Riot Games and TJ Sports have announced a new tournament format, the »World Star Challengers Invitational« (WSCI), bringing together Tier 2 teams from every major League of Legends region for the first time.
Sixteen teams from Asia, Europe, and the Americas will compete in September – for many of the players involved, it's their first chance to prove themselves outside their home region.
Tier 2 refers to the competitive level directly below the established top leagues like the LEC, LCK, or LPL – it's where many players who later make the jump to the top leagues develop their game. Until now, this level has stayed largely confined to each team's home region.
According to Riot's own announcement, the WSCI is meant to change exactly that, creating an international stage for up-and-coming Tier 2 talent.
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Format: Group Stage, Then a Knockout Bracket
WSCI 2026 runs from September 20 to October 2. The five participating regions – China, Korea, APAC, the Americas, and EMEA – will each field three teams through their own qualification pathways. Combined with the Asia Masters champion, that adds up to a 16-team field, split into three seeding pools.
- In the group draw, each group receives one team from Pool 1, one from Pool 2, and two from Pool 3.
- Two teams from the same region drawn from Pools 1 and 2 can't land in the same group, and no group can contain more than two teams from any single region.
The group stage runs from September 20 to 25, with four groups of four teams each competing in a double round-robin format – every team plays every other team in its group twice. All 48 group-stage matches are played as best-of-one, spread across six match days with eight matches each.
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The top two teams from each group advance to the eight-team knockout bracket. From September 27 to October 2, the knockout stage plays out with quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final – every series is best-of-five. The final, crowning the first-ever WSCI champion, takes place on October 2.
A Collaboration, Not a Tournament Built From Scratch
Rather than building an entirely new tournament, Riot and TJ Sports are expanding the existing Asia Masters to include teams from Korea, EMEA, China, APAC, and the Americas, plus the Asia Masters champion itself. According to Riot, WSCI 2026 will initially serve as a pilot to understand how cross-regional Tier 2 competition can best support player development.
- The reasoning behind it: international opponents expose teams to unfamiliar playstyles and strategies, while giving players experience in a higher-pressure environment.
- Riot sees this as an important building block for strengthening the connection between individual regional ecosystems – and a stage where fans can get an early look at the next generation of LoL Esports talent.
How to Watch
You can follow the WSCI through the social media channels of the respective regional Tier 2 leagues. Regional co-streamers will also carry the matches to an international audience.