Karmine Corp won the Paris Major. They're now the official European RLCS points leader, with the largest single-event point haul possible. Their fans are calling the Worlds favorite question settled.
BLAST's global power ranking, updated after Paris, disagrees. Their algorithm still has Gentle Mates first in the world, with Karmine Corp second.
That's not a quirk. That's two different things being measured, and the gap between them is going to define the conversation all the way to September.
The numbers
Official RLCS World Championship points (EU)
- Karmine Corp — 112
- Gentle Mates — 101
- Team Vitality — 97
- Ninjas in Pyjamas — 60
- Manchester City Esports — 45
BLAST global power ranking (post-Paris)
- Gentle Mates — 1969
- Karmine Corp — 1936
- Team Vitality — 1847
- NRG
- Shopify Rebellion
Same three teams at the top of EU. Different team in the #1 slot. Different scale entirely.
What each metric is actually doing
RLCS points are achievement currency
Official RLCS points reward placement at events. They're cumulative through the season. They don't decay. Winning a Major is worth a lot of points. They answer one question: "Who has accomplished the most this season?"
By that measure, Karmine Corp are #1. They won the Kickoff Weekend, won the Paris Major, and have maintained top-eight finishes in qualifiers consistently. That's a legitimate "best résumé in EU" claim.
BLAST's power ranking is form modeling
BLAST's algorithm is something different. It blends head-to-head results, recent-game weighting, opponent strength, and series outcomes to estimate which team would beat which team if they played tomorrow. It's a prediction model, not an achievement count.
By that measure, Gentle Mates are #1. They've been finalists or champions in every event since Boston. They beat Karmine Corp head-to-head in the Open 5 EU final 4-2. Their loss to KC at Paris was 1-4 in the upper bracket, which the model treats as a significant series loss but also notes the close game-3-4 stretch.
Which one matters for Worlds?
Honestly: it depends on what kind of bet you're making.
- If you trust pedigree, take Karmine Corp. They've now won two 2026 Majors (Kickoff Weekend, Paris) and have the trophy collection that says they show up at LAN.
- If you trust form modeling, take Gentle Mates. They're playing the most consistent Rocket League in the world right now and the algorithm reflects it.
- If you trust roster-context indicators, take Vitality. zen has been the highest-rated player on BLAST's three-month board (7.60), and Vitality have won both EU Opens in Split 2 (Open 4 and Open 6).
All three are reasonable Worlds favorites. None of them is the only one.
The North American wrinkle
BLAST's power model has NRG and Shopify Rebellion as #4 and #5 globally, respectively. Official NA RLCS points have NRG #1 at 90, Shopify #2 at 89. One point apart in the points race, one slot apart in the power model. That's actually rare alignment between the two methodologies — both agree these are the two best NA teams, and neither has produced an answer about which is actually better.
That's a meaningful pattern. When two completely different methodologies agree, the answer is usually that the underlying truth is unsettled — not that one team is hidden between them.
The MENA divergence
Twisted Minds are MENA #1 in points on 105, with Falcons at 78. But BLAST's algorithm has not had Twisted Minds in its public global top five — Falcons' historical résumé still weighs heavily in any model that includes long-term form. The MENA gap between the two methodologies is the largest in the world right now.
That makes Twisted Minds at Worlds a genuinely interesting prediction problem: their points are real, their LAN sample is small, and the algorithm is still choosing the team with more historical depth.
What we take from this
Two methodologies, two leaders. Both correct under their own definition. Both useful as predictive tools.
For anyone covering the rest of the 2026 season, the cleanest framing is this: RLCS points tell you what has happened. BLAST's power ranking tells you what's likely to happen. Karmine Corp own the first sentence right now. Gentle Mates own the second. Worlds in September will tell us which one was the better bet.
See you in Fort Worth.