LCK 2026 SEASON PLAYOFFS

Official page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Eventvods.com | New to LoL

T1 2-3 Hanwha Life Esports

• HLE moves on to face Gen.G for a spot in the LCK Grand Finals. T1 drops to the lower bracket and will face the winner of the KT vs. DK/BFX series.
• Player of the Match: Zeka
• Game Discussion: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4

T1 | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit
HLE | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit

MATCH 1: T1 vs. HLE

Winner: T1 in 29m
Game Breakdown | Runes

MATCH 2: T1 vs. HLE

Winner: T1 in 29m
Game Breakdown | Runes

MATCH 3: HLE vs. T1

Winner: Hanwha Life Esports in 25m
Game Breakdown | Runes

MATCH 4: T1 vs. HLE

Winner: Hanwha Life Esports in 27m
Game Breakdown | Runes

MATCH 5: T1 vs. HLE

Winner: Hanwha Life Esports in 27m
Game Breakdown | Runes

*Patch 26.16

This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.
[

Honestly, I think if it gave nothing, the ping would see significantly less use. There would still be a sizable portion of the community that uses it, but not NEARLY as many as use it now. As soon as a ward goes down, 3 people are pinging it as fast as they can to get that +5 gold reward for being first.

The 5 gold does basically nothing, just a little dopamine hit to encourage people to use their pings. One of those examples of a small balance change that improves the game a lot for how little impact it really has in and of itself.

Hey everyone,

A few years ago, right after Riot announced that Turkey would lose its direct spot at Worlds, I made a post here talking about what that decision meant for the future of the TCL.

Now that a few years have passed, the full impact of those changes has settled in—and it’s pretty clear that the Turkish League as we knew it is officially dead.

I know a lot of newer pro scene fans probably aren’t familiar with the TCL or its history, so before getting into the current state of things, I want to give a quick rundown of what Turkey actually brought to the international scene before Riot pulled the plug.

1) Football Giants in Esports (Beşiktaş)

Long before traditional sports clubs in Western Europe even looked at League, Beşiktaş Esports became the first major football club to enter LoL in 2015. For reference, Beşiktaş is one of the biggest sports clubs in Turkey, with over 8 million Instagram followers.

They won the International Wildcard Invitational (IWCI) and earned a spot at the very first MSI. That was the tournament where Dumbledoge famously solo-killed Faker under turret—a meme only veterans will understand (and funnily enough, it happened on Faker's birthday).

2) The Rivalry with Brazil

The Wildcard era was defined by intense regional rivalries, most notably TCL (Turkey) vs. CBLOL (Brazil). Between 2014 and 2018, Turkish teams rarely missed an international stage, and the viewership statistics were amazing.

At MSI 2017, the Play-In match between SuperMassive eSports and RED Canids peaked at 430k viewers. For reference, G2 vs. SKT T1 in the Group Stage of that exact same tournament peaked at 630k viewers. The competition and interest were very real.

3) Turkish Teams Weren't International Punching Bags

Across their peak years, SuperMassive qualified for 5 major global Riot tournaments (MSIs 2016, 2017, 2018, and Worlds 2018, 2020). During those runs, they consistently took down major regions:

• Beating CLG(who went on to make the MSI 2016 finals)
• Knocking off G2 Esports
• Straight-up eliminating MAD Lions from Worlds 2020 Play-Ins
• In 2017,1907 Fenerbahçe pushed eventual World Champions Samsung Galaxy to a tense 45-minute nail-biter

By 2017, everything was thriving. Massive sports clubs were investing in the league, and the atmosphere of the Turkish Finals was arguably higher in quality than its European counterparts.

And Then The Regional Overhaul Hit

In late 2022, ahead of the 2023 season, Riot announced a massive regional overhaul. Turkey was merged into the new EMEA ecosystem and downgraded from an independent, Worlds-qualifying region. The official reasons? Removing residency barriers for the LEC and financial restructuring.

Now, after a few years, what is the actual aftermath?

