spot in VALORANT’s franchised tier-one league, ULF had to topple an old rival. But just like in the EMEA Stage 3 Lower Bracket Final, the Turkish squad had a flawless 3-0 series versus Mandatory.

Dueslist prodigy Efe ‘s0pp’ Tur became the highest performing player of the final, scoring a massive kill-death ratio (KDA) of 74/47/10 and an average combat score (ACS) of 298.

Fellow Turkish team BBL PCFIC was founded in late 2024 as an Affiliate Partnership between VCT partner team BBL Esports and PCFIC Esports.

The latter had been competing in the Turkish tier-two scene since 2021 but only rose to glory last year with its unexpected VCT Ascension run. However, PCFIC suffered a 3-2 defeat in the Grand Final, leading opponent Apeks to ascend instead.

For 2025, the newly formed team returned to Challengers Türkiye stronger than ever to earn another shot at tier-one promotion. The team then swiftly took care of its first Acension competitors FOKUS (2-0) and Twisted Minds (2-1).

Despite kicking off the Grand Final with a loss on Lotus, BBL PCFIC remained stalwart versus DNSTY, winning three consecutive maps and the Ascension 2025 trophy.

“Die Meister, Die Besten, Les grandes équipes, The champions! BBL PCIFIC IS YOUR VCT ASCENSION EMEA 2025 CHAMPION,” posted the organisation on X (formerly Twitter) after its victory.

Following the conclusion of VCT Ascension 2025 across all regions, here are all the VCT 2026 newcomers:

The next VCT season will commence in January 2026 with the annual Kickoff competitions.

Hard Rock Bet has become the fourteenth licensed iGaming brand to enter Michigan’s online casino market.

Since Hard Rock Bet is already operating in New Jersey, it will soon expand into the Great Lakes State, where Michigan law permits a maximum of 15 online casino operators.

With a wide range of games and special offers planned, the operator has indicated that it is ready to launch by creating a dedicated Michigan webpage.

After 888 Holdings ended its partnership with Sports Illustrated in March, Hard Rock purchased its U.S. assets in May 2024, making the deal possible.

Before opening its virtual doors to local players, Hard Rock Bet needs to finish the last application procedures with the Michigan Gaming Control Board, as there are currently 13 online casinos operating in Michigan.

After going live, Hard Rock Bet will offer a wide range of online casino games to players in Michigan.

Slots, baccarat, roulette, pai gow, video poker, craps, blackjack, and a range of live dealer casino games, including game shows, will be among the game categories. Buffalo, Cash Eruption, Almighty Buffalo Megaways, and Cleopatra are anticipated to be notable slot games. ​

In keeping with its New Jersey welcome offer of “$25 On Us and a 100% deposit match up to $1,000,” Hard Rock’s website announces plans to introduce special promotions and rewards to Michigan.

Local players can anticipate comparable incentives, loyalty programmes, and leaderboard competitions, even though bonuses specific to Michigan have not yet been formally announced.

The launch of Hard Rock Bet, subject to regulatory approval, will increase the number of iGaming operators in Michigan to 14, further providing competition throughout the state.

The entire line of Hard Rock Bet’s casino rewards and products will soon be available to residents of Detroit, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, and the Upper Peninsula.

SLT Seongnam and Nongshim RedForce have qualified for the 2026 VCT Pacific by achieving top two places at Ascension Pacific.

While SLT is a new entry to the International League, NS will be part of it for the second time.

This brings the total number of South Korean teams in VCT Pacific to five out of 12.

SLT Seongnam was unstoppable throughout the tournament and did not lose a single series, while Nongshim RedForce, on the other hand, fought its way through the lower bracket to reach the Tier 1 scene.

“Finally, SLT Seongnam is entering 2026 #VCTPacific. Next year, we will come back with a fiercer and stronger performance!” announced SLT Seongnam on X (Twitter). 

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our fans who continued to support and believe in Nongshim RedForce throughout challenging times. Nongshim RedForce will continue to move forward, aiming even higher,” NS shared.

Both Ascension teams will compete alongside the partnered teams and receive similar benefits such as financial support, VCT capsules, and more.

However, these will not be the only Challengers teams that fans will see in VCT, as the top VCL 2026 squads will receive direct invites to the Stage 2 Playoffs for a chance to compete for a slot at VALORANT Champions.

With G2 Esports extending its stay in VCT for another year, VCT Americas will welcome only one team from Ascension this year, while Ascension EMEA will promote two new organisations. Both tournaments will conclude on October 27th; however, ULF Esports from EMEA have already secured a place in VCT.

When it comes to China, Xi Lai Gaming finished above Dragon Ranger Gaming at Champions Paris, sending DRG back to Ascension. However, DRG has fought its way back into the International League by winning Ascension for the second time.