First Stand 2026 ended with BLG taking the title in the grand final against G2 Esports, bringing long-awaited international glory back to LPL. But the whole tournament wasn’t just about them; every team that participated had some takeaways, positive and negative, to bring home.
Team Secret Whales
LCP is a region that was dominated by CTBC Flying Oyster and GAM Esports in recent years, but after the major upheaval of their rosters, the streak was broken by Team Secret Whales. They won a game at the Worlds 2025, but no one expected them to win any matches at First Stand 2026, considering the group they were drawn into. Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to win even a single game, as G2 and BFX both beat them 3:0.
They did not look lost or completely dominated in those games, but it was also abundantly clear that this fairly young roster does not have the experience to match their much more seasoned opponents from the major regions.
Fewer strategic mistakes, better drafts, and we may have a team that will upset many a favorite in the future.
BNK FEARX
BFX is an inexplicable team. They were very hot-and-cold last year and missed out on the Worlds qualification after a loss against Dplus Kia, only to beat them in the grand final of the League of Legends Asia Invitational 2025. After looking to be on the upswing, the team completely bombed at the KeSPA Cup 2025. And then, defying every possible expectation, got 2nd in the LCK Cup 2026, above the likes of T1, DK, and Hanwha Life Esports, who completely bombed.
The trend continued at First Stand 2026, where they ran a very close 5-game series against BLG, but then were completely stomped by G2 Esports.
The main takeaway is that BFX got a golden boy on their hands with Diable, and they should do everything in their power to retain his services when the bigger teams eventually come for him. He’s a generational talent in the league of generational talents, and building a solid team around him would guarantee the team’s bright future.
LOUD
Brazilian League of Legends scene is in what very well could be its golden age. In the past, CBLOL was always considered a Wild Card region, even if it was, on average, one of the strongest. Victories like KaBuM! e-Sports vs. Alliance were treated more like major upsets, and the results against the major regions were not very good.
But that’s all in the past. In the present, we have Brazilian teams like FURIA completely dominating NA opponents, Cloud 9 and Sentinels, at the Americas Cup. At First Stand 2026, it was the regional champions of the former LTA facing each other, and LOUD took LYON to five games. They did lose against JDG, but that’s almost a superteam.
The biggest takeaway of the last few events is that CBLOL can very much rival at least LCS, and the league deserves the additional Worlds spot it was given.
LYON
Inspired is a phenomenal jungler. He very much made a case for himself to be included in every discussion about the best ever Western player in this position, and he continues to run NA as a region. He’s also not the easiest guy to work with, if the team’s comms from their First Stand matches are anything to go by. Could this be something to iron out for the team to reach new heights? Possibly, though his results speak for themselves already.
LYON ran a close series with LOUD, took a game off JDG, and capitulated against Gen.G. Pretty much the best-case scenario for the LCS champion. However, if the region wants to ever dispel the notion of mediocrity, its teams have to start performing miracles akin to those of G2 at least once in a while. For now, LYON definitely looks to be the best team in the West. G2 doesn’t count because their gameplay at First Stand had absolutely no English.
JD Gaming
JDG was thought to be assembling a superteam for the 2026 season. Then some of the roster moves didn’t pan out (or weren’t in the works in the first place, hard to pinpoint the truth in the rumor-filled offseason). Xun went to play with Knight in BLG, Scout went back to Korea and signed with Nongshim RedForce, Peyz got an opportunity of a lifetime to join T1, and Zhuo became a part of NiP’s new roster. Only Xiaoxu remained and was joined by the CTBC Flying Oyster mid-jungle duo HongQ and JunJia, superstar ADC Gala, promising support Vampire, and, more importantly, coach Tabe, who made Anyone’s Legend into absolute legends last year.
They performed well in LPL, but still lost to BLG. Unfortunately, the very same thing happened during First Stand 2026, and it seems like there’s simply no force capable of stopping Knight’s dominance over the region. Nevertheless, JDG as a team shows a lot of promise, and Tabe’s leadership could transform this squad into a genuine contender in half a year’s time.
Gen.G
Gen.G is the world’s best team for 9 months straight for the last couple of years, yet time and again, they fail to win the tournament that matters the most – Worlds. They have the top 3 players across every role, their macro is suffocating, their drafts are good, yet something always stands in the way.
This year, downfall came early. G2 Esports did something unprecedented: they wiped Gen.G in a 3:0 performance that will keep people talking for years. No one is calling G2 a better team, but in the moment, when it mattered, they absolutely were better.
