Torben “Viper” Wahl won the US$100,000 YGG Parallel Showdown in Manila on November 21, 2025. The German TCG player defeated top competitors over a tense two-day tournament. He claimed the US$20,000 first prize.

Sixteen players from around the world competed. Each brought three decks and played in a double-elimination best-of-three format. Players had to win with all decks to advance.

Viper defeated Devmon’s Jobsad in the final. He lost the first game but won the next two. This victory adds to Viper’s successful competitive career, which includes over US$270,000 in Hearthstone earnings from 2016 to 2022.

The tournament featured top talent, including imcute, YGG Esports’ Sequinox and Zeliaser, and Filipino guild One Turn TILT’s Gaben and Boolzi. Devmon also fielded Hearthstone veterans Lamby, BlizzconJan, and Jobsad. Jobsad finished second and BlizzconJan third.

BlizzconJan eliminated last year’s champion Zeliaser before Jobsad won their sibling face-off in the loser’s bracket finals.

“It’s completely crazy to win this event,” Viper said. “Last year, I came here as a spectator. Now I am competing. It’s indescribable. I love the Philippines. I love this event.”

The 16 participants qualified through two online tournaments in October. The top eight from each qualifier advanced to Manila.

Parallel Studios co-founder Kohji Nagata, YGG Play Summit host John Sedano, and casters Mooka and Lamby joined Viper onstage to present the prize.

Parallel’s growth and mobile expansion

Parallel is a sci-fi digital TCG by Parallel Studios. Factions called Parallels compete to control the planet. The game is inspired by Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering.

Nagata announced that Parallel is now on the Apple App Store. The game initially launched on Android in March 2025 in the Philippines. Earlier this year, the US$250,000 Parallel Prime Championship in Las Vegas highlighted the growing scale of Parallel tournaments.

YGG Play Summit fosters Web3 esports community

The YGG Play Summit Arena hosted the Parallel Showdown and other tournaments. Ubisoft’s Might & Magic: Fates held its first event, won by YGG Esports player Tyler.

The City of Play expo featured four districts: the Player District for games, Degen District for crypto-native gamers, Skill District for workshops, and Metaversity Interactive for career-focused sessions.

On November 22, Metaversity hosted the Prompt to Prototype coding event powered by Base. Builders learned how to create games using AI.

After the Parallel Showdown, the GAM3 Awards presented five wins to Off The Grid, including Game of the Year. Cagy was named Best Content Creator.