The first RLCS Kickoff Weekend has come and gone, and the result reads like the opening lines of a season Karmine Corp intend to dictate. The Vatira-led roster swept their way through the 8-team stepladder bracket in Copenhagen, finishing with a 4-0 Grand Final win over Shopify Rebellion.
The win does three things at once: it puts KC straight into the Boston Major, it earns Europe an extra qualification slot for both 2026 Majors and Worlds, and it sets the tone for an offseason story that already had a lot of pressure attached.
The bracket
The Kickoff Weekend brought the top 6 from Open 1 in both NA and EU to Copenhagen for an 8-team stepladder bracket. The two top seeds (one from each region) waited at the top while the lower seeds played up.
Karmine Corp dropped one series across the entire weekend — a tight 4-3 against Team Vitality in the upper bracket — and looked sharper than they had at any point in the 2025 stretch run.
Shopify Rebellion's statement
NA's revelation at Copenhagen was Shopify Rebellion. The new-look roster of Lj, kofyr, and Firstkiller eliminated Spacestation Gaming and Team Vitality on their way to the Grand Final. Yes, they lost 4-0. But "the team that loses 4-0 to Karmine Corp in a Grand Final" is the room everyone wants to be in.
North America's competitive depth chart just inserted a new top contender. Firstkiller is going to be a name to watch all year.
What it means for Boston
With Karmine Corp pre-qualified for the Boston Major, the EU race for the remaining slots tightens immediately. The Kickoff result also gives Europe an additional qualifier for both Majors and Worlds — a structurally meaningful edge that's going to shape every European Open through February.
Boston runs February 19-22 at the Agganis Arena. Eight EU teams will fight for slots through the next three Opens.
NRG's quiet weekend
Worth flagging: the defending World Champions had a forgettable Copenhagen. NRG went out earlier than expected, dropping their second match of the bracket and going home. We're not reading much into a single bracket result in December, but it's worth tracking whether the title defense narrative holds up across the next two Opens.
What we learned
- Karmine Corp's offseason work paid off. Whatever they changed in their prep, the team looks faster and more decisive than the Lyon version.
- Shopify Rebellion are a real NA threat. Watch the Firstkiller-led second-man role specifically.
- Vitality remain top-tier in EU. The 4-3 series against KC was the closest match of the bracket.
- The Kickoff Weekend format works. It's high-stakes, fast, and meaningfully changes the rest of the season's qualification math.
Up next
The Open 2 brackets in both NA and EU are already underway, with the season's qualification race continuing through January and into February. The Boston Major preview lands eight weeks from now.
Until then: scrim hard, and we'll see you in 2026.