Australian esports organization Ground Zero Gaming is entering LCP for 2026 as PSG TALON is kicked from the league.
Riot Games announced that Ground Zero Gaming, an Australian organization, will be joining the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) for 2026.
Ground Zero Gaming enters the LCP
Due to the recent booting of PSG Talon by Riot, a slot opened up within the LCP. After several weeks, a team to fill this spot has been chosen: Ground Zero Gaming. They will join as a Guest team.
"In selecting the new team, we followed the same principles that guided our initial selection, including identifying a team that best represents the values of our sport and region, while demonstrating the operational stability and readiness needed to ensure sustainability," said Riot Games. "We also prioritized maintaining a balance between regional representation and competitive strength, staying true to our goal of making the LCP both diverse and entertaining."
Being selected for the LCP is a huge milestone for Ground Zero Gaming and for our fans. After our success in the LCO and the opportunity to compete in the PCS, we’re thrilled to take the next step in our League of Legends journey and face some of the most accomplished teams in the region. We’re here to compete from day one.
GZ will be one of the five Guest slots for the 2026 season. For Kickoff, they are the only representatives from the OCE region. However, GZ's roster from last year was mostly comprised of Taiwanese players and no AU ones.
The team is expected to rebuild, so Aussie LoL fans can hope for some representation as the org finds new players to wear its livery on the Rift. The LCP 2026 Kickoff begins Jan. 16, where eight teams compete to be the region's sole hope in First Stand 2026.
TALON's exit across the Riot esports ecosystem
Talon Esports was kicked from both the LoL and VALORANT esports ecosystems. For VALORANT, TALON fielded a Thai team. For the same reasons quoted above, Riot opted to have the Thai esports org FULL SENSE fill the vacated VCT Pacific spot.
FULL SENSE ended up acquiring TALON's full roster, and the Pacific region kept its sole Thai team.
For the LCP, PSG Talon had Taiwanese players. Taiwan is one of the most represented countries in the LCP, with 25% of all players in the LCP 2025 Season Finals being Taiwanese. Understandably, different considerations were made when choosing the replacements for Talon for the LCP and VCT Pacific.
Thumbnail graphic via Ground Zero Gaming. For more League of Legends, stick around esports.gg!
