For most of the open era, writing about Middle East and North African Rocket League meant writing about Team Falcons. They were the regional juggernaut, the international hopeful, the team that broke through in Raleigh. Every MENA story bent toward them. That story is over.
Twisted Minds are MENA's new number one — and they earned it the hard way.
The standings, after Paris
- Twisted Minds — 105 RLCS points (MENA #1)
- Team Falcons — 78 RLCS points (MENA #2)
- R8 Esports — 61 RLCS points (MENA #3)
That 27-point gap to Falcons isn't just a numerical lead. It's the largest MENA #1-to-#2 separation since the region became a competitive force in 2021.
The path that got them there
Twisted Minds entered Paris as MENA's top seed after winning the Open 6 MENA final 4-2 over R8 Esports. They left as the second-best team in the world for the weekend.
Their Paris Major bracket run:
- Lower bracket round 1 — 4-1 over FUT Esports
- Lower bracket round 2 — 4-2 over FURIA
- Lower bracket round 3 — 4-2 over Gentle Mates (Boston Major champions)
- Lower bracket semifinal — 4-3 over Shopify Rebellion
- Grand Final — 1-4 vs Karmine Corp
That's not a Cinderella story — that's a four-series win streak through three Worlds-qualified teams and the reigning Major champions.
The numbers behind the run
BLAST's public stats page for the Shopify Rebellion semifinal is where the depth of this run gets readable. In that single series:
- trk511 — 8 goals, 5 assists, 17 saves, 7.84 rating
- Nwpo — 6 goals, 6 assists
- Team totals — 18 goals, 82 shots, 7.40 team rating
That's not a finesse win. That's an attacking, three-man-rotation, shot-volume game that overwhelmed one of the deepest NA rosters in the field.
What changed
The honest answer: M0nkey M00n. The two-time World Champion signing with Twisted Minds before the 2026 season was the inflection point. He brought championship-level macro decision-making to a roster that already had mechanical talent in trk511 and Nwpo. The combination has been the closest thing MENA has had to a complete top-tier roster.
The other half of the answer is regional structure. The new regional eligibility rule didn't constrain Twisted Minds the way it constrained some of their competition. Their roster construction had room to optimize for fit, not just for compliance.
Where Falcons stand now
Don't mistake this for a Falcons collapse. They're still the second-best team in the region by points, and their mechanical ceiling at LAN remains one of the highest in the world. But after their 2025 Raleigh win, Falcons have struggled to reach the late stages of international events. Worlds in Fort Worth gives them three more months to course-correct.
The realistic 2026 narrative isn't "MENA is now Twisted Minds." It's "MENA is now Twisted Minds and Team Falcons" — and the second one of those sentences is a much louder claim than anyone in the region could have made a year ago.
What it means for Worlds
Twisted Minds head to Fort Worth as the MENA #1 seed. With M0nkey M00n statistically the best Worlds player ever in that specific arena (he won the 2022 and 2024 World Championships there with Team BDS), Twisted Minds have a non-trivial argument for being the most dangerous non-EU team in the field.
"MENA threatens to win Worlds" used to be a "Falcons might win Worlds" sentence. It now has two viable subjects. That, more than anything else, is why this story is worth writing.