At the announcement ceremony, Riot Games essentially turned the game around by making new details of their new high-end TFT Pro Circuit (TPC) series for the sixteenth set. This global battle will bring together 32 top strategists from four key zones — America, China, APAC, and EMEA — to snatch a piece of the $30,200 prize pie.
Table of Contents
Format and schedule of the TFT Set 16 Pro Circuit tournament
The developers from Riot Games decided to rigidly structure the path to fame — players will be hacked within the framework of the Shurima Cup, Bilgewater and Demo over the next couple of months. The winner of each such event, as well as the most stable leader in points, will receive direct invitations to the Lore & Legends Tactician’s Crown, which will be held in the March finals — it’s powerful, really.
By all accounts, the TPC Set 16 format has been significantly shaken up.
Now, by the way, on the third day of the competition, all participants receive four Pro Points. Interestingly, these points now guarantee additional payments to the entire top four, not just the first place. On the first two days of each Cup, the fighters will have 12 games, and on the final day — a maximum of eight — while the composition of the groups, in fact, will constantly change according to the “snake” seeding system every two games.
Eight points for the top 1 and only one for the last place — such arithmetic will determine which of the 32 starters will pass on the second day, where only 24 participants will remain. The points are generally saved, and after the next dropout, 16 pros will remain in the game — they will play for the right to get into the final eight through a series of additional matches.
At the end, the counter is reset to zero.
That’s where the checkmate format comes into play — as soon as someone breaks through the 20-point threshold, they put the rest in a dangerous position, and now they only need one victory in the game to triumph. By the way, the Shurima Cup starts on January 9th and will last until the 11th. The schedule for different time zones looks like this:
-
APAC: 11:00 CET / 18:00 SGT
-
EMEA: 16:00 CET / 23:00 SGT
-
Americas: 22:00 CET / 05:00 SGT (next day)
It looks like Riot Games is serious about making this season the most dynamic in the history of Teamfight Tactics, which is encouraging.
Favorites and participants of the 2026 TFT Pro Circuit Championship
The rosters for the upcoming tournament are, in fact, already fully staffed — after tough regional dropouts, 32 of the best strategists from all over the world remained on the list. Some pros, such as the Vietnamese talent Bui “YBY1” Tuan Kien, have managed to maintain their positions since the days of the legendary K.O. Coliseum Tactician’s Crown, which thundered in 2025. This guy is currently representing the RRQ tag and last time he managed to jump into an honorable third place in the final standings.
The layout is interesting and there will be something to see.
Apparently, it’s worth taking a closer look at those who crawled onto Tactician’s Crown last season, bypassing the TPC altogether — such audacious upstarts are always dangerous. From South America, these are, by the way, Brazilians Mateus “cmbQAQ” Contro and Shako, who showed their teeth at the last event and took 9th and 11th places. Cool, really. In fact, they were the strongest representatives of the American region, so it’s a big mistake to discount them.
The Asia-Pacific region also pleases with legendary names.
In addition to the already mentioned YBY1, there will probably be a Korean master With “Ssang Yeop” Song-won and, of course, the triumphant K.O. Coliseum player with the nickname CantWithoutYou (不能沒有妳). In fact, the fight for leadership in this division promises to be as tight as possible. It is logical that the fans expect only the top level of the game from them.
In the EMEA region, French techies Gabriel “Gobosteur” Brault and Emre “Double” Demirtas, who plays for Karmine Corp., will take all the attention. To be honest, these guys have always been known for non-standard solutions, so it’s definitely going to be hot at their tables. France is now one of the main forges of frames for TFT.
As for the Chinese cluster, it is worth highlighting Xie “Wmeng” Fuchao and the player weimuluoqiu — the latter is generally called the new hope of the region.
Interestingly, weimuluoqiu managed to snatch silver at Tactician’s Crown, although before that, in fact, he did not shine at major international competitions at all. A real dark horse. Such breakthroughs are always powerful.
Admittedly, the viewing format this time will be specific.
There are no plans for an official centralized broadcast at TPC — that’s what the organizers decided. Fans, it seems, will have to jump on the channels of the esports players themselves or look for their co-streamers. The full list of those who will receive the broadcast rights will be rolled out later. Like that.
Whether this is fair or not is an open question, but such decentralization will definitely add intrigue to the tournament.
