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In Minecraft Speedrunning (MCSR), two players race each other to see who can beat the game faster.

On January 9th, 2026, the 9th season of the Ranked Minecraft Speedrunning (MCSR) Playoffs began. The event, which was broadcast worldwide, saw 4 out of 8 matches played in an opening round of 16 bracket that included the best runners across the globe.

Minecraft is a very well-known game, selling over 300 million copies since its release. As with most games, there is a sub-genre of speedrunning where the main premise is to try to complete a task as quickly as possible. As is the case with most games, as people get better, they look for a competitive scene. This category of MCSR is primarily focused on trying to beat the game as quickly as possible, which is achieved by defeating the Ender Dragon, the final boss, before their opponent.

MCSR Ranked is an add-on to Minecraft version 1.16 that filters seeds to ensure that the game will be completed quickly. All of the top runners play using this add-on and use it for ranked play.

Out of the four different matches played on January 9th, the match that the community was most excited about was Hackingnoises versus Feinburg. These two runners have solidified themselves as the best runners in the world, as both of their average times are under ten minutes.

In the best-of-5 matchup, where the first to win three seeds (the term used by the community in place of game or heat) would move on to the next round, it wasn’t easy for either runner. Hackingnoises (Hax) had a major setback by dying in the Nether in the first match, resulting in Feinberg taking the seed. In the second seed, Fein was slower entering the Nether, and while neither runner made a big mistake, Hax kept his lead from the Overworld and took the seed. In the third seed, Fein died two minutes and thirty seconds into the match, which led Hax to the win in the seed. In the second-to-last seed, Fein completely outpaced Hax and took the seed to tie it at 2-2.

The final seed would be for the win, and the nerves were insanely high for both runners. Any mistake could mean the end of their time in the playoffs. Hax, known for his insane mechanics, completely outpaced Fein in the Overworld when building the Nether portal, which gave him a 19-second lead going into the Nether. Entering the Nether, Hax’s screen immediately showed the Bastion, which gives the players the pearls, explosives, and obsidian they need to defeat the Ender Dragon. Hax entered the Bastion while Feinberg was just entering the Nether. 

From there, Hax immediately started one of the fastest Bastion routes to accumulate the most Piglins to trade with, which usually gives the players the resources they need to win. Hax made his way to the Fortress so he could get the blaze rods to find the stronghold. Fein made up some time, though, and was behind by only seven seconds. He found three stray blazes while Hax was at the blaze spawner, a more reliable way of getting rods. Both players needed six rods so they could fill out the 12 ender portal frames in the stronghold. Hax got his six rods faster and immediately made his way to the stronghold while Fein was still waiting for one more spawn cycle from the spawner. In the stronghold, Hax immediately found the portal room, entered the end, and killed the Dragon before Fein even had a chance.

Hackingnoises won the match 3-2, eliminating Feinberg and advancing to the quarterfinals, where he will play Steez, another notable runner, on January 17th, 2026, at 11:00 PM EST.