"I restricted the PDC on social media, I just couldn’t look at it" – De Decker completely shut himself off from darts after painful World Championship defeat to David Munyua

After a season of doubt and technical tweaks, Mike De Decker stands on the brink of a new darts year. 2026 has to be different. Better. More consistent. With confidence. Speaking to Tungsten Tales, the Belgian reflects candidly on a difficult spell, in which a switch of equipment disrupted his game, confidence gradually ebbed away, and even a lead at the World Championship offered no foothold.

De Decker looks relaxed as he looks ahead to what’s coming. The build-up to the new season is clearly different from twelve months ago.

“I had a difficult year last year with changing to Mission and not getting used to the setup,” he admitted to Tungsten Tales. “But we made some tweaks and now it feels really good. So yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

The move to Mission proved bigger than expected. After years of playing with virtually the same gear, he suddenly had to rediscover feel, balance and belief. With the season approaching fast, the focus is already sharp. “It’s a week and a half now until the World Masters starts,” he says. “So hopefully we can start the season well.”

After a year in which consistency was hard to find, that early momentum feels important. And while 2025 was difficult, there were still positives. De Decker reached a World Series final and produced some strong performances early in the year. “But the whole season was with ups and downs,” he reflects. “I had a couple of good games and a couple of bad games. There was no straight line in it.”

He has little hesitation in identifying the root cause. “Yeah, it was definitely that,” he says of the equipment change. “I was too stubborn to make a change early in the season.”

A run to the final in Wieze only reinforced that thinking at the time. “I made a final in Wieze and then I thought, yeah, it can’t be the setup.” But the underlying feeling never disappeared. “I knew something had to change and I think I just waited a bit too long with it.”

Eventually, multiple adjustments followed. “I think I made three changes in my darts,” he explains. “And now it feels really good in practice and I feel comfortable with them. So yeah, that’s a big thing that hopefully will work out this year.”

Preparation has also shifted compared to last season. De Decker has been putting in more hours, but on his own terms. “If I have to practise on my own, I get bored quite easily,” he admits. “After an hour I just put them aside and I stop because it’s just so boring alone.”

The solution is simple: company and competition. “I try to invite some friends over to practise and do some Autodarts as well,” he says. “I just play some tournaments on it to keep myself busy with darts.” The difference is noticeable. “I’ve been pushing myself to practise more,” he adds. “A lot more than I did last year.”

The World Darts Championship remains an open wound. De Decker’s exit to David Munyua was painful, even if he showed little emotion on stage.

“That game kind of summed up my year,” he says. “I had good patches and really bad patches, and that was one of the patches that wasn’t so good.”

He had taken control early, racing into a 2–0 lead in sets. But that was when doubt crept in. “It was kind of funny because I was 2–0 up and I started to get nervous,” he recalls. “And then when he got his first set on the board, there was something in me that said, yeah, you’re going to lose this.”

That mindset, even while leading, was damaging. “That’s not a good thing to have when you’re 2–0 or 2–1 up.”

Outwardly, De Decker remained composed. Inwardly, the disappointment cut deep. “It’s in the past and it’s in 2025, so we’ll forget about it,” he says. But forgetting wasn’t immediate. “None,” he answers when asked how much of the World Championship he watched afterwards. “It hurt too much to watch the Worlds.”

He even distanced himself from darts on social media. “You can restrict certain pages on Instagram as well,” De Decker explains. “So I restricted the PDC and all darts-related content pages. Yeah, I just couldn’t look at it.”

The frustration ran deeper than one match. “I’ve been trying to survive Christmas for the last five years,” he says. “And then it’s just not working on that stage and it’s frustrating.”

Those doubts weren’t isolated to Alexandra Palace. “A couple of times, yes, this year,” he says when asked if he’d felt similar nerves in other matches. “I think just because the confidence hasn’t been there like it was in 2023 or 2024.”

Again, the equipment change looms large. “Before I changed to Mission, I played with the same set of darts for like eight or nine years,” he says. “So to then have to switch to a different setup, it took me longer to get used to them than I expected.” Others adapted more quickly. “Look at Josh Rock, he switched to Target and he played an amazing year,” De Decker notes. For him, it works differently. “I need to get confidence in my setup,” he explains. “If something doesn’t feel right or something is off, then it just won’t work.”

That understanding underpins the renewed optimism for the year ahead. “That’s why we made the changes,” he says. “And then hopefully 2026 will be better.”

The work hasn’t been limited to the oche. Mentally, De Decker feels he has turned a corner. “I’ve made some steps that I didn’t think I was ever going to do,” he says. “Privately then, and it’s been helping out a lot about how to deal with certain stuff and certain moments.”

The result is a stronger platform heading into the new season. “I’m in a better place with my darts and mentally than last year.”

When it comes to goals, De Decker keeps things deliberately simple. “Well, I hope I just do well,” he says. Still, one tournament stands out. “If there’s one tournament I have to pick out, it’s the World Grand Prix, because I have to defend the money from 2024,” he explains. “So hopefully I can go on a run there.”

Beyond that, it’s about rediscovering form. “I want to do well in every tournament and I just want to be playing well again,” he says. “I don’t necessarily have to win titles — just the feeling that I’m playing well would be a massive boost after last year.”

Practice is offering encouragement. “I do a lot of best-of-19 games, so first to 10,” he says. “And my average has been up in the high 90s, low 100s.”

Still, he remains realistic. “That’s practice — everyone can play well in practice,” he adds. “It’s on the stage and in the PDC tournaments that you have to show that.”

When it comes to Belgian darts more broadly, De Decker admits he’s somewhat detached. “I don’t really play many tournaments in Belgium,” he says. “So I don’t really see the talents and the new guys coming on.”

Asked about the next generation, his answer is honest. “I have no idea if there’s anyone that’s going to make it to the scene next year or in a couple of years,” he says. “I know one name and that’s Lex Paeshuyse, because everyone knows his name. But other than that, I just have no idea.”

What he does see is the appetite for darts back home. “When the ticket sale goes live for Antwerp and Wieze especially, it’s sold out in minutes,” he says. “So I really think the Premier League night in Antwerp is going to be booming.”

The Premier League itself remains an ambition, even if it’s a distant one. “Everyone wants to be in the Premier League, or everyone wants to be in the Premier League just once,” De Decker says. “It’s the biggest honour in darts in my eyes, because you get selected as one of the top eight players of the world.”

A home night would be special. “It would be a massive, massive thing,” he admits. But realism remains. “I have to play a lot better than I did last year.”