The event
Comic Con Baltics 2026 ran from May 22 to 24 at LITEXPO in Vilnius, Lithuania – the biggest Trackmania LAN the Baltic region has produced. Held alongside the broader Comic Con Baltics convention, the tournament drew a strong field of European talent, backed by Ubisoft Nadeo with a €5,000 prize pool and custom Lithuanian-themed tracks built for the occasion.
The live final ran in a three-phase bracket: Upper Final, Lower Final, Grand Final. The top four from qualification entered the Upper Final, with two advancing directly to the Grand Final and two dropping to the Lower Final for a second shot at a Grand Final place.
Upper Final — four enter, two stay
mime, eLconn21, Tween and key made up the Upper Final. Two Grand Final spots were available. Two players would drop.
mime and Tween earned their places directly. eLconn21 and key dropped to the Lower Final – not out, but needing to come through once more.
Lower Final — second chances, two spots
The Lower Final paired eLconn21 and key against Rotrex and Nismo, who beat Auris and Samifying in the lower bracket. Two Grand Final spots remained.
eLconn21 came through. Rotrex came through. key and Nismo were eliminated in 5th–6th, Auris and Samifying in 7th–8th.
Grand Final — mime, Tween, eLconn21, Rotrex
Four players. One title.
Tween looked dominant. At one stage he held a 26-point advantage – in Cup format, a lead that feels like you are almost touching that trophy. It was not. mime absorbed the pressure, found the runs when it mattered most, and closed the gap entirely. Tween could not hold it.
mime took the title and €2,000. eLconn21 finished second at €1,200 – consistent throughout, never out of contention at any stage of the bracket. Tween third at €800, a result that stings given where he was sitting midway through the final. Rotrex fourth at €500, reaching the Grand Final from the lower side of the bracket – the quiet story of the event.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Final | ||
1 |
mime NaVi |
€2,000 |
2 |
eLconn21 Nemesis |
€1,200 |
3 |
Tween Free Agent |
€800 |
4 |
ROtrex 2R Esports |
€500 |
|
Lower Final Exits — 5th to 6th
▼
|
||
5–6 |
Nismo B2 Esports |
€250 |
5–6 |
key Onyx |
€250 |
|
Lower Bracket Exits — 7th to 8th
▼
|
||
7–8 |
Auris EvolupeGG |
— |
7–8 |
Samifying — |
— |
What it means
mime leaves Vilnius as Comic Con Baltics 2026 champion. The comeback from 26 points down in a Grand Final is the kind of moment that defines competitive reputations – and it came in front of a live crowd, which makes it matter more.
eLconn21’s run is arguably the small upset based on his Elite Cup performances. Dropped to the Lower Final after the Upper Final, came through that, then finished second in the Grand Final. He needed full bracket performance with no margin for error across the back half of the competition, almost felt like Pac’s lower bracket run at DreamHack Birmingham, but with different outcome.
Rotrex reaching the Grand Final from the lower side of the bracket deserves recognition. Most players who take that route are eliminated in the Lower Final. He was not.
Comic Con Baltics 2026 a standard for what a Baltic LAN can look like. The venue, the prize pool, the quality of the field – it all points in the right direction. Whether the next edition builds on it will be worth watching.
Three hours and a League of Legends game five
The Upper Final, Lower Final and Grand Final did not run on schedule. A League of Legends match on the main stage went to a deciding game five, pushing the entire Trackmania bracket back by roughly three hours. Everyone waiting for the finals – players, crowd, Spammiej and his router – sat on it.
When the Trackmania finals eventually did run, Tween built a 26-point lead and still lost. Worth the wait.
The co-stream nobody asked for but everyone watched
Spammiej ran an unofficial-official co-stream of the event from inside the venue, commentating on the Trackmania action throughout the weekend. For the Grand Final he was joined by GranaDy, giving the stream a proper two-man booth feel despite the circumstances.
Those circumstances included the venue lease expiring. As the final wound down, the LITEXPO staff began dismantling the event around him – and at some point, someone unplugged Spammiej’s router. His stream cut mid-broadcast. His explanation to chat was straightforward: “they unplugged my router.”
It is the most Comic Con Baltics thing that could have happened, and it happened during the Grand Final.
The other story from stage
If you watched the on-stage coverage, you may have noticed Heccu – the event’s host and interviewer – had her microphone taped to her hand. This was not a production quirk. At Red Bull Faster in Amsterdam, Mudda had a habit of enthusiastically taking the mic mid-interview to make his point. The tape was the solution. Vilnius was not going to have the same problem.
Heccu also introduced eLconn21 to the crowd as Elmer on stage, which eLconn21 took in good stride. Whether that name sticks in the community remains to be seen… a twitch emote, a natural rename doing some of the streams… someone?
Full results at liquipedia.net/trackmania. ApexTM covered Comic Con Baltics 2026. Follow @ApexTM_ on X for ongoing coverage.