After two weeks of midweek competition, the 2026
League of Legends Esports World Cup (
EWC) North American Online Qualifiers have produced a victor.
vanquished
in a competitive and highly contested best-of-five series rematch at the Online Qualifier Finals 3-1.
Ham “
" Yoo-jin’s level has been spectacular across the LCS and the Online Qualifiers, and this final was no exception. Sentinels’ Korean jungler had a couple of stellar performances on Lee Sin and Xin Zhao. However, it was Cho “
Rahel" Min-seong’s spectacularly sharp Game 4 performance on Yunara that secured Sentinels their victory.
The Road to Riyadh
The Society had an impressive showing by qualifying for the Main Stage unbeaten, but this accomplishment wasn’t an easy task. Sentinels dropped only two games across three best-of-threes and one best-of-five series, and both games against their finals opponent, FlyQuest.
Their first round opponent was arch-rival
, and unlike their usually even encounters,
Sentinels cruised to a 2-0 victory. This prompted an LCS Week 1 rematch against the team at the top of the domestic league standings:
. However,
this time they emerged victorious over C9 and advanced to the Winner’s Finals.
This victory set up a back-to-back series against a familiar opponent. In the Winner’s Finals, Sentinels repeated their Week 3 LCS victory against FlyQuest
by delivering a 2-1 victory and advanced to the finals.
One Spot taken, One Spot Available
The spot claimed by Sentinels is the first of two available spots given to North America for the 2026 EWC edition. The remaining slot will be given to the winner of the 2026 LCS Spring Split, which will be defined on June 14th.
If Sentinels were to win the Spring Split, the loser of the North American Online Qualifiers would receive the corresponding slot. In this case, FlyQuest would obtain the Online Qualifier slot, and Sentinels would retain the LCS Champion slot, according to Sentinels Assistant Coach Mervin-Angelo “Dayos" LaChica.
The 2025 EWC Champion,
, will join Sentinels as the first two teams qualified for the 2026 edition. The competition is slated to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 15th to the 19th, three days after the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational’s final in South Korea.
The 2026 LoL Esports season is the first season in which Sentinels compete after acquiring the LCS Slot given up by 100 Thieves after the latter’s exit in 2025. Though they’re a new organization, they haven’t missed a step. After a surprising third-place finish at the LCS Lock-In, Sentinels qualified for their first international in history: the Americas Cup. The 2026 Esports World Cup will be their second international appearance in their short yet successful history.