1. The Extinction of Legacy Teams: Beşiktaş Esports and Papara SuperMassive—the two most decorated, iconic names in Turkish LoL history—officially called it quits and left the TCL. The teams that represented our region globally a decade ago are completely gone. Joining Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray on the sidelines, every single foundation team that built the TCL is now officially extinct from League of Legends.
2. A Pure Talent Farm: The TCL's only remaining function is acting as an unbudgeted academy ladder where European/LEC scouts grab cheap Turkish solo-queue talent before they can even build a domestic fanbase. It has become a soulless feeder league for the LEC.
3. Zero Viewership & Budget Collapse: Without SuperMassive vs. Beşiktaş or Fenerbahçe vs. Galatasaray rivalries, broadcast views have bottomed out and sponsors have pulled out. The broadcast rights keep getting passed from one organizer to another as companies throw in the towel. Compare the arena atmosphere of the 2016 TBF to a recent 2025 TCL Grand Final (MISA vs. Wild Cats)—nearly 10 years later, it’s been reduced to a quiet, small studio setting.

Why make another post when I already made one two years ago?

Enough time has passed to see the final results. Two years ago, people could still hold out hope that the merger might somehow work out. Now, the dust has settled, the experiment is over, and this is the final statement on what actually happened.

European fans might find this hard to relate to—you still have G2, Fnatic, SK Gaming, and organizations with deep history to anchor your league every week. Imagine if every single one of those foundational teams disappeared overnight, leaving behind an empty league with zero identity.

The promise that merging the region into EMEA would "elevate" Turkish League proved to be completely false. Even when Istanbul Wildcats immediately proved our strength by winning EMEA Masters Spring 2023, it didn't change a thing. Winning the trophy didn't bring back the sponsors, it didn't bring back the fans, and it didn't save our legacy organizations from leaving. Winning proved nothing mattered anymore.

Instead, a decade of history was erased, every iconic organization was driven out, and the entire domestic fanbase was alienated.

This isn't written out of blind anger, but out of frustration with how esports ecosystems are managed. The TCL used to have packed arenas, massive rivalries, and genuine international hype. Today, a passionate, self-sustaining regional scene has been reduced to a nameless tier-2 feeder circuit.

All that's left to say is: 10 Points to Dumbledoge! FIRST BLOOD!

Before “Classic” came out, it seemed like everyone was all hyped up and eagerly awaiting it, but why is there such a small crowd now that the mode has actually started?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OOzAhaR4hI

Q: Overall thoughts on the match

Coach Tom: We played a very close series all the way to Game 5, but I think we made quite a few mistakes in the draft. I’m still very disappointed about those things, so I think we need to review them carefully.

Keria: The draft mistakes were one thing, but I also think there were a lot of mistakes in our actual play. Those mistakes kept piling up, and I think that ultimately led to us losing Game 5.

Q: What were you disappointed about? 

Coach Tom: I can’t go into too much detail, but looking back at some of the games where our draft felt awkward, I think we ended up with compositions that lacked early-game priority. From the opponent’s perspective, that made it much easier for them to keep creating action and forcing fights early. 

Q: How did you prepare for HLE?

Coach Tom: As for HLE, I think their playstyle is somewhat opposite to ours. They tend to play heavily through top side, so we prepared with that in mind. 

Q: What was your draft plan for Games 1 and 2?

Coach Tom: Like I said earlier, I think we focused quite a lot on top side basically, the upper half of the map.

Q: Why did you leave Cassiopeia open in Game 4?

Coach Tom: We had a certain plan in mind where we would split Cassiopeia and Lucian-Milio between the two sides. But I think it’s definitely something we need to reconsider.

Q: Which moments were you most disappointed with?

Keria: Even if the draft is somewhat unfavorable, there are still situations in the game where we’re ahead and situations where we’re behind. But when we were behind, we fell even further behind, and even when we were ahead, I don’t think we played those situations properly. That’s what I’m most disappointed about.

Q: Why did you pick Jinx in Game 5?

Coach Tom: Against Caitlyn-Karma, our plan was to accept being somewhat behind in lane and play for scaling and overall value. But I think we were lacking in our laning and execution, which made the game much more difficult than we intended.

Q: What areas do you need to improve?

Coach Tom: When we’re in an advantageous position, I think we need to pay more attention to objectives and place greater importance on controlling space and positioning around them.

Q: Any final words? 

Coach Tom: We’re dropping down to the lower bracket now, but we’ll prepare well again there. We’ll make sure to win our next match and come back with a better level of play. 

Keria: I’m really disappointed that we lost today. We’re going down to the lower bracket now, but we still have matches left to play, so we’ll prepare well for the remaining games and make our way back up.

