Lawrence is a freelance feature editor for Esports Insider, bringing over six years of experience as a content writer, game tester, and consultant. While he can spend all day watching the numbers go up in MMORPGs, he loves overanalyzing pro play in every tournament. Lawrence doesn't play one game forever and (poorly) tries to balance playing competitive MOBAs, shooters, and TCGs all at once.
Chadley Kemp (preferably just "Chad") has nearly a decade of editorial experience spanning esports, gaming, crypto, and betting content, covering everything from Counter-Strike and VALORANT to League of Legends and Dota 2. Outside of esports, Chadley holds a Ph.D. in Physiology and has published research in several peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Image credit: Riot Games VALORANT Champions Shanghai arrives at the end of a 2026 season that has refused to settle on a single dominant team, region, or even a definitive player.
That unpredictability has been reflected at almost every major event. Nongshim RedForce clinched the Masters Santiago title; LEVIATÁN took the Masters London title but failed to qualify; 100 Thieves lifted the Esports World Cup (EWC) trophy; and the final regional splits produced another round of unlikely champions.
To get a better picture of who’s leading the field ahead of Champions, we’ve highlighted eight players who defined different parts of the 2026 season. That includes elite fraggers posting huge numbers, breakout prospects, and players who delivered when the pressure was at its highest.
Ștefan ‘ Sayonara ’ Mîtcu entered Vitality ’s 2026 project under unusual circumstances.
The Moldovan prodigy was announced on Nov. 25, 2025, but couldn’t compete until after March 2026, meaning he missed the start of the season despite being a central part of the team’s rebuild alongside veterans Nikita ‘ Derke ’ Sirmitev and Timofey ‘ Chronicle ’ Khromov .
When Sayonara finally debuted in EMEA Stage 1, he looked immediately at home, leading Vitality all the way to the grand final. He posted incredible stats across the board, including a 1.13 rating, 221 ACS, 1.17 K:D, 73% KAST, and 149.6 ADR.
Most impressive was his 23% clutch success rate, winning 10 out of 44 clutch opportunities, though Sayonara’s performance dipped to a disappointing 0.92 rating in the final.
3 ROUNDS INTO HIS DEBUT AND SAYONARA HAS AN ACE?????? pic.twitter.com/V98dvqsE9o
His performance at Masters London was also less convincing, ending with a 0.98 rating despite recording the tournament’s first Ace. Back in EMEA Stage 2, however, Sayonara rebounded with a 1.19 rating – the third-best in the tournament – even though his team finished 7th–8th.
In an interview with THESPIKE during Stage 2, Dawid ‘ PROFEK ’ Święć explained that one of Vitality ’s priorities was making Sayonara as comfortable as Derke because “they are our star players.” That is an unusually explicit endorsement for an 18-year-old sharing a roster with two of VALORANT’s most established names.
VALORANT Champions Shanghai now gives Sayonara the chance to prove he belongs among them.
Image credit: Riot Games Cyrocells (100 Thieves) For years, all Matthew ‘ Cryocells ’ Panganiban needed was an Operator in his hands, and he would get to work on his Jett and Chamber, producing one of the cleanest first-shot stats in the Americas.
However, when 100 Thieves restructured for 2026 , Cyrocells moved to sentinel, with Timothée ‘ Timotino ’ Lavigne Dupont taking over as the team’s primary duelist.…