Mental Rush claim Stage 1 of LoL Game Changers 2026 Rising with victory over G2 Hel

“We want to win everything”, head coach Tim “Unkraut” Blume had stated ahead of the competition. On Monday, Mental Rush made a strong start to that ambition by securing victory in Stage 1 of the 2026 League of Legends Game Changers 2026 Rising. In the grand final, the team overcame the latest iteration of G2 Hel’s roster by a score of 3–1. Mental Rush therefore leave the event with 120 championship points from the first of five weekly competitions, already placing themselves in a favourable position in the race for qualification to the season finals, which will be held in October. Earlier in the day, defending champions Eterna, winners of the inaugural LGC season in 2025, had fallen to Vitality Rising Bees in the third-place match (0–2).

By defeating G2 Hel in the final, Mental Rush came full circle. It was, in fact, against the most prominent name in European League of Legends — across both the mixed and women’s/non-binary scenes — that the team had begun its Stage 1 campaign. That opening encounter had gone in G2 Hel’s favour and left Mental Rush in a difficult position early in the tournament. The teammates of Agnė “Karina” Ivaškevičiūtė, the only remaining player from the 2025 roster, ultimately scraped into the playoffs with a 3–2 record during the opening phase.

Once in the playoffs, the team built around AD Carry Mia “Miella” Steger dispatched Eclipse in the opening round before facing the Rising Bees. Buoyed by the experience they gained at the LFL Invitational, Vitality’s players had gone undefeated throughout the Swiss Stage and had also been responsible for Mental Rush’s second loss of this stage. However, Manon “Sha” Legaignoux earned revenge against her former team as Mental Rush swept the Bees 2–0. They would then complete another act of revenge in the grand final.

With the victory, the players take home the €1,000 prize awarded to each Stage winner. The next competitive weekend is scheduled for June 20, 21 & 23 — Stage dates were initially scheduled across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but have been adjusted to a Saturday–Sunday–Tuesday format following community feedback. As a reminder, the competition remains fully open, with up to 32 teams eligible to register for each event. For this edition, however, only 16 teams took part.

At the conclusion of all five Stages, eight teams will advance to the LGC Playoffs, the final phase of the 2026 season, where the competition’s second-ever champions will be crowned. Six teams will qualify through championship points accumulated during the Stages, while the remaining two places will be awarded to the winners of Germany’s Equal Esports Cup and France’s Nova Series.