Could this be a wakeup call that Gen.G needed so desperately? Could this be their Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia moment? If Chovy finally wins his ultimate trophy, Caps should expect a handwritten letter in his inbox.
G2 Esports
There’s pretty much no discussion about the greatest Western team of all time. It’s G2, and it’s nowhere remotely close. They’re the only ones who made miracles happen, winning MSI, knocking T1 out of Worlds, and making the finals. Through the years, roster moves, and meta changes, they remain on top.
The gap with the Asian teams has grown wider in the last couple of years, with both EU and NA struggling to put a major dent into it, and top teams unable to challenge their Eastern counterparts when it matters. But at First Stand 2026, G2 massively stepped up. BNK FEARX was soundly beaten, Gen.G got the biggest slap in the face since forever, and only BLG, which plays in a similar style to G2, was able to handle them well.
The biggest issue for G2 is consistency. Sure, their loss to Los Ratones and being barely able to make it into the playoffs of LEC Versus could be attributed to not taking the event seriously, limit-testing, and locking in only when it mattered, but you never know when this tomfoolery will result in being knocked out of some important competition.
What G2 needs the most is strong European competition, and this year it finally looks like Karmine Corp, MKOI, and even NAVI are ready to challenge the kings of LEC.
Bilibili Gaming
CaptainFlowers once said, “The crownless are finally king!” when Invictus Gaming beat Fnatic in the grand final of Worlds 2018. Then, it was China’s first Worlds victory, ending the era of Korean dominance. Since then, Chinese teams have won MSI and Worlds, but still struggled to challenge their LCK rivals.
With the Chinese audience being especially harsh on their underperforming teams, it was crucial for an LPL representative to win an international event sooner rather than later. And while First Stand is not the most prestigious of the events on the competitive calendar, it still features the best teams across the regions. And BLG was the best among them.
This genuinely feels like a season when it can finally click for China, BLG, and Knight. He has been touted as the best midlaner in the world alongside Chovy, and neither of them has the Worlds win to show for it.
But if BLG play the way they did at the First Stand, they are a very real contender. Viper is as solid as ever, ON stopped making random mistakes, Xun and Knight have a solid 2v2 synergy, and Bin looks to have regained his ultra-dominant form. The biggest question is, what does Faker have to say about all this at the end of the year?
Standout players
First Stand 2026 is a very good slice of the current competitive meta and the players who have adapted to it the most. Here’s our Team of the Tournament:
| Role | Player | Team |
| Top | Bin | BLG |
| Jungle | Skewmond | G2 |
| Mid | Knight | BLG |
| Bot | Viper | BLG |
| Support | Labrov | G2 |
- Bin – Bin looks to be completely rejuvenated and reinvigorated in 2026. He’s back to his dominant self, taking over the games no matter the pick. His Jax is still as fearsome as ever.
- Skewmond – Possibly the best Western jungler right now, with Inspired being a close second. Runs the games, sets the pace for objectives that very few can match, and ekes out advantages that he has no business finding.
- Knight – Golden Left Hand, as he’s known in China, has been up there with Chovy for years now. At First Stand 2026, he re-demonstrated his might. What he needs more than anything now is to find some clutch factor.
- Viper – Gen.G was wiped by G2, but Ruler demonstrated once more that he’s possibly the best ADC in the world. But Viper has made a solid claim for this honor as well. He had great laning, perfect positioning, and massive impact in the teamfights the entire tournament. That’s why he’s a back-to-back First Stand champion.
- Labrov – No one could have expected this, but Labrov matched and sometimes even outperformed some of the best supports in the world, like Duro and ON. His engages gave G2 advantages over and over again, and the fearlessness he played with hasn’t been seen in Europe since the prime of Hylissang.
Best champions
The current meta favors strong skirmishers in the jungle that can be paired well with any style of mages the midlaners bring out. These are the 10 best champions of First Stand with 5 or more games played:
| Champion | Role | Games | Winrate |
| Pantheon | Jungle | 9 | 88.9% |
| Karma | Support | 5 | 80% |
| Jax | Top | 5 | 80% |
| Xin Zhao | Jungle | 11 | 72.7% |
| Mel | Mid | 7 | 71.4% |
| Yunara | Bot | 13 | 69.2% |
| Nocturne | Jungle | 8 | 62.5% |
| Ashe | Bot | 10 | 60% |
| Renekton | Top | 10 | 60% |
| Corki | Bot | 10 | 60% |
With the First Stand event over, the regional leagues are coming back soon, and the teams will begin their battle for the spots at MSI, which is being held in Korea this year.
