33 said everything he thinks about Riyadh Masters 2026 live on ESL stream

Neta “33” Shapira, captain of Tundra Esports, stated that he no longer considers Riyadh Masters to be as important of a tournament as before, pointing at the relatively small prize pool this year, after which he immediately apologized to ESL for such an honest opinion.

This happened live during the tournament operator’s broadcast.

“Honestly, no. Esports World Cup 2026 is a great tournament, I enjoy playing there, but this time there’s only 2 million dollars on the line. That’s like winning BLAST and DreamLeague championships within a couple of weeks. It’s not the most important tournament. Sorry for saying this on ESL stream.”

He pointed out that compared to previous seasons, the prize pool is now only 2 million dollars. The esports player emphasized that it is still a huge amount of money, but also highlighted that it equals winning two tournaments over the course of just a few weeks.

“Of course, everyone still wants to participate at this championship. Of course, 2 million dollars is still a huge amount, and this tournament is prestigious and important. But it’s not like now that we already qualified for it, we suddenly don’t care anymore.”

33 explained that the tournament is still important, but since the team already qualified, they are not overly worried about it. Interestingly enough, after such a sharp and honest statement, he apologized to ESL and the viewers right away.