Nephew qualifies for Street Fighter 6 Esports World Cup alongside Kobayan, while twins fill their future with 2XKO: The week before Combo Breaker 2026

This week, FGC was mild compared to Evo Japan’s week, but that might be just what the community needed before the amazing event this weekend: Combo Breaker 2026.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s absolutely nothing going on over the weekend, so I’m here to break it down for you guys, going over the highlights from DreamHack Atlanta to the Red Bull Knockout.

From Alan “Nephew” Langa qualifying for the Esports World Cup respectively Kobayan twins, Torch again Haru, to fulfill their destiny of being the best duo in 2XKO, here’s everything that happened last week at FGC!

Team LiquidThe EWC side’s bad luck entering the FGC continues as Nephew, a player the team released earlier this year, won the Esports World Cup after taking second place at DreamHack Atlanta 2026.

The way the nephew ran in the competition was impressive. He beat the six-time EVO Champion Zeng “Xiao Hai” Zhuojun to enter the top 8 on the winners’ side, then swept the house towards the grand finals. However, Kobayan also had one hell of a tournament, and the two titans clashed in the grand finals and reset the finals, reaching the fifth game.

In the end, Kobayan won everything, but the nephew will be more than happy to take second place and qualify in the last minute of the EWC.

Last year, Team Liquid let loose Son “Qudans” Byeong-mun again Michael “Riddles” Kimboth qualified for EWC 2025 soon. This year, the two are still looking to enter the multi-million dollar competition.

According to Liquipedia, 10 slots are left for Street Fighter 6 EWC 2026. Two will be awarded this week at Combo Breaker 2026, two at Evo Vegas 2026, one at an unnamed tournament, and five at the last chance qualifier, which will be held close to the day of the main event.

Beyond the Tekken bracket for DreamHack Atlanta 2026, Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique ended up at the top of the EWC after coming third in the tournament. It’s important to note that Arslan Ash seems to be having trouble finding a character this season of Tekken, as he’s using Nina, Anna, and Alisa interchangeably for this tournament.

Tekken is full of loyalists and experts, many of whom look down on people who jump on whoever is stronger that season.

Saying that, he gave the final champion Han “Mulgold” Jae-gyun a run for his money with a five-game set. Mulgold managed to break out of Arslan Ash’s grasp, however, and advanced to the finals. Arslan Ash went 0-3 against the Kazuya expert Takaba “Keisuke” Keisuke in the loser’s bracket. Both Mulgold and Keisuke also qualified for EWC 2026 with their performances in the tournament.

After winning the competition, Mulgold sent a tweet saying that he never coached Claudio much because he got distracted in season 3. However, after seeing Hafiz TanveerClaudio at Evo Japan 2026, was inspired and chose the actor. Hafiz Tanveer got third in Evo Japan 2026 and lost to the famous Tekken player. 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 Super Tournament 2026, The MIXUP 2026, and the Last Chance Qualifier all offer slots.

Notably, Tekken legends such as Yuta “Chikurin” Take, Daichi “Nobi” Nakayamaagain Jeong “Rangchu” Hyeon-ho they haven’t been able to enter EWC 2026. If Team Liquid Curse (or blessing?) enters, Marquis “Shadow20z” Jordan has a chance to enter this EWC because he was kicked out by the team earlier this year. Only time will tell.

While Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 still have a few tournaments offering invitations to EWC 2026, Fatal Fury: City of Wolves has only three slots and 12 remaining. Shoji “Fenritti” Sho earned an EWC invite to DreamHack Atlanta 2026 by winning the entire tournament.

Fenritti won the entire tournament without dropping a set. His main rival in the final was Daniel “Dany” Fuentes Garciathe player he had sent to the losers bracket at the start of the tournament. And Fenretti, Luo “Vxbao” Yanxin, Kao “RB” Fu-pinagain Charalampros “H-DOPE” Lamprou they also received an EWC invitation for their performance in the tournament.

On Twitter, the player celebrated with one tweet, saying that he can rest after getting the EWC ticket. If you’re interested in seeing who else will qualify for the EWC, Combo Breaker 2026, Evo 2026, and the Last Chance Qualifier are the last three tournaments that send invitations to the top four.

If one of the top four already has an invite, the invite goes to the highest ranked player who doesn’t.

This could be the highlight of this weekend.

Red Bull Knockout 2026 took place on May 16, 2026, where they won the tag team title with a 2XKO! And believe it or not, real twins, Haru and Toshi from Japan, won the whole competition! This is the first big win for the twins as they have always failed to play in the competitions they have entered.

At Evo Japan 2026, they lost Ikura and they got 17th place, and at Frosty Faustings XVIII, they lost Dominique “SonicFox” McLean again Lenwood “INZEM” Arnold and got 25. However, it seems that he defeated the demons in this tournament as he finally took the title of the two best 2XKO players in the world after defeating SonicFox and INZEM in the grand finals.

SonicFox talked about their loss on Twitter, saying that they had played with the twins so much that they had gotten used to their style of play. He then congratulated the two and told them that he was looking forward to facing them again at Evo Vegas.

On the other hand, the twins are very happy with their first major international win. They also acknowledged SonicFox’s tweet and told them that it was an honor for them to be honored as a fighting game legend.

Haru was amazing in this tournament. His fearless play against Yasuo sparked discussions about a certain moment in the grand finals where he ran into SonicFox’s Ahri and made a move to announce a breather in the final moments of the match. It was the only way the twins could win the round, and Haru’s cry exposed the duo from the United States. FGC legend Justin Wong saw the clip and said it should be considered the Evo Awards’ Moment of the Year.

With this win, expectations for the twins will rise as they have just ended their title slump. Is it time to see two great guys in 2XKO? Only time will tell!

On Twitter, the best Street Fighter 6 player Adel “Big Bird” Anouche published a tweet complaining about the schedule of Street Fighter 6’s World Warrior online tournament in his region, the Middle East.

He tagged Capcom and Qiddiya and asked them why the pools will be played on one day, then the top eight after 11 days. He went on to say that there is no reason for the competition to last two weeks. Then, in response, he again criticized the competition, saying that there is nothing “correct” in this season’s World Warrior. He notes that the pools start at 8pm on a random weekday instead of the weekend, which makes him even more frustrated.

World Warrior is a series of regional online tournaments hosted by Capcom, rewarding the top 50 players. At the end of the season, many players will receive an invitation to the Capcom Cup if they are within a certain level on the leaderboard. This is a great way to showcase talents from different parts of the world, however, it looks like Capcom may be dropping the competition in some regions.

Capcom needs to make this tournament work, since it’s a big theme in the Street Fighter franchise to travel and fight strong opponents. You can’t really declare yourself as the world’s strongest hero without fighting people from other places, right?