Short news: Week 35

HOTU have withdrawn from the IEM Beijing Closed Qualifier after losing their upper bracket semi-final match against B8 .

A win would have secured HOTU a spot in the upper bracket final, which is played on Friday, but the defeat left the team with another match to play today in the lower bracket against HEROIC at 20:00 .

That overlaps with HOTU 's grand final against 3DMAX in NODWIN Clutch Series 11, with the team opting to withdraw from the Beijing qualifier instead.

ENCE has announced that it has parted ways with 17-year-old Niki "⁠Cliqq⁠" Kinnunen , who joined the organization in 2025 to play in ENCE Academy after nearly a year in MOUZ NXT and had been playing in the Finnish organization's main squad since April 2026 until being benched in August.

Drama have announced their revamped roster, featuring new signings Artem "⁠Chill⁠" Mankevich , Filip "⁠DEPRESHN⁠" Jarkić , and Roberts "⁠Frip⁠" Poļakovs .

The core has previously played for Atreides and this inherits their VRS placing at No. 165.

OG has announced that Adam "⁠adamb⁠" Ångström is not availaible this week, and Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug will take his place in the starting five for the Logitech G Play Connect Closed Qualifier playoff.

The Frenchman will play his first match as a stand-in for OG when they take on Phantom on Thursday.

GamerLegion have had to forfeit their first IEM Beijing Closed Qualifier match against Nuclear TigeRES as they could not field a full roster due to Sebastian "⁠Tauson⁠" Tauson Lindelof being on the injured list and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski having a prior medical appointment that could not be moved.

The team will make its start in the qualifier's lower bracket against the loser of K27 vs. magic with Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković standing in for Tauson .

Johnny Speeds have announced the return of Leo "⁠Svedjehed⁠" Svedjehed , who previously played for the lineup from April to October 2025.

The 23-year-old already made his debut for the roster at Stake Pule Beat I, where he averaged a 1.01 rating and helped the team reach the semi-finals in a run that included wins over Metizport , Lilmix , and G2 Ares .

The event was a tryout for the new lineup, and ended with the signings of Oliwer "⁠bsover⁠" Ekbäck and Elias "⁠Rack⁠" Karttunen .

Johnny Speeds now have:

William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser Oliwer "⁠bsover⁠" Ekbäck Elias "⁠Rack⁠" Karttunen Leo "⁠Svedjehed⁠" Svedjehed

Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson (benched) Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson (benched) Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg (benched)

Sebastian "⁠Tauson⁠" Tauson Lindelof revealed in an interview with Dust2.dk that the reason he is sitting out the IEM Beijing qualifier is reactive arthritis.

"I have been hospitalized for 4-5 days now because I have a disease called reactive arthritis," he said. "It first appeared in my knee, but then it also spread to my left hand, so that is also why I can't play."

He says doctors expect it could take up to 1-3 weeks to heal, but hopes to be healthy in time for FISSURE Playground 3 in China, which starts in a week.

Check out Week 34 for more