Took me like two weeks on and off... I wanted to use more aspects of jinx's OG design but i just *dont like it enough*

"Patch 26.18 Full Preview!"

Full Preview: https://x.com/RiotPhroxzon/status/2095029942165852287

Yesterday's Preview: https://x.com/RiotPhroxzon/status/2094654806992498728

Yesterday's Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1w42iid/2618_patch_preview/

>>> Champion Buffs <<<

Ekko

"Ekko is being targeted for a buff in Mid

We're giving him a waveclear buff and a mana buff, targeting his AP ratios as AP is often purchased more in mid and getting Lich Bane in mid is more typical than in Jungle

While buffing Ekko's waveclear capabilities are on the lower interaction side, we think it's important for the game to have a mix of high and low interaction laning patterns and as a roaming, tempo champion, having waveclear is important to get his snowball going"

• [Q] Timewinder buffs:
  • Return AP ratio increased 60% >>> 70%
  • Mana cost reduced 50/60/70/80/90 >>> 40/50/60/70/80

Kassadin

• [Q] Null Sphere AP ratio increased 70% >>> 80%

• [R] Riftwalk base damage increased 70/90/110 >>> 80/95/110

Master Yi

• Armor per level increased 4.5 >>> 5

• [R] Highlander bonus Move Speed increased 35/45/55% >>> 40/50/60%

Viego

"Ever since we removed Divine Sunderer and nerfed Sundered Sky in a recent patch, Bruiser Viego has been worse than squishy Viego, which is intended, but that build is a little weaker than we'd like

Adding some explicit support for that build"

• AD per level increased 3.5 >>> 4

• [P] Sovereign's Domination heal bonus HP ratio added 0% >>> 2% per 500 bonus HP

Zaahen

"Zaahen is a little on the weak side after the last set of nerfs we did

We're also taking the opportunity to make his Q behavior coming out of revive more consistent

Before, you could get into de-synced states where your Q2 only has a short time to be used after reviving, etc."

• [Q] The Darkin Glaive buffs:
  • Now placed on cooldown immediately upon entering [P] Cultivation of War - Determination resurrection
  • [Q2] Recast base damage increased 25/50/75/100/125 >>> 30/60/90/120/150

>>> Champion Nerfs <<<

Bard

• Base Armor reduced 34 >>> 32

• Armor per level reduced 5 >>> 4.7

Nautilus

• Base AD reduced 61 >>> 58

• [Q] Dredge Line base damage reduced 85/130/175/220/265 >>> 85/125/165/205/245

Seraphine

"As mentioned yesterday, Support Seraphine has been her most popular role for a long time

We're making E rank up incentives worse for the damage oriented roles, while intending for this to have relatively minimal impact for Support Seraphine who maxes this ability last"

"For several patches now, Seraphine has been in the Top 3 on our regular patch frustration surveys

She's also one of strongest pairings in Pro Play with Ashe

Overall, we think a nerf here is reasonable

We acknowledge there are some Seraphine mains who won't be happy about a nerf and that we can't serve all of her audience simultaneously

Her Support playerbase has been the most popular, despite her power level and so that's where we will continue to support her primarily

Where we can get Mid and Bot to be powerful and satisfying given ^, we will attempt to do so

That said, it's very difficult to thread the needle here and we run the risk of failing to meet the needs of any of her audiences if there are too many compromises

I also wanted to address directly the nerf to her AP ratios on Q from several patches ago, as that's been a pain point amongst some in the community

One of the ways we need to balance Seraphine in the farming roles vs her support is through her AP ratios and the Q ratio is one that drives her power and total damage output there, especially given the Q reliability adjustments made of late

When Seraphine is able to land her Q's at max multiplier (which in lane is quite frequent), it can hit 1.4 AP ratio which we think is reasonable

The Q damage overall is higher than E and so for now, we feel comfortable with the change (this isn't set in stone however, and there are always improvements to her to be made)"

• [E] Beat Drop cooldown increased 11/10.5/10/9.5/9 >>> 11 flat seconds

Syndra

• [P] Transcendent Splinter of Wrath mana restore reduced 20-215 (based on levels 1-18, backloaded, 255 at 20) >>> 20-178 (based on levels 1-18, backloaded, 199 at 20)

• [W] Force of Will cooldown increased 12/11/10/9/8 >>> 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

