Predicting the 2026 Plexies

Predicting the 2026 Plexies

Written by Adelaide Spence

It’s become a yearly tradition for Kaleb Koho and I to get together the day after the Oscar nominations are announced and make our ballots predicting the next season. It’s always a fun activity, but often very incorrect- see my massive nomination numbers for Megalopolis and Joker: Folie a Deux. So I figured, why not bring that to the Plexies? What do I think the 2026 awards season will look like?

Player of the Year: Jeremy Adams

Picking a former champion may seem like an easy decision, but with his last match against Cameron Holzmann, I think there’s still a lot to expect from Jeremy. His return has been nothing but dominant, with extremely strong performances in nearly every match and a drive that I think suggests he might not have reached his peak yet. Not only that, but he also is a part of the one of the greatest teams ever. Whoa, what’s that Segway driving past here for…

Team of the Year: Judgment City

With Ginyu Force gone, who will place themselves as the abominable snowman atop the Mount Everest of the teams division? The immediate rematch certainly helps, but at the same time, this is a super team of 2 of the greatest general movies players ever. While their matches against Sexual Chocolate and I’m sure eventual rematch against Back To Formula will be great, it’s hard to imagine these 2 are anything but dominant forces that are hard to imagine losing. 

Rookie of the Year: Nick van Dinther

To take a quote from Kaleb Koho: “sometimes you gotta just pick the name that sounds a bit. That’s why Dylan Vanthuyne is my early pick for Rookie” and look where that ended up. We don’t know much about these players, but it’s a great name, so where else am I supposed to pull from? Nick, don’t let me down. 

Rookie Team of the Year: Annexation of Puerto Rico

I will save the spoiler here, but there’s 2 rookie teams I think have a shot at winning titles this year. This is one of them, and jesus will it be scary to be on the other side of them. 

Comeback Player of the Year: Kaiser Huang

Returning from a long break to lose to Anthony Tisdall (another person I strongly considered here), Kaiser had a quite 2024. 0-1 in singles, 1-2 in teams, and 0-2 in trios. That being said, his knowledge base is incredible and has one of the most accurate teams in the division with Jack Pinchuk. A couple good hits and a lucky 4 pointer can push him to strong upsets that I think can make him a defining presence in 2025. 

Biggest Upset: Ryan Payne vs David Nishimoto

Here’s where we start putting on the tin foil hats. I had to ask myself, who is ranked low despite a strong level of knowledge and can pull of incredible accuracies in matches, even in losses? At the time of writing, that’d be 22 ranked Ryan Payne beating #9, David Nishimoto. It’s a crap shoot at the end of the day, but with a teams championship around his waist, I have a feeling that boost of confidence will lead to a strong season from Ryan and this match could be one of the defining moments. 

Match Of The Year: Judgment City vs Kumite 2

I don’t think there’s any match these 4 players want any more and less at the same time. This is a cosmic event of knowledge clashing that is an inevitability. Calling it now, both teams will need to answer their 4’s to win and the total score will be in the 40’s. After the event that was the first match between these 2 teams, I can only imagine how explosive this pick could be. 

Trios MVP: Caleb Boatman

Weirdly this award feels the hardest for me to predict. It comes down to who stands out amongst a team as a clear dominant force, while at the same time acknowledging the total knowledge base that can take the team far. To me, that comes down to if Payson can run it back, or if Caleb Boatman can remake the magic of Kumite and adding some British funk. The holder of the most perfect rounds ever and one of the most accurate players ever, I think Boatman will find an indelible chemistry with Bill that has consistently made him thrive in teams, plus Joe is an incredibly reliable force in round 3 that will be able to guarantee take their team to the knockout stage. From their, Boatman can help define the trios division this year and potentially conquer Drugs at the very end.