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The first Twitch Rivals event for the new game has been spoiled by controversy.
The hotly-anticipated Marvel Rivals Showdown, a two-day Twitch Rivals event that sees some of the biggest names on the platform clash in Marvel Rivals for the lion’s share of $200,000, has kicked off at last. Fan-favorite streamers and high-level players teamed up for a weekend of Marvel Rivals action — but for a hot moment it could all have come crashing down.
Late team restrictions and sudden rule changes are threatening to ruin the fun, and while the Twitch Rivals team have rectified those already affected, the likes of Valkyrae, Sykkuno, and Dokibird have voiced their frustrations over the matter.
Twitch backtracks rule changes, player disqualifications for Marvel Rivals Showdown
TheMarvel Rivals Showdownsees 72 players across 12 teams sorted into two groups, with performance dictating where in the playoff bracket a team started. Of particular note in the Twitch Rivals rulebook: no team could have more than two Grandmaster-level players.
However, as the event drew near, Twitch dropped a rule change, allowing teams to pick up to four Grandmasters instead. Naturally, with such a big cash prize up for grabs, some teams immediately leapt at the opportunity to boost their chances of winning, especially those with well-establishedMarvel Rivals accounts.
In the process, some big-name streamers brought onto the event were straight-up kicked from their teams, including Sykkuno and Dokibird — the latter of whichstood down, choosing to give the exposure and opportunity to the pros.
“It was pretty sad. I practiced a lot — I was in the middle of practicing solo queue at 3am — and then bogur [team captain] was like ‘Hey man, you have to be removed from the team’,” Sykkunosaid after he was forced outby the rule change.
Bogur revealed what happened ina series of posts on X/Twitter. “Twitch Rivals IMHO should be about content creators learning the game, competing and having fun but how are they supposed to do any of that if every fame is a stomp,” he said. “Now it’s just a bunch of Eternity sweats (like us) with over 300 hours stomping on streamers who are just there for fun — coughing baby versus hydrogen bomb.”
Several othersincluding streamer Ellumthreatened to boycott the event if Sykkuno wasn’t allowed back. Discussions behind the scenes took place with Twitch ultimately reinstating the two Grandmaster only rule — meaning some top players who were brought in late were the ones forced out.
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Valkyrae in disbelief at lack organization for Twitch Rivals
Popular streamer Valkyrae, who is fresh off a return to Twitch after signing a five-year exclusivity deal with YouTube, was flabbergasted with proceedings.
“Which Twitch staff member do I need to talk to? I don’t understand how this happened,” Valkyrae saidduring a recent stream. “I waited five years to play in a Twitch Rivals just for this s**t to happen? This is insane, who planned this garbage? Who’s rat’s ass idea was this, I don’t understand.”
The rule change had Valkyrae questioning the point of bringing on the big name streamers at all and instead focusing entirely on top-tier players. “I need to see the logic. Just say it’s a pro tourney then at that point, why even have people under Grandmaster.”
The matter was eventually resolved, with Twitch Rivals rule makers granting full payment to those who were kicked and allowing them to co-stream the event with their viewers.
“They are a team of less than 10 people that run over 60 events a year. They rely on headliners that are native to the space of the game to help, [but] they don’t have the same kind of manpower that they used to after the layoffs,” Team Liquid’s Mendosaid on Jan. 17.
Mendo was one of the players who was added after the first rule change, but then dropped when Twitch reversed the decision. “I got removed from the event because of the last minute changes and I was one of the people that suggested the last minute change to them. It’s the best way to go about it so everyone can still have fun.”
Everything you need to know about the Twitch Rivals Marvel Rivals Showdown
Rivals meets Rivals. The Marvel Rivals Showdown is happening via Twitch Rivals, and we’ve got all of the details.
Brandon Moore
Day one of Marvel Rivals Showdown has now wrapped, with all teams moving forward into the playoffs later today. For morestreamingnews, check outesports.gg!