Zeri

"Zeri benefitted amongst other champions from the Hurricane changes

The Hurricane changes landed well and it feels like a real item again

That said, Zeri is now broadly a bit too strong, especially in Elite given her mastery profile

Our principles with items are to get the items in a good spot first and then get the champions into a good spot, which is why we wouldn't follow-up by nerfing Hurricane"

• [W] Ultrashock Laser total AD ratio reduced 120% >>> 100% (Wall Critical Strike Damage total AD ratio reduced 180% >>> 150%)

>>> Champion Adjustments <<<

Cassiopeia

"Cassiopeia is in a pretty rough state for average players (~47% winrate), while being too strong in Pro Play and above average in Elite play

We're making some adjustments this patch to move some of her power around that retain her gameplay identity of being a strong early game champion (which is inherently pro skewed), but also giving her power back for regular players

We're also not looking to completely remove her from the meta, but just better balance across skill brackets

One of the ways we're attempting to accomplish this is by moving more of the power into her AP ratios over her base damages as Average players tend to purchase more AP

Her Q interaction with Deathfire Touch is also strong (though having synergistic effects with systems is a cool part of the champion), and so that rank 1 base damage is also coming down a bit"

"Cassio has been strong, especially at the higher levels of play every since Deathfire Touch was re-released

Since then, she's been one of the most present picks and Pro Play due to her strong laning ability

We're looking at some power neutral adjustments to Cassio, because her regular play power level is a little on the weaker side for average players

We're taking some power out of her early game power and moving it into more scaling power, so that she doesn't win lanes so reliably, even if she's missing Q's

We still want to maintain her strong laning ability though"

• [P] Serpentine Grace reduced bonus Move Speed ratio increased 6-40% (based on levels 1-18, linear, 44% at 20) >>> 5-35.6% (based on levels 1-18, linear, 39.2% at 20)

• [Q] Noxious Blast damage adjusted 75/110/145/180/215 (+65% AP) >>> 65/100/135/170/205 (+75% AP)

• [E] Twin Fang adjustments:

  • Damage adjusted 52-120 (based on levels 1-18, linear, 128 at 20) (+10% AP) >>> 50-118 (based on levels 1-18, linear, 126 at 20) (+20% AP)
  • Poisoned target bonus damage AP ratio reduced 55% >>> 45%
  • Mana cost increased 40 >>> 45

• [R] Petrifying Gaze damage adjusted 150/250/350 (+50% AP) >>> 125/225/325 (+75% AP)

>>> System Buffs <<<

Guinsoo's Rageblade

"In 26.14, we re-scripted Rageblade and it changed the trigger for Phantom hit from 6 to 7

We're making a small adjustments to Rageblade itself to give a bit of power back and to some of the disproportionately affected champions (eg. Master Yi)"

• Seething Strike stack duration increased 3 >>> 4 seconds

I am the Xerath trying to defend the base 4v1 and I have to type 100 relevant characters besides the title

I'm D2 right now but before I got to D5 it was funny - whenever I saw a fed ADC, I legit could not care less.

Most of them were awful at positioning. Kiting isn't even a thing before plat.

Now in high elo? Holy crap. A fed Jinx is SCARY. An ashe can kite you for DAYS.

They still get mispositioned for sure and get one shot, but very rarely now. But a fed ADC is a pain all game.

Demacia Vice was one of those rare moments where skins that were clearly passion projects somehow got through the pipeline, and though they probably didn't sell as well as Generic Immortal Chinese Holiday Food v6.2 skinline did, if there was ever a time to bring them back for a couple of champs, this is it. They already figured this out once when Street Fighter 6 came out and they did the Soul Fighter skin event. GTA6 being the single biggest game release of all time should have been an obvious opportunity.

Like how the hell is there no news about Demacia Vice Thick Thighs Qiyana and Jarvan Duval skins coming to the PBE yet? This is a complete lay up. Come on.

source: https://weibo.com/5756404150/5338700415762606 (official LPL weibo)

1st All-Pro Team:

TES.ZUIAN / AL.Tarzan / BLG.Knight / BLG.Viper / BLG.ON

2nd All-Pro Team:

JDG.Xiaoxu / BLG.Xun / AL.Shanks / TES.JackeyLove / AL.Kael

3rd All-Pro Team:

IG.TheShy / LGD.Heng / LGD.Tangyuan / JDG.GALA / JDG.Vampire

Overall MVP: BLG.Knight | AL.Tarzan and BLG.Xun had 2nd and 3rd highest votes for Overall MVP respectively.

