Riot Games has named Ground Zero Gaming as the guest team competing in the 2026 League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) season.
The Australian esports organisation is one of five teams that have earned a guest slot in the region’s highest tier of League of Legends esports.
Unveiled on December 22nd, Ground Zero Gaming fills the empty slot left by the departure of TALON Esports, which was removed from the league due to recent financial issues affecting its business operations.
Riot Games revealed that it prioritised ‘maintaining a balance between regional representation and competitive strength’ while reviewing several applications.
“We determined that GZ met all our requirements and would be the best fit for the league,” said the publisher.
Since launching in 2016, Ground Zero Gaming has cemented itself as one of the Pacific’s notable names in League of Legends esports. In 2024, the organisation won both LCO splits before scoring a seventh-place finish at the 2024 PCS Summer Playoffs.
Throughout 2025, the organisation struggled to replicate its earlier success, ending the year with a top-eight finish in the third split of the Pacific Championship Series.
All LCP 2026 Teams
With Ground Zero Gaming becoming the LCP’s latest participating team, the eight teams competing in the LCP 2026 Season Kickoff have now been confirmed.
CTBC Flying Oyster, Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS, and GAM Esports are the only partnered teams participating in the opening tournament of the season, while Secret Whales, DetonatioN FocusMe, Vikings Esports and Deep Cross Gaming make up the rest of the league’s guest slots.
Starting on January 16th, the eight teams will compete in a best-of-three round robin format, with the top six advancing to the playoffs. The winner of the playoffs will qualify for the 2026 First Stand Tournament, the first cross-regional tournament of the League of Legends season.
