The
2026 Demacia Cup Global Invitational will come to an end this Saturday, October 17, with a clash between
and
in the grand final to determine who will become the first champion of this new Riot Games competition, which sees mid-tier teams from the Tier 1 circuit face off against each other.
Neither team had an easy path to the grand final. Both BFX and WE qualified for the knockout stage as the top teams in the Swiss Stage. The Korean squad then defeated JD Gaming in the quarterfinals and, most notably, KT Rolster in the semifinals to secure their place in the final. Meanwhile, WE eliminated FlyQuest in the quarterfinals before taking down HANJIN BRION in the semifinals.
A Jungle Duel to Close Out the Tournament
KT were undoubtedly the favorites to win the competition according to Sheep Esports' Power Rankings, having been unanimously voted the top team by the entire editorial staff. However, they were eliminated by BFX, the second-ranked team in our Power Rankings, in a series that the Korean squad largely dominated. Team WE had been ranked third, behind the two Korean teams.
Furthermore, BFX jungler Jeon "
" Eo-jin was named MVP on eight occasions and has been performing at a very high level throughout the competition. The same goes for the Chinese team, whose jungler Wang "
" Meng-Qi has received the most MVP awards on his team, earning the distinction in four matches. Both teams will therefore face off with highly proactive junglers as their main strengths, players capable of taking control of the game and dictating its pace.
An LCK vs LPL Finals
The competition is now coming to an end and, as is often the case at international tournaments, the Korean and Chinese teams have gone the furthest, further cementing the dominance of these two regions over the rest of the world, with no other region managing to reach the semifinals. Team Vitality and FlyQuest both tried to play spoiler, but were ultimately eliminated after five-game series in quarterfinals.
As a reminder, the two teams will play the grand final in front of 2,000 spectators at the JDG Esports Center in Beijing, which could give Team WE a home-crowd advantage. Both teams will be competing for the ¥600,000 prize, worth nearly $90,000, while the runner-up will receive ¥400,000, or approximately $60,000.
