and
LYON met their destiny at the 2026
League of Legends Championship Series (
LCS) season Grand Finals. Both organizations arrived at the Summer Split’s closing show looking to lift the LCS Championship and secure North America’s #1 seed at Worlds.
For the former, redemption and a championship drought fuel the team’s firepower. For the latter, the team’s name in gold on North America’s history books and the justification for their favorite tag, which has described the team all season. The roaring crowd in Atlanta, Georgia, would witness history on October 4th.
Victors write history, and Team Liquid wrote its name into the history books by returning to the hall of champions
after decisively beating LYON 3-1. This is the sixth championship TL lifts in the LCS, and the first championship of Park “
" Ru-Han, Lim “
" Hyeon-seung, and Samuel “
Spookz” Broadley LCS careers.
Fireworks at curtain call
LYON and Team Liquid delivered a magnificent series from start to finish. These teams are filled with superstars, but the jungle matchup could tip the scales. The Mexican organization counted on superstar jungler Kacper “
" Słoma’s calculated and malleable style to guide them to victory. Still, they had to go over Latin America’s last bastion: Brandon Joel “
" Villegas.
Team Liquid played aggressively to start the final, led by Josedeodo’s Lee Sin and several flashy plays as the Argentinean dictated the game’s pace. TL repeated its accelerated pace on the back of mechanically demanding champions by picking Qiyana jungle, and up went 2-0. However, LYON swung back in Game 3 thanks to an incredible game by Inspired, and showed they came to play.
After dropping Game 3, the possibility of a reverse sweep crept into the minds of TL faithful fans. LYON came out swinging and took an early lead, but smart map control and precise teamfighting secured Team Liquid’s third and final win. Thanks to his consistency from start to finish, La Bestia de Hurlingham earned Finals MVP honors.
Protecting NA’s pride
The stage is set for the 2026 World Championships, and the host region is in its strongest form in years. Team Liquid, LYON, and Cloud9 must defend North America’s home from the Play-Ins to the Swiss Stage. 86 days ago, LYON was one game short of eliminating the eventual Mid-Season Invitational Champion; how far will the region go?
The finalists will start their Worlds journey on the Swiss Stage at the
Credit Union of Texas Center in
Allen, Texas. For
, the third seed will have to fight it out at the Worlds Play-In stage against the third seed from EMEA and LCP, and the second seed from Brazil. Can C9 connect with ghosts from the past and escape the Play-In stage?
