Image Credit: Riot Games
With the LCS making its anticipated return in 2026, various North American teams have opted to refresh their rosters in a bid to become champion.
Included in this year’s eight-team line-up is a new name, but a familiar face to VALORANT fans, as Sentinels enters the scene. Moreover, the year’s offseason has shaken up a lot of notable rosters, including last year’s LTA player of the year joining an unlikely team. To find out about all the latest roster moves, Esports Insider’s article details the confirmed line-ups for the start of the LCS 2026 season.
Editor’s note: This article will be regularly updated when further roster moves have been confirmed.
Cloud9
Despite a disappointing season, which saw the organisation miss out on Worlds 2025 qualification, Cloud9 has only made one roster change heading into 2026.
Korean mid laner Lee’ Loki’ Sang-min has parted ways with the organisation for personal reasons, and in his stead, Cloud9 has picked up domestic mid laner Eain ‘APA‘ Stearns, formerly of Team Liquid. He, as well as Park ‘Thanatos‘ Seung-gyu, Robert ‘Blaber‘ Huang, and Jesper ‘Zven‘ Svenningsen, all have contracts until the end of 2028, according to the Global Contract Database (GCD). Ultimately, this signals that the team is willing to invest in this roster long term.
Image Credit: @Cloud9
The big changes for the team actually come from the coaching staff, with former streamer Christian ‘IWDominate‘ Rivera joining as a strategic coach. Meanwhile, Nicholas ‘Inero‘ Smith moves to the head coach role, which was left vacant by Bok ‘Reapered‘ Han-gyu.
C9 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Thanatos
Jungle: Blabler
Mid: APA
Bot: Zven
Support: Vulcan
Dignitas
Image Credit: Riot Games
After a tough 2025 campaign, Dignitas is looking to initiate a major rebuild around Korean top laner Kyeong ‘Photon‘ Gyu-tae, who has a contract that expires at the end of 2026.
Last year’s players, Jade ‘Sheiden‘ Libut, Jonah ‘Isles‘ Rosario, Kim ‘Keine‘ Joon-cheol and Frank ‘Tomo‘ Lam, have all left the organisation. With four new positions still left to announce, Dignitas has revealed a new head coach, with Simon ‘Swiffer‘ Papamarkos joining the organisation from Team Liquid.
DIG 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Photon
Jungle: To be confirmed
Mid: To be confirmed
Bot: To be confirmed
Support: To be confirmed
FlyQuest
Image Credit: Riot Games
Going into 2026, however, the team is looking to rebuild its squad following the departure of top laner Gabriël ‘Bwipo‘ Rau, jungler Kacper ‘Inspired‘ Słoma and support Alan ‘Busio‘ Cwalina.
The new lineup will see substitute top laner İbrahim ‘Gagkos‘ Samet Bulut be promoted to the starting position, with two new players expected to fill out the vacant roles. Mid laner Song ‘Quad‘ Su-hyeong and Fahad ‘Massu‘ Abdulmalek will continue to play for FlyQuest at least for one more year.
FLY 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Gakgos
Jungle: To be confirmed
Mid: Quad
Bot: Massu
Support: To be confirmed
LYON
Image Credit: @LyonLATAM
One of the biggest winners this offseason is undoubtedly LYON, having picked up LTA 2025 player of the year, Inspired, from its LCS rivals, FlyQuest. He will be leading a LYON roster that consists of mid laner Kang ‘Saint‘ Sung-in and Frankie ‘Zamudo‘ Lin, the latter of whom was unable to compete last season due to visa issues.
While the new bot lane is yet to be unveiled, LYON is looking to become at least a playoff contender in the coming season.
LYON 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Zamudo
Jungle: Inspired
Mid: Saint
Bot: To be confirmed
Support: To be confirmed
Sentinels
Image Credit: Riot Games
Sentinels’ head coach will be Greyson Gregory ‘Goldenglue‘ Gilmer, who previously led 100 Thieves to Worlds qualification in 2025. Goldenglue’s first major call as the organisation’s head coach will see him lead a roster of four Koreans, including veterans Jeong “Impact” Eon-young and Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun, as well as domestic mid laner Isaac “DARKWINGS” Chou, after his short stint on Disguised in 2025.
SEN 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Impact
Jungle: HamBak
Mid: DARKWINGS
Bot: Rahel
Support: huhi
Shopify Rebellion
Image Credit: Stefan Wisnoski/Riot Games
Shopify Rebellion head into 2026 off the back of a positive season, which saw the organisation break away from the bottom pack of the league and occasionally compete with the top teams.
For next year, the team has only made one roster move, bringing a major upgrade to the mid lane. Cristian ‘Palafox‘ Palafox has been replaced by Korean player Yoo ‘Zinie‘ Baek-jin, who will be making his tier-one debut on Shopify Rebellion.
Considered one of the hottest prospects in the LCK Challengers League, Zinie was unable to get a starting position on KT Rolster due to Gwak ‘Bdd’ Bo-seong’s presence. However, if he lives up to the hype, Shopify Rebellion could become a title contender next season.
Top laner Ibrahim ‘Fudge‘ Allami and jungler Juan ‘Contractz‘ Arturo Garcia, who had contracts expiring this year, re-signed with the team until the end of 2026.
SR 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Fudge
Jungle: Contractz
Mid: Zinie
Bot: Bvoy
Support: Ceos
Team Liquid
Image Credit: Team Liquid
Team Liquid was another big name that missed out on Worlds this year, and with the competition returning to North America for 2026, the team has decided to go for major pick-ups in the offseason. Notably, this includes changing its entire top side trio of Jeong ‘Impact‘ Aeon-young, Ganbat ‘Yuuji‘ Ulziidelger, and APA.
In the two solo lanes, Team Liquid has brought in Korean players Park ‘Morgan‘ Ru-han and Lim ‘Quid‘ Hyeon-seung. The latter, previously on 100 Thieves, was one of the best mids in the LTA last year. Meanwhile, Morgan played for OK BRION in the LCK over the past four years.
The jungle position will be filled by Argentinian player Brandon ‘Josedeodo‘ Joel Villegas, returning to NA after playing in South America for the past three years.
TL 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Morgan
Jungle: Josedeodo
Mid: Quid
Bot: Yeon
Support: CoreJJ
Disguised
Image Credit: @Disguised
Disguised was able to defend their guest slot during the LTA Promotion tournament earlier this October and will stay in the LCS for another year.
The team, owned by streamer Jeremy ‘Disguised Toast‘ Wang, recently announced its 2026 roster, changing four of the five members from the previous lineup.
The only returning player is top laner Cho ‘Castle‘ Hyeon-seong, who will team up with jungler Christian ‘KryRa‘ Rahaian, Korean mid Oh ‘Callme‘ Ji-hoon, and the bot lane of Sajed ‘Sajed‘ Ziade and Pedro ‘Lyonz‘ Luis Peralta.
Just like the previous season, the roster is focused on giving the spotlight to domestic talents, aided by the presence of a few Korean players.
DSG 2026 LCS Roster
Top: Castle
Jungle: KryRa
Mid: Callme
Bot: Sajed
Support: Lyonz
When Does the LCS 2026 Season Start?
The LCS will make its triumphant return on January 24th, 2026 with the LCK Lock-In event. This competition, complete with a Swiss Stage and Playoff bracket, will be used to determine North America’s representative at First Stand.
However, for fans wanting to get a glimpse of some LCS action, on December 6th Cloud9 and Team Liquid will be competing in South Korea’s KeSPA Cup 2025. For the first time ever, the off-season League of Legends tournament, organised by Korea’s esports governing body (KeSPA), will feature two LCS teams.
