Kameto claims LEC teams didn’t agree to Los Ratones joining
League of Legends Worlds 2025 hasn’t even started yet there is already huge drama in the LEC ahead of the 2026 season.
It was previously reported that Riot Games is expanding the LEC Winter Split 2026 to include Los Ratones.
Most assumed that the 10 LEC teams, all paid partners, had agreed to this to help boost viewership thanks to Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont’s popularity.
However, Karmine Corp owner Kamel ‘Kameto’ Kebir has broken his NDA with Riot to claim that it’s actually the opposite.
Kameto launches scathing attack on Riot Games
Kameto went live to his Twitch audience to reveal what was happening behind the scenes.
Feeling slighted by Riot, Kameto claimed:
“There wasn’t even a single person who agreed with that idea. They just f*cked us.”
According to him, none of the 10 LEC teams had agreed to this change.
Additionally, it has been reported by the Al Lío Podcast, that Riot’s orginal idea for ERL teams was even more extreme.
Allegedly, Riot had planned a Royal Rumble which would see LEC and top ERL teams compete for EMEA’s third Worlds slot.
This would be in line with the recent VCT changes, allowing Challenger teams to qualify for Valorant Champions next year.
Kameto threatened to take KCorp’s LEC roster to Korea to bootcamp for the entirey of Winter while playing the academy team.
Ibai ‘Ibai’ Llanos Garatea and Movistar KOI are supposedly considering the same.
Kameto also added:
“Let’s not lie to ourselves, the new format was completely made to let Los Ratones play in LEC.”
Despite this, Kameto claims he has no issue with Caedrel:
“I’ve got nothing against Los Ratones and Caedrel, they’re right to have accepted, I would’ve done the same.
“The problem comes from Riot making bad choices or short-term ones, I don’t even know instead of long-term decisions.”
Why do LEC teams have an issue with Los Ratones joining the LEC?
These proposed changes going ahead without teams approval would set a bad precedent as teams would lose trust in their investment.
Because of the franchised model, all 10 teams have had to pay 10s of millions of Euros for a permanent place in the league.
Just recently in the Summer, NAVI paid an undisclosed amount for Rogue’s LEC slot.
Meanwhile, Caedrel has looked for ways into the LEC while insisting Los Ratones won’t pay €20m.
Sheep Esports journalist put out an open letter to LEC bosses, claiming they can’t devalue teams’ franchise slots:
“For years, clubs have been under severe financial strain.
“They justified their massive investments in the LEC with the promise of an exclusive asset, the integrity of which should be protected by the publisher.
“Eliminating this exclusive character today without any compensation means irreparably undermining the economic balance of the system.”
The same journalist had claimed that Caedrel had lied and hold his viewers that all the LEC teams had a agreed to the changed format.
This was proven to be false, Caedrel had just wrongly assumed that was the case.
Caedrel defends himself and proposed LEC format
Despite claims Caedrel knew Riot was going behind backs, what Caedrel actually said was:
“Competition wise, completely removing the whole Los Ratones format, it’s great.
“Also, if this was to ever have gone through I’m pretty sure all the teams have to green light it. Don’t all teams have to green light this. I think the teams are probably onboard as well, think about it. If I’m an LEC team and I get
Caedrel also defended the proposed format, looking at it from the perspective of Tier 2 LoL teams:
“They said let’s make it so the Winter Cup actually involves the ERL system. So winning EU Masters actually gives you something.
“So I think fair enough, if you’re a new player in the ERLs or you’re an upcoming talent and you want to show yourself against the LEC players, great.
“If you’re an LEC player who’s a f*cking fraud, you’re about to get exposed.”
Caedrel also argued it was good for competition and would stop some LEC organisations coasting:
“I think it’s just healthy for competition overall.
“Like if you f*cking bench ride a bottom tier LEC team for three f*cking years straight or something. And you’re just like scraping wins and now an ERL team comes in and claps your f*cking cheeks.
“Boom, now I know instantly within two weeks if you’re boosted or not.”
Previously, Caedrel had considered having Los Ratones skip EMEA Masters Summer because it clashed with Worlds.
But eventually, he agreed to have the team participate in the tournament.
Some speculated that Caedrel agreed to enter the tournament, knowing of these plans to let Los Ratones compete in the LEC for a split.
Caedrel denied this before contracdicting himself, saying: “Not really… a little bit.”
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