Our new LoL show Shut Up And Scale launched Friday with former LEC head coach Peter Dun delivering a hard verdict: Blaber and Razork have hit their ceiling, and neither will ever win at the international level. The show draws from viewer questions and features Nymaera and Thorin as co-hosts!
Meanwhile in R6, Nafe and Paluh join for a super show to preview one of the biggest tournaments of the year: the Salt Lake City Major. They also break down how a coach who never slept and a culture of overpreparation cost Team Liquid every title they should have won.
⚔️ LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
The LEC's coaching debate finally got a coach’s opinion to settle it, the LCK had a transfer story this week so bizarre nobody saw it coming, and Fnatic just got compared to Manchester United in a way that's hard to argue with. LoL had its best newsletter week of the network all week.
→ Shut Up And Scale: A debut episode opens with a hard verdict that two of League's most exciting junglers have hit their ceiling and won't ever win at the international level. With hosts Thorin, Peter Dun, and Nymaera. Watch →
→ Power Spike: Keria's three-year T1 re-signing at the LCK Road Show in France, plus one of the most bizarre LCK transfer stories on record. Watch →
→ Summoning Insight: The case that Fnatic are the Manchester United of the LEC. A club so consumed by its own legacy it stopped being able to build anything worth watching. Watch →
🎯 VALORANT
VCT playoffs are kicking off across all four regions, Cloud9 just rebuilt their roster mid-stage, and one of EMEA's biggest names looks completely dysfunctional heading into Masters London qualification.
→ The Vodfathers: Every Masters London spot across all four VCT regions called, with Fluke or Fraud verdicts on every playoff team. Vitality, deeply dysfunctional, gets the harshest treatment. Watch →
🐉 DOTA
Team Falcons have played more games together than any roster in Dota history. According to a recent TI winner who lived it, they came closer to disbanding a few weeks ago than the public has any idea. The window to win another championship is closing fast.
→ All Chat: Recent TI champion Sneyking sits down to talk about 796 games together, near-disbands, and what it actually takes to win The International. With special guest Sneyking. Watch →
🛡️ RAINBOW 6 SIEGE
The BLAST R6 Salt Lake City Major is days away, and Down But Not Out delivered a pre-event super-show three years in the making. The headline insight: being too good at your job can destroy you.
→ Down But Not Out: Two of R6's best players break down how overpreparation, exhaustion, and a coach who never slept cost Team Liquid every title they should have won. With special guests Nafe and Paluh. Watch →
🏇 THE FOUR HORSEMEN
This week's Four Horsemen took on the co-streaming debate that almost nobody is putting in historical context. The uncomfortable case: the world's most-watched esports broadcaster isn't really replacing the official stream. He's riding on top of it, and without the professional casters he talks over, his marathon streams would be physically impossible. So who actually owes whom? Watch this week's T4H →
🎬 TV & FILM
→ Nerd Legion: Ex Machina came out in 2014. In the age of AI, it feels like it was made yesterday. A revisit of Alex Garland's $15 million chamber piece that already predicted the ethical dilemmas of 2026. Watch →
We’ll see you next week and please respond to this email if you have feedback!
Esports delenda est.
MonteCristo