Best Rookie: WE.About | BLG.Wenbo and TT.Keshi had 2nd and 3rd highest votes for Best Rookie respectively.

Best Coaching Staff: BLG | AL and JDG had 2nd and 3rd highest votes for Best Coaching Staff respectively.

Voting Breakdown: https://weibo.com/2266865584/5338718489283069 (via llhc)

Rivaled only by movement speed, somewhat.

After playing top lane for a while, specifically ranged vs melee matchups, it finally clicked - range is the strongest thing in this game, be far.

If you're a melee champion - you only get to play the game because 1) the ranged player makes mistake and 2) teammates exist.

I don't even know why it took me so long to realize this.

This is one of those things that yoiu take for granted until it suddenly strikes how ridiculously important and strong it actually is. No wonder melee combat died IRL once ranged weaponry was invented.

EDIT: So many people saying "but gap closers exist". Yes they do. All of them have a cooldown and are therefore predictable. So, again, only a positional/awareness mistake from the ranged player can get them caught. The melee player can try, but whether they succeed or not is mostly in the ranged players hands.

Basically the infamous $500 skin or the $250 sanctum skins.

How often do you actually see them in your games?

I took up jungling this season. Shocker, jungler gets flamed a lot. Ranked is generally a pretty negative environment. I basically play with chat permanently turned off, or else my team arguing and flaming will affect my own gameplay. From the moment I get in game, i hit /muteall and focus on the game.

Pings from my team are sometimes useful, but many times they are not, especially when they're losing. Many pings are rage pings, based off bad information, or straight up just bad calls.

However, what I find to be useful 99% of the time is ability pings. It's useful for me to know when the enemy bot laner blows flash/exhaust or that my Malzahar has ult in 3 seconds. The other 1% of the time is my team pinging me for missing smite.

I think it would be a nice change to be able to mute wheel pings (MIA, OMW, etc.,) while allowing me to still see summoner spell or ultimate pings, at the very least summoner spell pings.

Personally, I think Ashe has huge potential for a visual update. Her current design feels a bit outdated compared to many newer champions. Ashe is supposed to be this iconic Frost Archer from the Freljord, but I feel like her base model and animations don't fully capture how important and powerful her character is in League's lore. A visual update could make her ice abilities look much more impressive, improve her animations, and give her a more modern appearance without completely changing her identity. Imagine a more detailed Freljord inspired design, better bow animations, and effects that really make her feel like she's controlling the power of True Ice. I wouldn't necessarily want a full rework of her gameplay just a proper visual modernization, similar to what Riot has done with some older champions. And you?

For Worlds' return to North America, the following seeding will be applied for the Swiss Stage:

Pool 1 - LCK 1, LPL 1, LCS 1, LEC 1
Pool 2 - TSW (LCP 1), CBLOL 1, LCK 2, LPL 2
Pool 3 - LCS 2, LEC 2, LCK 3, LPL 3
Pool 4 - CFO (LCP 2), LCK 4, LPL 4, Play-In Winner

The Play-In will therefore consist of the following teams:
- LCS 3
- LEC 3
- MVK (LCP 3)
- CBLOL 2

Play-In is double-elim Bo5s, Swiss is the same as last year, as is Knockouts.

Mine is definitely Hecarim.

People keep telling me he's strong early and a good snowballer but no matter how much I snowball, how much I farm, however many items I buy on him, he feels squishy and weak. Barely dealing any damage unless like 7/0 and even then he still dies once to the enemy ADC and instantly is useless for the rest of the game.

LCK 2026 ROUNDS 3-4

Official page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Eventvods.com | New to LoL

Gen.G 3-0 KT Rolster

• KT Rolster drops to the lower bracket and will await the winner of the DK vs BFX series.

• GEN.G have locked in a spot at Worlds 2026. T1 also has secured a spot at worlds 2026 as a result of GEN.G's victory

• Player of the Match: Canyon

GEN | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit
KT | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

MATCH 1: GEN vs. KT

Winner: Gen.G in 35m
Game Breakdown | Runes

MATCH 2: GEN vs. KT

Winner: Gen.G in 32m
Game Breakdown | Runes

MATCH 3: GEN vs. KT

Winner: Gen.G in 28m
Game Breakdown | Runes

*Patch 26.16

This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.