Riot Games announced that the First Stand Tournament returns March 16-22 at the Riot Games Arena in São Paulo, Brazil, kicking off the 2026 League of Legends esports season with regional representatives battling for trophy honors and advantageous Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) seeding.
The tournament features eight teams across six regions competing in best-of-five matches throughout both Group Stage and Knockout Stage formats. This will give us an idea of how the meta is shaping up after the 26.05 patch, too.
First Stand Tournament Schedule and Format
Group Stage matches run March 16-20, with Knockout Stage beginning March 21 and Finals scheduled for March 22. All matches start at 6 AM PDT / 10 AM BRT / 10 PM KST. The best-of-five format across all stages emphasizes adaptation and strategic depth, moving away from traditional best-of-one group stage conventions seen in previous international tournaments.
Riot positioned First Stand as an early-season proving ground where teams showcase innovative strategies before the meta solidifies. Performance directly impacts regional seeding for the Mid-Season Invitational, adding tangible stakes beyond trophy prestige.
Teams attending First Stand 2026
As it stands, only 6/8 teams are declared, with all major regions sending their respective team to First Stand. Only China’s LPL lags behind, with its finalists going to First tStand, which will be confirmed on March 5th and 7th, when we know which teams head to the finals via the Upper Bracket FInal, and Lower Bracket Final.
Here are the teams and regions as it stands:
- Korea (LCK):
- Seed 1: Gen.G (LCK Cup 2026 Champion)
- Seed 2: BNK FearX (LCK Cup 2026 Runner-Up)
- China (LPL):
- Seed 1: TBD (LPL 2026 Split 1 Playoffs Champion – Qualifies March 7)
- Seed 2: TBD (LPL 2026 Split 1 Playoffs Runner-Up – Qualifies March 4/7)
- Europe (LEC):
- Asia-Pacific (LCP):
- North America (LCS):
- Brazil (CBLOL):
The wins came as G2 worked its way from the 7th seed in the regular split, defeating top teams like KC twice during its playoff and finals run. Meanwhile, Lyon usurps C9 as the best team in North America, with Inspired once again winning a trophy despite C9’s domination throughout the split so far.
With Brazil split off from the American League, LOUD have the opportunity to take over Brazil once again and send a classic Brazilian organization to the First Stand Tournament to play spoiler against the world.
Team Secret Whales is making a return after the team showed up to Worlds last year, and their heavy aggressive playstyle caused some upsets and showed potential. It will be interesting to see how they perform. As for LCK, Gen.G is no surprise, but BNK FearX is an added touch, upsetting and sending T1 home after they won Worlds last year.
Drops and Viewing Rewards
Viewers logging into LoLEsports.com with Riot IDs during live broadcasts earn Drops throughout the tournament. An exclusive Evelynn emote drops during the Finals match, with additional surprise rewards from Esports World Cup and Secretlab sponsors appearing during select moments.
Twitch subscribers to participating LoL Esports channels receive ad-free viewing, event-exclusive chat emotes, channel badges, bonus channel points, and subscriber-only chat access. Riot allocates subscription proceeds to the Global Revenue Pool supporting league and team operations across the esports ecosystem.
Riot is also releasing a Senna skin, with a percentage of the products going to the Global Esports Prize Pool too. Some of the revenue earned through Twitch subscribers will also contribute to the global ecosystem for cash prizes.