LOL world champion mid-laner Doinb was recently reported to join the Dota Ti International Invitational. He initially aimed to create a team made up solely of retired LPL players, but others still want to continue playing LOL, so they declined. In a recent stream, Doinb disclosed that LGD extended an olive branch to him, with the team manager stating that if Doinb intends to aim for Ti, LGD can revive their previously disbanded Dota division.

Wow, assembling a team of four Dota players under LGD to compete means that regardless of Doinb’s results, he will attract significant attention in both the LOL and Dota communities. However, Doinb’s Dota skills are somewhat questionable for professional play. Even if they form a team to compete, it’s unlikely they will advance past the qualifiers. Still, switching to Dota is mainly for exposure, so Doinb probably won’t pass up this opportunity.

Oil Cup announces participant slots

The official EWC Oil Cup recently released the 2026 League of Legends event announcement, detailing this year’s participant slots and the general format. First, GEN is directly invited as last year’s Oil Cup champion. Additionally, the second stage champions from the six major regions (including Brazil) are also invited directly. If GEN wins the second stage again, the direct invite will pass to the runner-up.

Besides the directly invited teams, the LPL and LCK regions each have two participant slots; LCK has three. LCP, CBLOL, and LCS each have one slot. Before the main event starts, qualifiers will be held with two teams each from LPL, LEC, and LCK, and one team each from the remaining three regions, totaling nine teams. The group stage features 16 teams divided into four groups playing double elimination, with the top two advancing. The playoffs are BO3 and the finals BO5.

FNC player receives death threats

In the first round of the LEC playoffs, veteran team FNC was swept by NAVi and dropped to the losers’ bracket. Losing again would mean direct elimination and missing the global VCT. The day after the loss, FNC’s head coach started internal conflicts, criticizing management in an interview: “There is no coaching staff; this is different from what was promised to me.” This blame-shifting sparked fan dissatisfaction.

Some extreme FNC fans launched furious attacks against players and coaches on forums, even issuing death threats. After learning this, FNC club issued a statement: “We have zero tolerance for online abuse and death threats. The club has collected evidence and submitted it to law enforcement.” Wow, European fans are really intense—threatening death over a game is quite scary.

LOUD erupts in internal conflict; mid-laner leaves

Brazilian team LOUD recently announced that their mid-laner Mago has left the team due to irreconcilable conflicts with the coaching staff. Management’s intervention failed, and Mago declared he will no longer compete for the team. LOUD has reached the winners’ bracket final and only needs one more win to reach the finals. Losing their mid-laner now will definitely weaken the team, likely sending them to the losers’ bracket.

Interestingly, during the team’s last scrim, Mago openly questioned head coach Raise (a Korean coach), saying: “Who does he think he is? Faker?” Wow, so apparently old Li has become a unit of measurement now? LOUD only needs two more BO5 wins to qualify for the global VCT. Losing a key player now probably means missing out, and the emergency mid-laner will need time to gel with the team.

Conclusion:

This year’s LOL international competitions are quite packed: VCT in March, Mid-Season Invitational in May, Oil Cup in July, Asian Games in September, Worlds in October, and the Esports National Cup at the end of the year. Six international events in total — fans are truly fortunate. The question is whether LPL can claim the championship in any of these six tournaments.

So, how many championships do you think LPL will win?

Feel free to leave your comments and join the discussion!