Despite having
lost their last six series against
in 2026,
have finally broken their curse when it mattered most and
claimed the crown as the new LPL Grand Champions. With this victory, the team will be heading into
Worlds 2026 as the
LPL’s first seed, forcing the former champions to take the second stage, even if both teams will advance to play in
Allen, Texas regardless.
Anyone’s Legend becomes Everyone’s Legend
A season marked by struggles, notably following
the departure of accomplished coach
Wong "Tabe" Pak Kan, AL have finally found the crux to success. A team which largely stayed together after a decently successful 2025 season, the pandas failed to match expectations in Splits 1 and 2 of 2026, finding themselves in back-to-back fourth-place finishes.
In the end, it was
the arrival of toplaner
, who had only tasted an LPL final once with
in late 2024, which imbued new life into the team. But painting this as a one-man show would not do justice to the talents of Anyone’s Legend, as all players clearly stepped up in the finals and individually proved to be not only world-class, but also better than their counterparts in this 3-1 series victory.
, for years in contention for one of the best junglers in the world, notably delivered an absolute masterclass, putting BLG’s
to shame and handing the multiple LPL champion a rare series in which he looked subpar, despite being a player renowned for his consistency. In the bot lane, though,
also stepped up big time, notably in game four, where he grabbed a pentakill on Miss Fortune, ending the game at 13/0/5.
With this, Anyone’s Legend can turn towards Worlds 2026 having inscribed their names into LPL history, and hopefully soon, the world’s.
The War is not Over Yet
With AL and BLG both headed to Texas, the battle nevertheless rages on in the LPL. Contrary to other regions, the league does not simply send its best four performers from their final playoff stage, but instead still relies on Championship Points. With this,
four teams are now ready to fight on in only a few days for the Regional Finals. Starting on Thursday, September 17,
and
will face off for the league’s third spot at Worlds. Following their match,
and
will fight for a chance to face the aforementioned match’s loser, which will finally decide the league’s fourth and last representative on Saturday, the 19th.
This year, unlike last year, where iG had to face
in perhaps the
most stacked play-in stage of all time,
all four representatives from both the LPL and LCK will be directly seeded into the Swiss Stage, meaning that all Chinese participants will take the stage on the same date of October 23, where they will be seeded against opponents from other regions. Regardless of today’s results, though, only time will tell if Anyone’s Legend can keep pace with the stakes even higher, especially since Bilibili Gaming have won both previous splits and dominated them all year. AL will now have to prove their victory was not a fluke.
