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Meet your Red Bull Canada Tetris Champion
The Red Bull Tetris® Canadian Final went down in Toronto on November 15, where the top 16 players from across the country battled it out for their shot at the World Final in Dubai.
Red Bull Tetris® is out to find the most versatile player from around the world, and players have embarked on a journey across different platforms to advance from the Qualifier round to the National Finals.
In Canada, over 150,000 games of Red Bull Tetris® were played on phones from coast to coast to find the top 16 players in the country. Across the world? Nearly 7 million games were played globally. But at the end of the night it was Mississauga Ontario's Mark Metcalfe who came out on top to be crowned Red Bull Tetris® Canada Champion.
Now he heads to the World final in Dubai, where the ultimate showdown will unfold beneath the desert sky -- featuring the first official live playable Tetris game brought to life by drones in the legendary Dubai Frame.
Yes, drones. We’ll get to that.
Find out more about the Red Bull Tetris® World Final going down in Dubai from December 11-13.
01
Journey to the Canadian Finals
When Mark Metcalfe was gifted Tetris: Axis on his new Nintendo 3DS for his fifth birthday, he had no idea it would one day take him across the world. To get there, he had to win the Red Bull Tetris® Canada National Final in Toronto. On November 15, 2025, Red Bull Canada transformed Toronto's Illuminarium into an immersive Tetris arena.
Every wall was projected with live gameplay, featuring the players and tournament bracket. Spectators, competitors, and content creators filled the room, while the event's DJ, Bishu, debuted a track he made specially for the event. It was a remix of the iconic “Korobeiniki” Tetris theme, featuring sampled vocals from Red Bull player Ludwig.
Check out the Ludwig x Bishu Tetris Remix:
To first qualify for the National Final, players had to grind games of Red Bull Tetris on their phones from June to October 2025. Across Canada, more than 150,000 games were played before the top 16 were selected. Metcalfe dominated the leaderboard with 459.1K points, earning the number one seed and a spot in the National Finals. The format there was a single elimination, best of three showdown.
Contestants Mark and Mohit play a match
© Mack Kalish
Armed with his childhood cartridge of Tetris: Axis that he brought for luck, he played and won against tough challengers such as Dubstep298 and Ella Beaulieu. Metcalfe’s reaction to winning the Canadian Finals? Pure disbelief.
“I had the exact same reaction to being in the top eight, top four, top two, and the finals. I’m like, What the hell? Why am I doing this good? I shouldn’t be doing this good.”
But he was doing that good, and by the end of the night, the crowd was cheering his name as he was crowned Canada’s champion.
02
Grinding to the Top with No Expectations
Proudly holding the oversized winner’s ticket, his phone was exploding with notifications of overwhelming support. Despite having the highest score and number one seed in Canada’s qualifiers, Metcalfe shared how he did not think he would win in Toronto.
“Sure, getting qualified is one thing. Getting number one seed is one thing. That still means you have to beat 15 other people. What if the guy in second is just better on controller? What if the guy in 10th is just good in general and didn't submit a good score? So that's why I went in predicting I would lose. I went in here with no expectations. I was here for the vibes.”
I went in here with no expectations. I was here for the vibes.
Despite staying grounded, Metcalfe is serious about Tetris. When he’s not studying computer science at the University of Guelph, he plays as many variations of the game as he can find, including retro versions, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Tetris: The Grand Master series. First getting serious in middle school, he then competed online for three to four years. But Red Bull Tetris? That was his first ever in-person competition.
03
Strategies and Adaptability
Red Bull Tetris added twists to the classic formula, including power ups, which is something Metcalfe embraced.
“I think it's unironically good. They're on to something with this. Like, having it be blitz-based, being against the clock. That's already cool. The power ups, they're predictable, which actually adds way more strategy than you think. Like you look at it from the outside, you think, what the hell is going on here? But it's fully predictable, and there's legitimate strategies.”
His secret weapon though? Combos over T-spins: “I was the only one who never cleared T-spins. Everyone else focused on T-spins because they give you a lot of points, but I spent all my time doing combos because they give you only slightly less points, but way more multipliers.”
Contestant Mark talking to the crowd at the Red Bull Tetris Canadian Finals
© Mack Kalish
As for his best skill, he said “I am extremely adaptable. There's a lot of people who lock in on a specific version of Tetris…I never really stick to one version.”
Still, he admits he faced tough moments against his opponents. Matches against Dubstep298 were some of the closest matches he had ever seen, winning by a very close call. Yet he said he felt the weakest when playing against challenger Ella Beaulieu.
“I wasn’t expecting to win. I was expecting a good fight, but then I won the first set, and then won the second. I'm wearing a heart rate monitor and my heart rate hit 180,” he said.
Check out some more photos from the Red Bull Tetris® Canadian Final:
Attendees playing games at the Red Bull Tetris Canadian Finals
© Mack Kalish
Contestant Fred warming up at the Red Bull Tetris Canadian Finals
© Mack Kalish
DJ keeping the crowd on their feet and players in the zone
© Mack Kalish
Red Bull Canada Tetris National Final
© Mack Kalish
04
Heading to Dubai to Play Tetris in the Sky
Before he can jet off to the Red Bull Tetris World Final, he’ll need to rearrange more than Tetriminos - Metcalfe said that he will have to reschedule his psychology exam before attending.
The event will take place from December 11-13 at the Dubai Frame landmark, where over 2,000 drones will light up as Tetriminos and create the world’s first playable drone-powered Tetris board. Nearly seven million games have been played worldwide to reach this point.
Mark shows off his ticket to Dubai for the Red Bull Tetris World Final!
© Mack Kalish
For the World Final, Metcalfe said he is still keeping his expectations low, and is going to lock in the same amount of work and practice as he did for the National Final at the Illuminarium.
Gaming content to jump into
“I'm not going to the World Finals expecting to win. I'm going to the World Finals to have a good time and maybe win. Even just winning a trip is a foreign concept to me. So this is already a big step.”
05
Advice for the Next Generation of Tetris Players
To those hoping to follow in his footsteps, Metcalfe emphasizes versatility above everything.
“Do what I do, be adaptable. Try different versions. The thing is, with each tournament, it's gonna be something different. Every Tetris version is different in itself. I truly believe that the best strategy is to just play a whole bunch of them…just as long as you're adaptable, you can really do anything.”
As he takes his talents from his phone to the Dubai skyline, Metcalfe embodies exactly what Red Bull Tetris celebrates: skill, passion for the game, and the adaptability to take on whatever Tetromino comes next.
Find out more about the Red Bull Tetris® World Final going down in Dubai from December 11-13.
