Sayonara, Cryocells and PatMen headline players to watch at Champions Shanghai

Esports News UK, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 11/09/2026

VALORANT Champions Shanghai arrives at the end of a season that never settled on one dominant team or region, according to Esports Insider. Nongshim RedForce won Masters Santiago, LEVIATÁN lifted the Masters London title but still failed to qualify for Champions, and 100 Thieves took the Esports World Cup in Paris. Against that backdrop, Esports Insider has singled out eight players who defined different stretches of the year, with three standing out for the scale of their contributions.

Ștefan ‘Sayonara’ Mîtcu joined Team Vitality’s rebuild alongside Nikita ‘Derke’ Sirmitev and Timofey ‘Chronicle’ Khromov, but the Moldovan could not compete until after March 2026 despite being announced back in November 2025. He debuted in EMEA Stage 1 and helped drag Vitality to the grand final, posting a 1.13 rating, 221 ACS and a 23% clutch success rate across the tournament, winning 10 of 44 clutch situations, though his form dipped to a 0.92 rating in the final itself. Masters London was similarly uneven, a 0.98 rating offset by the tournament’s first Ace, before he bounced back with a 1.19 rating in EMEA Stage 2, the third-best of the event even as Vitality finished seventh to eighth. Coach Dawid ‘PROFEK’ Święć told THESPIKE during Stage 2 that making Sayonara as comfortable as Derke was a priority, adding: ‘they are our star players.’

Cryocells’ MVP run with 100 Thieves at the Esports World Cup

Matthew ‘Cryocells’ Panganiban spent years as an Operator specialist on Jett and Chamber before 100 Thieves shifted him to sentinel for 2026, handing duelist duties to Timothée ‘Timotino’ Lavigne Dupont. The change paid off at the Esports World Cup, where Cryocells posted a 1.13 rating, 206 ACS and 11 clutches, the most of any player at the Paris event, then finished the grand final against NRG with 65 kills and 25 assists to take home MVP. He carried that form into the Americas Stage 2 grand final win over LOUD, playing three different agents and recording the series’ highest KAST at 74%, a rare sight for a sentinel winning six of seven opening duels on attack.

Global Esports arrived at the business end of the season as one of Pacific’s least predictable sides, reaching Masters London for the first time in the organisation’s history before exiting in the Swiss stage. A public dispute involving Patrick ‘PatMen’ Mendoza preceded the departure of head coach Hector ‘FrosT’ Rosario, and the team went winless at the Esports World Cup under replacement coach Daniel ‘Platoon’ Zhou. Global Esports recovered in the playoffs, however, reverse-sweeping Masters Santiago champion Nongshim RedForce to claim the organisation’s first VCT Pacific title, with PatMen central to the turnaround after a rocky exit from Paper Rex.

Esports Insider’s list also names Lukxo of LOUD, Dambi of Nongshim RedForce, Trent of G2 Esports, N4RRATE of Karmine Corp and Slowly of TYLOO among the players expected to shape the Shanghai bracket. VALORANT Esports has also previewed the Champions Shanghai field.

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Esports News UK, Senior Editor

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