Riot Video games has introduced it should host a brand new cross-regional esports occasion for the Americas forward of First Stand, League of Legends’ first international occasion of the 2026 esports calendar.
Introduced throughout the LCS’ 2026 season presentation, the Americas Cup will see the second and third-place groups from the LCS and CBLOL face off on the Riot Video games Enviornment in São Paulo, Brazil. The purpose is to take care of a cross-regional rivalry that was established with the LTA final 12 months.
The Americas Cup shall be going down in entrance of a stay viewers throughout a five-day occasion, that includes a double-elimination bracket between the 4 groups. Though the schedule has but to be introduced, it’s set to happen following the top of the LCS Lock-In, on March 1st, and earlier than the beginning of First Stand, which begins on March sixteenth.
The primary spherical of higher bracket matches shall be best-of-three, with all different matches being best-of-five. Whereas there received’t be any prize pool at stake, following its elimination throughout all regional leagues by Riot Video games, the Americas Cup could have boot camps on the road.
Following sturdy outcomes from relocating LTA South groups to Los Angeles in 2025 for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), Riot will present funding as well camps in South Korea for this 12 months’s MSI, permitting extra groups to coach in opposition to the world’s finest groups.
In keeping with a launch, Riot Video games shall be supporting the third-place LCS workforce within the Spring break up, the second and third-place groups from CBLOL, and the winner of the Americas Cup. If a workforce qualifies by way of a number of paths, the extra boot camp slot shall be awarded to their league, which means that as much as 4 LCS groups can head to Korea for a boot camp.
The LCS Season Kicks Off on January twenty fourth
Other than the return of the LCS and CBLOL branding, the brand new season will introduce ‘First Choice‘, a revamped system for facet choice.
Going ahead, groups that beforehand earned facet choice will now select between which facet they need to play on or whether or not they need to choose first or second within the draft, with the opponents getting the remaining choice. The objective is so as to add extra strategic nuance to the drafting course of, following within the footsteps set by the introduction of Fearless Draft in 2025.
