Paul Delos Santos is a reporter based in Las Vegas. He covers the Vegas Golden Knights for NHL.com and also covers esports and general Las Vegas sports for The Sporting Tribune. He’s a gamer who never has time to play them, so he naturally opted to write and talk about them instead.
Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Heaven Wolf / Riot Games Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun wasn’t focused on the Esports Nations Cup . It was just one of three potential things he had on the calendar in the first few weeks.
If he and Sentinels made a magical run to the World Championships in Brooklyn, his club season would conclude on Nov. 14. Then, in the moments after that, he would have gotten on a plane and flown to Riyadh to participate in the Esports Nations Cup. Once that finished, huhi would have met his future parents-in-law in person for the first time and then watched his fiancée walk down the aisle for their wedding.
Luckily for huhi and his family, he won’t have to come home to a hectic wedding, as the Esports Nations Cup was postponed to 2027 due to “unprecedented international scale and the uncertainty created by the wider regional situation.”
“It was going to be a really crazy year for me,” huhi said to Esports Insider. “In some way, it works out. I’m trying to be calm, trying to help my wife, trying to figure out the wedding plan, and all those things. I feel like now, I can actually help her. I’m glad in some way, but I definitely want to be able to play in the ENC, if I get another chance next year.”
huhi is a United States citizen, renouncing his Korean citizenship for a country he feels an instinctive connection to. He was selected for and accepted Team USA’s support role, but it added another thing to his incredibly busy November.
For huhi, the natural challenges of planning a wedding, combined with the prospect of representing the United States in an international event, along with club responsibilities of qualifying for the League of Legends World Championships, put a lot of stress on his wife’s planning of the event.
He admitted to being stressed, but it was nowhere near the same level as his wife.
“She’s stressed,” huhi said. “I’m just kind of a lucky guy that I have an excuse for my work, like competition. ‘Oh, I’m sorry I have to go to practice,’ but my team is trying to give me half days off like that so I can go do a wedding meal tasting and stuff.”
The postponement naturally disappointed him ,but also provided a sense of relief knowing that once his club year ends, he can focus on having the best possible wedding.
“Now that ENC is gone, I guess I lose that opportunity,” he said. “But in some way, I get less stressed.”
huhi was just one player impacted by the postponement, and not all stress was the same.
Image Credit: Zamudo Frankie “Zamudo” Lin was surprised that he was named to Team Canada, as its top laner. It meant he’d be joining highly touted Tier 1 names Joseph Joon “Jojopyun” Pyun, Fahad “Massu” Abdulmalek, and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme.
Zamudo admitted his selection also came with a small bit of apprehension, combined with the excitement, some of…