📝 Twisted Minds announce roster for 2026

The reigning champions are here to defend their title.

The Saudi Arabian organisation Twisted Minds has announced their roster for the 2026 season, becoming the first major organisation to lock in their lineup ahead of the 2026 OWCS campaign. Many fan-favourite and legacy players will be returning, alongside a single but notable new addition.

The team has opted to retain the entire core that carried them to a World Championship in 2025. This includes both tank options, Abdualziz "TVNT" Altmimi and Alhumaidi "KSAA" Alruwaili, as well as the support line of Kim "Simple" Ji-sung and Daniel "FunnyAstro" Hathaway, who recently renewed his contract with the team through 2027. Joining them once again is the DPS core of team captain Ahmad "Youbi" Alyoubi and World Finals MVP Ibrahem "Quartz" Alali, who’ve been with the team since 2023.

While the championship-winning core remains intact, Twisted Minds has made one targeted change ahead of the new season, replacing former DPS Maximilian "Seicoe" Otter with former Virtus.pro standout Kim "JaeWoo" Jae-woo.

JaeWoo enjoyed a successful 2025 campaign with Virtus.pro, winning OWCS EMEA Stage 1, finishing third in Stage 2, and making it to two Major tournaments on top, before seeing reduced playtime later in the year as the team rotated between multiple DPS options. The expectation is that JaeWoo will fill the holes outside Symmetra and Mei that Seicoe previously did. Giving them the option to run more Tracer-dominant compositions as they did during their successful Stage 3 campaign.

Beyond the roster itself, Twisted Minds will continue into 2026 without an officially designated head coach. Much like last season, the team is expected to rely heavily on internal leadership, with Youbi playing the central role. That approach paid dividends throughout 2025, culminating in a World Championship run in which Twisted Minds defeated all three top Korean teams before defeating regional rivals Al Qadsiah in the Grand Finals.

By announcing their roster early and making only minimal changes, Twisted Minds are sending a clear message to the rest of the league: this lineup is built to carry momentum forward, not reset. Maintaining the same core is always a risky endeavour in Overwatch, where metas can shift rapidly, but the addition of JaeWoo gives the team added flexibility and depth without disrupting their established identity.

As defending OWCS World Champions, Twisted Minds enter 2026 as the team to beat, but the team’s confidence in its foundation to run it back unchanged is palpable, and they are one of the key teams to keep an eye on through 2026.