Without dropping a single series throughout the entire event,
Karmine Corp stands atop the
RLCS 2026 Paris Major after six straight victories, forcing the world to acknowledge the Blue Wall once again. It’s their first Major title since March 2025 in Birmingham, and now the team sets its sights on the
2026 World Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.
Following a 4–1 victory over Twisted Minds, Karmine Corp players sat down with the press for an exclusive conference to reflect on their run, their latest achievements, and what lies ahead for the roster for the remainder of the season.
Your playstyle is very aggressive, and today a lot of small details seemed to go your way. How do you explain this success at this Major? (Question from Parlons Esport)
Charles "juicy" Sabiani: “It mainly comes from the work we’ve put in. Hard work deserves a reward, and ours is this Major.
How do you approach EWC 2026 as reigning champions, as well as your preparation for Worlds in Dallas? (Question from Liquipedia)
Alexandre "Extra" Paoli: Honestly, the preparation will be the same as for this Major. Not much is going to change because we had a really excellent preparation. Reproducing what we already did for this event will be very easy.
Whether it’s for EWC or Worlds, these are major tournaments with teams from around the globe, so the result will be the same as in Paris.
In the semifinals, we saw Vatira asking the team to “calm down” while you were leading 2–0. Is that something natural for you, or something you work on with your performance coach Jordi “Jordi” Nouvellet? (Question from Breakflip)
Axel "Vatira" Touret: It’s mainly linked to the fact that we’ve sometimes struggled at certain moments during the tournament, especially with a few goals we conceded quite cheaply.
When you’re leading 2–0, there’s usually no need to take too many risks anymore. At that point, it’s more the opponents who start forcing plays and making mistakes.
So my message was mainly to keep everyone calm and focused, without trolling the next kickoff—because it often happens that you score two goals and immediately concede two right after, and the game becomes weird straight away.
The idea was simply to keep the team composed and continue playing the same way, without panicking or changing our approach.
Atow. had a more difficult Split 2 individually, and a lot of criticism appeared on social media. How did you manage to bounce back and reach this level again at the Paris Major?
Tristan "Atow." Soyez: Honestly, I don’t give a damn about the criticism, but it’s true I was a bit weaker overall during the split.
I think it was mainly due to the state of ranked, which wasn’t really there. There basically wasn’t any, so we played a lot less. My playtime was divided by three, and I don’t think I managed that well. Since ranked came back, I just grinded the game properly like usual, like before. I’d say it showed at the Major.
What does it feel like to carry Belgian esports on your shoulders? Do you feel pressure from it, or is it fine? (Question from RTBF)
Atow.: I enjoy it. At least I have everyone supporting me, and I don’t really have much competition, so I’ll keep trying to win everything for Belgium.
And one day, maybe I’ll get the first Belgian MVP… but I feel like I might have to leave Vatira for that.
Extra insisted that the team’s preparation was very fruitful. How would you define that success? What changed concretely—practice hours or something else?
Extra: First of all, there were changes in the game itself. The fact that players couldn’t really play wasn’t pleasant for them or for me.
During preparation, having players who are able to play every day and really grind the game is very effective for me. Because with a lower individual level, they can adapt much less to everything I say, and to what they themselves want to do as well.
I think that represents maybe 60% of our success. The rest is better overall management—better management of the players, and better management of how I work as well.
My way of working has changed a lot since the Boston Major and since the start of the year. I’ve learned a lot, I’m very well surrounded, so it’s a bit of everything.
With ranked being difficult these past months and the announcement of Unreal Engine 6, does that change anything in how you manage the team? Do you use it as motivation or not at all?
Extra: In the short term, it’s not something that will really matter for the players. I don’t think they’ll take it into account much.
They know it’s beneficial for the game long term, so their future is more or less secured depending on what Rocket League decides to do with it.
So I’d say it doesn’t really affect the short term, but it still gives a sense of security knowing the game is heading in the right direction, and it feels good because recently it’s been difficult.
Atow. led the tournament with 96 demos, 30 more than anyone else. How important is that part of your game in creating space and playing around demos?
Atow.: 96?… Okay… I mean, I think I’m just the best player for that, honestly. I have the two best players in the world with me. You know, when they are in defense with full boost, my job is to bump mid so they have full space.
And I think my boost management is just too good—it helps me a lot to chase other players. All of these elements help create a lot of space for my teammates.”
