Riot Games Announces WSCI, A New Tier-2 LoL Global Tournament

The League of Legends esports scene expanded on Thursday, September 3, when Riot Games announced the World Star Challengers Invitational, a brand-new Tier-2 global tournament.

The World Star Challengers Invitational is a joint venture between Riot Games and TJ Sports, known for organising the Demacia Cup and the LoL Pro League Asia Masters.

Created as a competition for Tier-2 teams, WSCI will use the same format as LoL World Championship, meaning it will feature 16 squads from five regions: China, Korea, Americas, EMEA, and APAC, and run between September 20 and October 2.

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Three representatives from five different regions will attend, including the LoL Champions Korea Challengers League (LCK CL), League of Legends Development League (LDL), and EMEA for Korea, China, and Europe, respectively.

The Americas will send teams from three leagues: North American Challengers League (NACL), Circuito Desafiante, and Liga Regional Norte/South (LRN/LRS).

The APAC region, on the other hand, will send one team from the League of Legends Japan League (LJL), one from the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), and one from the Pacific Championship Series (PCS).

The final spot will be awarded to the champions of the Asia Masters.

To determine which teams each of the five regions will send to the newly formed event, the regions are allowed to create their own qualification process or rules. Some have already done so.

So far, seven teams are confirmed to attend WSCI. That includes the winners of the first two EMEA Masters events, Solary and Galions, and Vivo Keyd Stars Academy as Circuito Desafiante representatives.

Bilibili Gaming Junior and EDward Gaming Young will carry LDL’s flag, while Dplus Challengers have secured a direct invite for winning the 2026 Asia Masters.

Since the World Star Challengers Invitational follows the same format as LoL Worlds, the attending teams will have to fight through the same brackets as the world’s elite on their route to the Summoner’s Cup.

The event will begin with the group stage on September 20, with all 16 squads divided into four double round-robin groups of four, where they will play best-of-one matches.

The top two teams from each group will proceed to the playoffs, which will run from September 27 to October 2 and transition to a single-elimination bracket, with all matches played as best-of-five.

For the group draw, the 16 teams will be divided into pools. Each group will feature one team from Pool 1, one from Pool 2, and two from Pool 3.

Additionally, teams from Pool 1 and Pool 2 from the same region cannot be drawn into the same group, and no group may include more than two teams from any one region.

Riot Games have shared many details about the newly formed event. However, while the dates and format have been set, the location and the venue have yet to be revealed.

Confirmed teams for World Star Challengers Invitational

• Solary – EMEA
• Galions – EMEA
• Vivo Keyd Stars Academy – Circuito Desafiante
• Bilibili Gaming Junior – LDL
• EDward Gaming Young – LDL
• Dplus Challengers – Asia Masters