Pred benched by Riyadh Falcons

Amer "Pred" Zulbeari's benching by the Riyadh Falcons is the kind of late-season shock that says more about a team’s trajectory than a player’s stat line. On paper, Pred’s individual numbers this year look strong: a 1.07 overall K/D, a 90.9 Slayer Rating, and a 1.08 respawn K/D across the season, the kind of production you expect from an all‑star SMG who still wins most of his individual fights and drives his team to success. The reality is that Falcons were unable to translate his impact into success as a team.

For Riyadh, the bigger issue has been results on LAN. With Pred in the lineup, the Falcons have never truly broken through at the biggest events: Top 8 at Major I, Top 8 again at Major II, a modest rise to Top 6 at Major III, and then a harsh correction back down to Top 12 at Major IV. That arc tells a familiar story: disappointing and unspectacular finishes, flashes of promise in online matches, and a ceiling that always seems to stop one series short of real contention. When a team stalls out like that across an entire season, organizations start looking at structural changes, even when they involve moving on from a star.

The decision to bench Pred, then, is less an indictment of his talent and more a signal that Riyadh believes the current formula has run its course. That different look comes in the form of Mohammed "Alluka" Bindal. As reported by Ronnie Intel, the Falcons are bringing in the rookie from FaZe Vegas on a loan deal, handing him his Call of Duty League debut on the biggest stage of the year. For a team stuck in the “Top 6 to Top 12” band, that gamble can feel more appealing than running back the same core and hoping for a miracle.