Demacia Cup Global Invitational 2026 Power Rankings

On Saturday morning, the inaugural edition of the Demacia Cup Global Invitational will get underway, bringing together not only Chinese teams but twelve teams from across the world. Held ahead of the World Championship, the competition will feature some of the strongest teams that failed to qualify for the year's most prestigious tournament: the 5th, 6th, and 7th seeds from the LPL and LCK, the 4th and 5th seeds from the LEC and LCS, and the 4th seed from the LCP and CBLOL.

The first stage of the competition will be played online in a Swiss Stage format, before the eight-team playoffs move to the Beijing JD Esports Center. The winner will be crowned following the grand final on October 17, two days after Worlds’ kickoff. Ahead of the tournament, Sheep Esports presents its Power Rankings of the teams taking part in the competition.

The most notable absentee from the 2026 World Championship, consequently enters the tournament as the team to beat. Fifth in the LCK and coming within one match of qualifying for the most important competition of the season, KT had no opportunity to compete internationally this year after reaching the World Championship final last year. Given their status and the players making up the roster, particularly their topside and superstar midlaner , there is plenty of reason to consider them the team to beat.

South Korea's second seed at the First Stand, were unable to maintain their momentum from the start of the year throughout the Spring and Summer Splits. Their victory in the LCK Play-In against Nongshim RedForce and HANJIN BRION still guaranteed them a spot at the Demacia Cup and in the LCK playoffs, where they finished last. The team started the year with Nam "Diable" Dae-geun, a generational prospect from Korea, but following disagreements, they decided to trade him to NS in exchange for , a player who has done the team a lot of good and around whom their gameplay will revolve during this Demacia Cup.

surprised many throughout the season with a top-three finish in the LPL Split 2, narrowly missing out on a place at MSI. The Chinese organization will be competing in its first international tournament since the 2017 World Championship. Led by jungler and backed by a roster that is individually strong across the board, Team WE could be the greatest threat from the LPL at this tournament, despite its players' relative lack of international experience. The team will open its campaign against GAM Esports.

The third Korean team at this Demacia Cup, they are expected to go quite far and be among the semifinalists of the competition. will open their tournament against a revamped JD Gaming side with two changes, meaning they could have the advantage in this matchup. During the Summer Split, they finished first in the Rise Group and came close to reaching the Playoffs after a close Play-In against FEARX. The relatively young roster built around veteran could put together a strong performance in this tournament.

After two regular seasons competing at a high level, have never managed to translate that form into playoff success and consequently missed out on the World Championship despite having strong chances of qualifying. With the exception of , the roster will be making its international debut, but they nonetheless have convincing arguments to remain competitive. This is particularly true of top laner , through whom the team has often been able to shine, and the player could once again have an opportunity to showcase his talent against international opposition.

The fourth-best LPL team in the Summer Split, unfortunately did not have enough Championship Points to qualify for the Regional Finals and were directly sent to the Demacia Cup. Led by 2019 World Champion , the team is back on the international stage for the first time since the 2020 World Championship. We see them making it out of the Swiss Stage and reaching the quarterfinals, but with the teams above them, it will be difficult for LGD to go any further.

In their first full year in the LEC, will make their international debut. After finishing in the top four of the Summer Split, NAVI secured their place at the DCGI. Led in particular by the talent of jungler , NAVI have the potential to achieve strong results even on the international stage. However, the team will need to avoid becoming overly reliant on their Turkish jungler and ensure that the rest of the roster can perform at a similarly high level, something that has not always been the case during the most important moments of the season.

In a normal situation, would have been among the favorites to reach the final and perhaps even win the trophy, but the Chinese organization had to make two roster changes for this competition. With Tsai "HongQ" Ming-Hong and Yu "JunJia" Chun-Chia participating in the Asian Games with Chinese Taipei, the team had to sign jungler — who already played some matches with JDG during LPL Split 3 — and 2020 World Championship finalist midlaner . The team therefore loses a lot of its potential, but should still, in our view, qualify for the Knockout Stage.

Finishing fifth in the LCS Summer Split, fell short of their early-season objective of qualifying for the World Championship after building their roster around highly anticipated Korean prospect . The team nevertheless improved steadily throughout the season, particularly following their support change and the arrival of . Having struggled to take the next step in their most demanding matches, they will need to show more than they have so far if they are to achieve strong results internationally.

did not have a year as good as the previous ones, and that was expected. With such a young and revamped roster, the team did not attend any international event this year but always made the playoffs. In the LCS Summer Split, they took SR to five games before falling short, finishing in fifth place, far from qualifying for Worlds. In our view, the team should not really perform well, with an exit in the Swiss Stage.

The Vietnamese organization comes off a difficult season in which they lost some of their grip on regional dominance. With the exception of the Esports World Cup, failed to qualify for any international competition before entering the DCGI. They also made a roster change, bringing in jungler Nguyễn "tiphat" Tiến Phát to replace . Although their level may appear modest compared with some of the other teams in the field, the international experience of almost the entire roster could help them make the difference against their opponents.

The fourth seed from the CBLOL,

RED Canids

, find themselves here somewhat due to the scheduling. The CBLOL Lower Bracket Final will only be played on Saturday, October 3, between LOUD and FURIA, the same day the Demacia Cup begins. The Brazilian first and second seeds (LOS) will go to Worlds, but the third seed finds itself disadvantaged. It is in this context that Matheus "Morttheus" Motta and his team find themselves here, but in our view, RED Canids will rank quite low in this competition and will probably exit without a single win.