posted Jun 1st, 2026 - The NSL News preview of the 8-way competition at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026 began with the update on March 11th, which included the first NSL Power Rankings for this event. The prediction anticipated a close battle among four potential medal contenders: three French teams representing the host nation at Weembi Lille (D'Arc8, Nova, and France 3) and the reigning outdoor 8-way world champions from the United States, Paraclete XP8.

The two French teams and XP8 knew each other well from previous competitions and other 8-way activities, while the third French team remained somewhat of an unknown quality. It turned out that French national coach Mathieu Bernier had assembled a new 8-way team that was unknown and had no scoring history at all.

However, Mathieu Bernier had already mentioned his plans to merge Aethers and Nephtys for the indoor competition, and the talent, experience, and potential of the lineup immediately placed AethersNephtys on the same level as the other three leading teams on the NSL Power Rankings leaderboard, despite having no scoring history of their own. AethersNephtys did not merely compete for medals. They left little opportunity for the other contenders to challenge for the top spot and finished 20 points ahead of silver medalists Paraclete XP8 and 21 points ahead of the second French 8-way team, D'Arc8.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2026			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 8-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Nova	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Paraclete XP8	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	D'Arc8	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	France 3	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	XONR8	INT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	China	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Netunos	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Infinite Octane XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Airbus	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	FLY X8	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Octobuzz by Banter	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Elev8	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Chicanovas	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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Paraclete XP8 - D'Arc8 at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026

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AethersNephtys actually performed at a higher level than their closest opponents, while their greatest advantage came from their clean relationship with the 8-way judging panel. As in 4-way Open, where Aethers incurred only two point deductions—the cleanest performance among all Top 10 teams—AethersNephtys replicated that nearly flawless standard in 8-way with only two point deductions as well. Only one of the thirteen teams in the 8-way field performed even cleaner over the ten rounds, Germany's 8-way Airbus team, which lost just a single point.

Paraclete XP8 probably knew they had to perform at their highest speed level to keep pace with the combined strength of the two French national 4-way teams. Kirk Verner mentioned during NSL Live Talk on April 29th that he had watched AethersNephtys in training before the competition and was aware of their performance level. The effort to match the French pace may have contributed to the 15 point deductions that appeared on the final leaderboard. Before penalties were applied, the gap between the two teams was only seven points.

D'Arc8, who finished in 3rd place, fielded the most consistent lineup among the three teams chasing AethersNephtys and demonstrated that consistency with only five point deductions. D'Arc8 also achieved the highest meet average in the team's three-year history. XP8 and D'Arc8 pushed each other to a level that the third French team, Nova, could no longer match, while their battle for the silver medal became the most exciting storyline of the 8-way competition.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total		Avg
Rank	8-way Open		J,20,C,4		10,O,L,M		B,21,N,H		14,F,3		18,16,9		E,6,8		19,1,Q		G,5,12		P,D,17,22		15,11,2		Total		Avg
1	Aethers Nephtys	FR	37		32		37		37		33		29	-1	32		29		32	-1	32		330	-2	33.0
2	Paraclete XP8	US	36	-2	33		29	-3	34	-2	27	-3	27	-1	30		30	-2	33	-2	31		310	-15	31.0
3	D'Arc8	FR	36		28	-1	31		32	-2	30		28	-2	29		30		33		32		309	-5	30.9
4	Nova	FR	28	-1	25	-1	27		28		25		23	-1	26		25		30		27		264	-3	26.4
5	China	CN	23	-2	26		22		24		23	-1	22		23	-2	20		22		21		226	-5	22.6
6	FLY X8	IT	25		23		22		22		22	-1	21		23	-1	17		20	-1	19		214	-3	21.4
7	Netunos	BR	20	-3	19	-3	18	-2	20	-1	21	-1	21		18		20		22	-1	18		197	-11	19.7
8	Airbus	DE	20	-1	21		19		21		20		17		19		19		21		18		195	-1	19.5
9	Octobuzz by Banter	UK	21		17		19		19	-1	18	-1	16	-1	17		17		17		18		179	-3	17.9
10	Infinite Octane XP	US	20	-1	19		16	-1	18	-2	17	-1	14	-3	18	-1	18		19		15	-1	174	-10	17.4
11	Chicanovas	DE	20	-1	17		16	-2	20		16	-1	17		17	-1	17	-3	15		14	-2	169	-10	16.9
12	Deton8	UK	13	-1	15		14	-1	15		14		14		13	-1	15		13	-1	13		139	-4	13.9
13	Elev8	UK	10	-5	15	-2	15	-1	14	-1	13	-2	16		17		13	-1	12	-2	13	-1	138	-15	13.8

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AethersNephtys - Nova at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026

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