WSCI 2026: Riot and TJ Sports launch the first-ever global tournament for Tier 2

The format: four groups, then a knockout bracket

The tournament opens with a group stage from September 20 to 25. The sixteen teams are split into four groups of four, playing a double round-robin in a BO1 (best-of-one) format — 48 matches across six days, at a rate of eight per day. The top two of each group advance.

The draw follows a pool system. Each group receives one team from Pool 1, one from Pool 2 and two from Pool 3, with two protections: same-region teams from Pools 1 and 2 cannot land in the same group, and no group may contain more than two teams from a single region.

The eight qualified teams then move into a single-elimination bracket from September 27 to October 2 — quarterfinals, semifinals and a final, all played as BO5s. The champion will be crowned on October 2, the day before the Demacia Cup kicks off.

A pilot for the future of Tier 2

Riot frames WSCI as a development tool as much as a competition. Tier 2 is the bridge between amateur and professional play, and the publisher argues that international matches expose emerging players to unfamiliar styles, strategies and higher-stakes environments — exactly the experience domestic leagues cannot provide.

Rather than building an event from scratch, Riot is partnering with TJ Sports to build on the foundations of the Asia Masters and extend the formula to the rest of the world. The announcement also confirms TJ Sports as a new driving force of this stretch of the calendar: the Tencent-Riot joint venture, which operates the LPL, is behind both the revamped Demacia Cup and this new Tier 2 stage — two international tournaments announced within days of each other, scheduled back-to-back, and both landing just before Worlds.