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LYON and Team Liquid punched their tickets to the Esports World Cup 2026 on April 22, sweeping their NA Qualifier matches 2-0. Two squads, two clean series — the NA scene is sending its best to Riyadh this July.
The scorelines say it all:
No game 3, no extended series. Both teams came prepared, executed under pressure, and punched their EWC tickets the clean way. Disguised and Cloud9 are now eliminated from the qualifier bracket.
LYON rolled into the 2026 season with a superstar roster built to compete internationally. Inspired in the jungle, Berserker on ADC, Saint in mid, Dhokla holding top lane, and Isles anchoring support: this is one of the most talent-dense lineups NA has ever fielded.
Their Fearless Draft discipline has been impressive all split. LYON adapts their composition game-to-game rather than comfort-picking, and that versatility is exactly what a 16-team international bracket demands. They're not just here to qualify. They're here to win.
TL's road to EWC was a bit rougher: they dropped a series earlier in the qualifier and had to fight through the lower bracket. Beating Cloud9 2-0 in a must-win lower bracket match shows real composure from Morgan, Josedeodo, Quid, Yeon, and CoreJJ.
CoreJJ in particular is a tournament-play machine — the support veteran has competed at the highest international level repeatedly, and his experience will matter in a GSL-format group stage with no margin for error. The lower bracket run might actually be good for TL: they arrive in Riyadh match-hardened.
The Esports World Cup 2026 LoL event runs July 15-19 in Riyadh, and the format is no joke. Sixteen teams split into four GSL-style groups: two from each group advance to a single-elimination playoff. The grand final is a Best of 5.
Prize pool: $2 million for League of Legends alone. On top of that, teams earn Club Points toward the overall EWC Club Championship standings, making every win doubly meaningful. With LCK, LPL, LEC, and LTA North all represented, the competition level will be among the best the game has seen outside of Worlds.
MSI runs June 28 – July 12, so the top international meta will still be fresh when the EWC bracket drops.
Season 2 kicks off April 29 — that means a ranked reset and a fresh meta to figure out before EWC. If you want to track what's performing at a top level, the LoL meta tracker on Amber.gg gets updated in real time as the patch settles. Understanding what LYON and TL are drafting will tell you a lot about which champions are S-tier heading into summer.
The EWC qualifier also confirms that the competitive meta is stabilizing around team compositions that can flex across Fearless Draft rules. If you're grinding ranked in Season 2, read our LoL Ranked 2026 changes breakdown and check the Season 2 Pandemonium guide for patch 26.9 to see how these meta trends filter down to solo queue. For climbing tips that actually use data, the LoL ranked climbing tips guide is worth bookmarking.
If watching LYON and TL compete makes you want to put your own skills on the line, come compete on Amber.gg. Ranked ladders, prize pools, and real competition, no pro contract required.
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