Luminosity’s LoL Future in Question After Disguised Loss for LCS 2026 Qualification

Disguised have won the LTA 2026 promo series, meaning they’ll be sticking around through the year and will have another chance to fight the best League of Legends teams in NA. However, Luminosity’s failure to qualify could spell disaster for the organization.

The LTA 2026 promotional series was fraught with controversy between DDoS attacks affecting LoL servers during game days and Summit being barred from playing on Estral due to cheating. The last two teams standing were the ones every analyst thought would be there in the end: Disguised and Luminosity.

A lot was riding on this for both teams, with an LCS slot on the line for the 2026 season. And, with Disguised getting the slot, there’s a chance that Luminosity’s future in League of Legends is in peril.

Disguised League of Legends team posing

Disguised struggled in 2025, but confirmed their spot in the 2026 LCS. Image Credit: Robert Paul/Riot Games

Disguised Secure 2026 LCS Slot After Rough 2025

Despite making it into the LTA in 2025, Disguised’s achievements were limited to that. They were given the spot by Riot Games, tried to build a team that could have a chance against legacy LCS orgs, and ultimately failed.

They were in dead last splits 1 and 2, only showing signs of life during Split 3 where they finished 5-6th and pushed Cloud9 to game 5. And that’s only after they made some emergency roster swaps near the end of the season to try and fix their team’s issues.

So, even though Disguised was favored, Luminosity taking the slot wasn’t exactly off the table. Their roster was made up entirely of former LCS talent, with 3 of their 5 members being on Disguised’s NACL-winning roster in 2023.

And, though DSG taking the win guarantees them a spot, it’s hard to say what happens to Luminosity in the wake of them failing to qualify for the LCS given recent developments within the org.

Fans Concerned for Luminosity’s Future

Luminosity was recently acquired, and several former employees have alleged that they weren’t paid for past work during the transition. Meanwhile, new CEO Jon Dwyer called out former Luminosity employees on X with confidence that the org would secure an LCS spot under his leadership.

“You fell backwards into the CMO role in a dying company,” he said. “Only exec role you’ll have going forward is in the orgs you create. Tune in from the sidelines October 12 and hopefully Lumi will pull out a win to LTA 1 and leave your era of mediocrity in the past.”

Of course, it’s now clear that they will not be getting the LCS slot. They’ll have to try again in the 2027 promo series if they want a chance at making it into the league, but keeping a LoL team for a year is a big financial commitment with no guaranteed gain in the NACL.

This, along with small details like none of Luminosity’s players wearing a team jersey in the finals, has people concerned for the org’s future.

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