Karmine Corp will have two teams in the LEC next year

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 03/11/2025

Karmine Corp’s League of Legends academy team, Karmine Corp Blue, are EMEA Masters Champions and will play in the LEC.

KCorp Blue defeated Los Heretics in a straight 3-0 sweep to become the EMEA Masters Summer 2025 champions.

It is a record fifth time that the KCorp organisation has won an EMEA/European Masters title.

Now, Blue will compete in the new LEC Versus event in the Winter 2026 split, alongside the KCorp first team.

When Riot Games announced the new LEC Versus competition, they confirmed that academy/secondary teams could join.

However, Riot also stated that “measures will be put into place to ensure that competition integrity is preserved.”

These measures, which will ensure there are no conflicts of interest or match-fixing, have not been publicly revealed.

The LEC Versus format starts with a single-round robin of best-of-ones, meaning every team will play each other once.

This means we are guaranteed to see a KCorp derby at least once, though the teams could theoretically meet again in the playoffs.

The other EMEA Regional League (ERL) team invited to LEC Versus is Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont’s Los Ratones.

The UK-registered LoL team were given a guest slot as the most consistent ERL team, winning three NLC and two EMEA Masters titles.

However, their season came to an unfortunate end when KCorp Blue embarrassed Los Ratones 3-0 in the latter’s first best-of-five loss.

The future of the popular Los Ratones team is still in question after Caedrel announced that they will not compete in the NLC next year.

It’s possible the team will join France’s LFL, where competition is even fiercer, or potentially not participate in the ERLs at all in 2026.

Will Karmine Corp Blue keep hold of their roster for LEC Versus?

The creation of LEC Versus and its late announcement leaves Karmine Corp Blue in an awkward situation.

Typically, the roster that wins EMEA Masters is usually picked apart as LEC teams scoop up the region’s next exciting prospects.

KCorp Blue’s players will certainly have gathered interest. Toplaner Volodymyr ‘Maynter’ Sorokin had an excellent tournament.

Support Kim ‘Piero’ Jung-hun caught a lot of attention, especially for his phenomenal Bard game in the EMEA Masters final.

Thomas ‘3XA’ Foucou, formerly Exakik, has competed in the LEC before and could return after being crowned EMEA Masters MVP.

American jungler Johnny ‘Yukino’ Dang will have interest from the LEC and LCS after his pivotal role in their victory over Los Ratones.

According to reports from Sheep Esports, Riot will put in a rule that requires LEC Versus guests to keep at least three members of their rosters from the previous Summer.

Though reports suggest there will be some exceptions to this rule. Sheep Esports claim that KCorp Blue qualify for these and already have three new players.

Reportedly, Karmine Corp Blue have signed midlaner Kamil ‘Kamiloo’ Haudegond, botlaner Costin ‘Hazel’ Pestrițu, and support Olivier ‘Prime’ Payet.

This could be due to contracts, as most ERL players and teams operate under one-year contracts.

According to the Global Contract Database, Yukino is the only KCorp Blue member whose contract doesn’t expire in November 2025.

Meanwhile, Los Ratones has confirmed that Simon ‘Baus’ Hofverberg is staying, as is Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson.

The other Los Ratones members are also likely to be retained, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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