Team Liquid and Team Falcons have withdrawn from 1W ESSENCE I — the participant lineup and format have been updated

The organizers of 1W ESSENCE I have announced that Team Nemesis and SA Rejects will replace Team Liquid and Team Falcons in the championship, as the latter two have withdrawn from the tournament. However, the newly invited teams will not begin their tournament run in the playoffs, but rather in the first phase of the group stage.

As a result, the tournament format has been changed: the two groups in the first phase will each include five teams instead of four. The teams that finish last in each group will be eliminated. The remaining teams will compete in the second phase in single-elimination matches.

1W ESSENCE I will take place from 02.05.2026 to 11.05.2026 in an online format. Fourteen teams will compete for a prize pool of $100,000. Aurora Gaming, PARIVISION, Team Yandex, and Tundra Esports will begin their run directly in the playoffs, where they will face the top teams from the group stage in the upper bracket quarterfinals.

As CyberScore previously reported, PARIVISION became the champion of the PREMIER SERIES.