FlyQuest took four dragons to Natus Vincere's one in the opening game of their series on Monday. They lost it 17-15. The second game went 24-15 the same way, and with that FlyQuest joined Shopify Rebellion at 0-2 in the Swiss stage of the 2026 Demacia Cup Global Invitational.
October 5 split cleanly in two. Both European teams won 2-0, two days after all four teams from Europe and North America lost on opening day. Both North American teams lost 2-0. The LCS is now 0-4 in series and 0-6 in maps at this tournament, and it's about to get smaller: on October 7 its two teams and GAM Esports play each other for a single place in Round 4.
Europe wins the series it had to
Team Vitality 2-0 GAM Esports (18-9, 28-15). Game 1 was control: nine towers to two, the only Baron, and a gold lead of 56,501 to 44,682 with the dragons split 2-2. Game 2 was louder and ended further apart. Naak Nako finished the series at 15/4/13 on Ambessa and Rumble, and Leaguepedia lists him as the broadcast MVP of both games. On Saturday, against BNK FEARX, he went 0/2/1.
The standout for us was Lyncas, who went 3/0/8 on Vi and then 7/1/11 on Pantheon. That's 10/1/19 across the series, with one death. GAM are playing this tournament with Tiphat in the jungle in place of Draktharr, and his 5/3/2 Qiyana was their best line in Game 2; in the top lane, Kiaya's Galio went 0/10/5. GAM's kill counts over their three maps here read 4, 9 and 15. Each is better than the last and none of them has been a win.
Natus Vincere 2-0 FlyQuest (17-15, 24-15). Game 1 is the closest any North American team has come to winning a map at this event. FlyQuest led the dragon count 4-1 and each side took a Baron, yet NAVI finished with seven towers to five. We don't have a reliable account of how it turned, so we won't guess. Game 2 reversed the objectives, with NAVI taking four dragons to one, ten towers to five and the only Baron.
Poby is our other standout: 5/1/7 on Syndra, 6/1/10 on Orianna, 11/2/17 in total. On Saturday, in the 16-3 loss to RED Canids, he was 0/2/1. SamD's Lucian went 7/4/7 in Game 1 with Parus beside him on Milio at 1/1/16. FlyQuest tried something different in Game 2, putting Massu on Mel in the bot lane next to a Pyke, and Massu's 7/2/5 was the one FlyQuest line that held up.
What Monday doesn't prove
Through 12 series, the tournament by region: LCK 5-1, LPL 4-2, LEC 2-2, CBLOL 1-1, LCP 0-2, LCS 0-4.
Europe's two wins came against an LCP team and an LCS team. Against LCK and LPL opposition, the European and North American sides are still 0-4 in series and haven't taken a single map: BNK FEARX beat Vitality, kt Rolster beat Shopify Rebellion and LGD Gaming beat FlyQuest on Saturday, and on Monday it was JDG's turn.
So the honest reading is narrower than the headline. Europe has pulled clear of the bottom of this field, and whether it can beat a Korean or Chinese team here is a question that Monday didn't ask.
GALA, 48 hours later
Beijing JDG Esports 2-0 Shopify Rebellion (12-2, 20-7). This was the day's only series between an Eastern and a Western team, and it was the most one-sided of the three. Game 1 lasted 29:53 and JDG took eleven towers to two, three inhibitors and a gold lead of 63,357 to 48,139. Shopify Rebellion's two kills both belonged to Zinie. Game 2 was over in 25:56, eleven towers to one.
On Saturday GALA went 0/2/4 on Ezreal, and JDG's bot lane ended a 21-10 loss to HANJIN BRION without a kill. On Monday he went 5/0/5 on Lucian and 8/2/7 on Kalista: 13/2/12 for the series, and the broadcast MVP of both games according to Leaguepedia.
He had company. Xiaoxu went 9/0/7 on Rumble and Renekton and didn't die in either game. xiaofang and Angel, the jungle and mid pairing that debuted against BRION, went 5/3/17 and 5/1/18 and have their first win together in JDG colours. For a team that missed Worlds at the LPL Regional Finals and then changed two starters, that matters more than the margin.
It still needs a caveat, because it's one series against a team that hasn't won a map here. JDG are hosting the knockout stage in Beijing, and they need one more series win to play in it.
One draft note, and only as a description of Monday. Lucian with Milio was picked twice, by NAVI and by JDG, and won both times; JDG's win came against the Lulu and Yunara lane that Shopify Rebellion drafted. Kalista with Renata Glasc, which hadn't appeared at this tournament before, showed up in three of the six maps and won two of them. That's six maps on one day, so read it as a snapshot.
How the 0-2 round robin works
Two series wins put a team in the knockout stage. kt Rolster, BNK FEARX and Xi'an Team WE got there on October 4. Nobody joined them on Monday and nobody went home, since all three series were between teams at 0-1.
Six teams sit at 1-1: HANJIN BRION, LGD Gaming, RED Canids, JDG, Vitality and NAVI. The other three are 0-2, and each of them is 0-3 in maps.
Those three don't get a normal Round 3 match. They play a single round robin among themselves, every series a Bo3, and the best-performing team moves on to Round 4 while the other two are eliminated. A third defeat isn't what ends a run here, then; a team's finishing position in that group of three is.
All of it happens on October 7 (times in UTC):
- 07:00, FlyQuest vs GAM Esports
- 09:00, Shopify Rebellion vs GAM Esports
- 11:00, Shopify Rebellion vs FlyQuest
Every team plays two Bo3s that day, and GAM play theirs back to back. Two of the three teams are from the LCS and only one place is available, so at least one North American team will be eliminated on Wednesday. If GAM win the group, both will be. The last series of the day does guarantee the LCS its first map win of the tournament, though only because its two teams are playing each other.
What comes next
October 6 belongs to the six teams at 1-1, who play three Bo3 series. The pairings hadn't been published when we wrote this. Each winner goes through at 2-1, and each loser drops into Round 4 on October 8, where they're joined by the round robin survivor for two series and the last two knockout places. Eight of the twelve teams advance.
The knockout stage starts on October 12 in Beijing, single elimination and Bo5 throughout. JDG are the hosts, and after Monday they're one win from being there as a participant too.
FlyQuest and Shopify Rebellion have played six maps at this tournament without winning one. By the end of Wednesday one of them will have changed that, and at most one of them will still be in it.