Witchcraft suffered their first defeat at EMEA Masters Winter 2026, falling to G2 Nord in a series that frustrated fans and raised serious questions about the team’s consistency. Despite a dominant performance from Nemesis, the rest of the roster couldn’t hold it together when it mattered most. Witchcraft now drop to the lower bracket.
Nemesis Tried Everything
For the third time in as many series, Nemesis was the standout player on the Witchcraft roster — and it still wasn’t enough. The Slovenian mid laner dominated his lane matchup throughout the series, but found himself unable to carry when his teammates made critical errors at key moments. The community reaction was blunt: “Nemesis must’ve been a serial killer in a previous life and this is his punishment.”
The mid lane gap was so obvious that opponents have reportedly started prioritizing mid lane bans specifically to shut Nemesis down — something that didn’t happen with Baus in the roster, who at least drew top lane bans and gave the team more draft flexibility.
Bwipo’s Rough Series
Bwipo had another difficult outing. He was placed on Rumble — a champion he has previously admitted he doesn’t enjoy playing — and struggled heavily, getting solo killed twice and making aggressive team fight calls that the rest of the team wasn’t ready for. His communication in game also drew criticism, with fans noting that repeated self-blame in comms created negative energy rather than helping the team reset mentally.
To be fair, context matters. Bwipo has been playing with this roster for less than two weeks. Chemistry takes time, and his draft flexibility on tanks and bruisers remains a genuine asset when he’s on the right champions. Rumble simply isn’t one of them.
The Draft Was a Problem
The series exposed real draft issues. Witchcraft went into game three with an immobile composition featuring Rumble, Jhin, and Hwei — three champions with almost no mobility — while also getting counterpicked by assassins on both solo lanes without adequate frontline. The community was harsh but accurate in its assessment: the draft set the team up to fail before the game even started.
With Baus in Los Ratones, the draft was limited by his champion pool but at least predictable. Now YamatoCannon has more options, but that also means more responsibility — and today the draft didn’t deliver.
The Same Old Story
There was a painful familiarity to this result for Los Ratones fans. Witchcraft, like their predecessor, dropped their second series in the group stage to fall into the lower bracket. The name changed, the top laner changed, but the pattern remained. As one Reddit user put it: “You can change the name and the toplaner but you can’t change losing the second match in EMEA Masters groups.”
Lower Bracket Is Not the End
Witchcraft are still alive. The lower bracket path is harder but the talent in this roster is undeniable. Nemesis alone is capable of carrying series at this level, and if Bwipo finds his footing on the right champions, the ceiling of this team is significantly higher than what we’ve seen so far.
The Esports World Cup spot is still very much in play — but Witchcraft need to clean up their team fighting, fix their draft decision-making, and let their strongest players make the calls when it counts.
About The Author
