First Stand 2026: Bilibili Gaming Ends LPL's International Title Drought

Finally, after a three-year wait, League of Legends fans in the Chinese region (LPL) had their thirst for an international title quenched when Bilibili Gaming defeated G2 in the Grand Finals of the First Stand 2026.

Bilibili Gaming ends its international title drought.

On March 22nd, Bilibili Gaming (BLG) secured a 3-1 victory against G2 Esports in the Grand Finals of the First Stand 2026 tournament . This result marks the organization's first international championship title since their disappointing losses to T1 at the 2023 World Championship and GEN.G at the 2024 MSI. It also marks the LPL region's first international title since MSI 2023, when JD Gaming won by defeating BLG 3-1.

bring home the first international championship title.

Despite a convincing opening victory, G2 seemed to lose their composure in the following two games, ultimately suffering a heartbreaking defeat in the fourth game despite holding a significant advantage over their opponent. The opening game was evenly matched, with both junglers controlling the pace of the game and making a difference in team fights throughout the early and mid-game. BLG pushed the pace of the game while G2 began to slow down. 

Around the 38th minute, a chaotic team fight broke out at the Baron pit, and G2 took the lead thanks to their sharp teamfight capabilities and better defensive play. Captain Ramus "Caps" Winther's impressive performance with Aurora  resulted  in  Bin's Gnar  suffering his first defeat of 2026.

Entering game 2, BLG's quality draft allowed  Bin's Gwen  to quickly become powerful and easily snowball. Meanwhile, the bot lane duo of Viper and ON completely outclassed Hans Sama and Labrov on the opposing side. The lack of a consistent damage source caused G2 to quickly collapse, and BLG leveled the playing field.

In game 3, the LPL champions continued to maintain their dominance across all three lanes. Notably, Hans Sama's performance suffered a significant drop, with the G2 marksman almost never landing  accurate Chains of Corruption,  both in team fights and when needing to pick off opponents. This clearly became an advantage for BLG to exploit and take the lead.

G2 sets an forgettable international record.

The fourth game saw a surprising comeback from BLG, as G2 consistently pressured them in the early game. However, thanks to their impressive macro play, BLG managed to keep the gold difference between the two teams from slipping, and successfully secured the Baron by sending Bin to push the bottom lane, causing G2's team to split up as they didn't know which objective to focus on. 

After losing Baron but securing two kills, G2 attempted to take Dragon to compensate, but their slow Dragon-taking speed gave BLG time to initiate a team fight. Ultimately, in an attempt to save SkewMond, the bot lane duo of Hans Sama and Labrov also fell, giving BLG a sudden numerical advantage to finish the game.

Become Finals MVP at First Stand 2026

With this achievement, marksman Viper has become the only player to win two consecutive First Stand tournaments, after he lifted the championship trophy with Hanwha Life Esports in the first one last year. This is also the second international championship title for Knight and Bin. The LPL top laner was also honored as MVP of the Grand Finals.

He secured his second First Stand championship title.

Conversely, G2 became the first League of Legends team to lose in the Grand Finals of three major international tournaments: the 2019 World Championship (0-3 against FunPlus Phoenix), MSI 2017 (1-3 against T1), and now First Stand 2026. Once again, a European representative fell to an Asian team.