Riot announce League Classic showmatch ahead of MSI 2026 Grand Final

Riot have confirmed a special League of Legends Classic showmatch, scheduled for Sunday at 8 AM CEST — right before the MSI 2026 Grand Final. The match doubles as a live demonstration of the retro mode, with the full League Classic reveal set for the MSI Finals broadcast.

Team Baron (BRN)

• Zz1tai — Royal Club, RNG
• Ambition — Azubu Blaze, Samsung Galaxy
• Scarra — Dignitas
• Doublelift — CLG, TSM, Team Liquid
• WeiXiao — World Elite

Team Dragon (DGN)

• SOAZ — Fnatic, Origen
• Levi — GAM Esports
• PawN — Samsung White, EDward Gaming
• Cpt Jack — CJ Entus Blaze
• YellOwStaR — Fnatic

It is a lineup built for nostalgia rather than balance. Two Worlds winners sit on the Dragon side — PawN lifted the Summoner's Cup with Samsung White in 2014 — while Ambition, champion with Samsung Galaxy in 2017, anchors Baron. Doublelift and sOAZ, long tied together as the longest-serving players of their era, end up on opposite sides of the Rift one more time. Levi is the outlier: the GAM jungler only stepped away from competition recently, and arrives with far fresher hands than most of the field.

The talent lineup follows the same logic: Kobe, Sjokz, Jatt, Phreak and Deficio handle the broadcast, announced with throwback photos to match the retro art direction.

The showmatch is expected to run on the classic build itself. Datamined files point to the original Summoner's Rift, the old rune and mastery systems, Influence Points and a fixed roster of roughly sixty early-season champions — though not every feature pulled from the PBE is guaranteed to ship.

The match starts at 3 PM KST on Sunday (8 AM CEST, 11 PM PDT Saturday), with the MSI 2026 Grand Final to follow.