Lynn Vision wins ACL 2026, books EWC ticket; THUNDER dOWNUNDER impress with top 4 finish

Lynn Vision has conquered the Hero Esports Asian Champions League for 2026, winning 3-1 (28-24, 13-6, 9-13, 13-10) against JiJieHao to claim their third offline event in a row. The win comes with more than prize money and VRS points; Lynn Vision will head to the Esports World Cup with a guaranteed spot locked in for the August tournament.

JiJieHao impressed across the course of the tournament, taking down heavyweights FlyQuest and reigning ACL champions TYLOO twice convincingly. The grand final against Lynn Vision proved one match too far, but boy did JiJieHao make the champions work for it.

It took five overtimes for Lynn Vision to overcome JiJieHao on Dust 2; Lizhi "Starry" Ye (1.36, 41-35) and Sike "z4KR" Zhang (1.27, 44-37) dropped dual 40-bombs to claim the opener.

Lynn Vision knuckled down and took JiJieHao's Ancient pick to threaten the 3-0, but JiJieHao hit back on Inferno 13-9. They'd need to win Anubis if they wanted to keep the reverse sweep alive, but Lynn Vision put an end to the comeback attempt 13-10.

The ACL 2026 win sees Lynn Vision storm into the second slot in Asia VRS behind The MongolZ, who will likely secure their own invite to EWC as a top-ranked team.

This opens up spots to the next two teams in Asia, with TYLOO and THUNDER dOWNUNDER currently in the hot seat to follow up their IEM Cologne Major campaigns with a stint at EWC.

TdU thrill with deep lower bracket run; FlyQuest faulter

Exceeding expectations in Shanghai was THUNDER dOWNUNDER, who made their international tournament debut at ACL 2026. One of four Oceania representatives, TdU rebounded from a day one defeat to Uzbekistan unknowns Haunted House to make a deep lower-bracket run through to Saturday.

TdU warmed into the event, stringing together wins over Alter Ego, SemperFi, Haunted House, and Kaleido Gaming — the latter of which saw the Aussies fight back from 12-7 down in map three to snatch the series in overtime.

TdU opened with a 13-9 win on Dust 2 against Lynn Vision in the group final, and fought from 10-2 down to tie Nuke and threaten a 2-0 whitewash. Lynn Vision rallied, however, closing out the map without fault, before sending the Aussies packing on Inferno 13-5.

The other OCE reps in Shanghai didn't fare as well. SemperFi — the only team to win their opening game — fell to TdU in an entertaining 2-0 (13-4, 16-13) led from the front by Tyson "asap" Paterson (1.33, 39-28) and captain Alistair "aliStair" Johnston (1.28 rating, 33-22).

SemperFi debutant Kalan "sliimey" Lorenzo delighted for the boys in green, particularly in their opener against Change The Game. Unfortunately, a subsequent 2-0 loss to Kaleido meant a meeting against their DFRAG Wildcard and ANZC Brisbane rivals, and for the third time running, TdU proved the goods.

Expectations for Ground Zero were low given this was early into their rebuild under Tyler "tucks" Reilly, but they'll have been thrilled with a 2-1 win over Rare Atom in the lower bracket. The two have been at odds since early 2026, but GZ got the last laugh this week with the 2-1 (3-13, 13-5, 13-8) victory.

Less thrilling, and arguably the biggest disappointment in recent memory, was FlyQuest. The perennial top OCE team, who alongside TYLOO entered as a top three favourite, were bundled out early on Wednesday with losses to JiJieHao and 5star.

They exit with just one win over Mongolian minnows NEXVOID, but given this was FlyQuest's fifth event in as many months — all without notable success — it doesn't bode well for the squad's IEM Cologne Major campaign just weeks away.

Even worse, their absence from events has been noted on the VRS leaderboard. Their chances of qualifying for the Esports World Cup are slim to none following the conclusion of ACL — meaning a poor run at the major will see further invite opportunities slip away.

There will be plenty of soul searching for the OCE reps, but on the flip side, the likes of JiJieHao, 5star, Haunted House, and Kaleido stepping up bodes well for the lower tiers in Asia.

• Read more: Hero Esports ACL 2026: Schedule, results, teams, and more

Fans' eyes now turn to May 20th's CS Asia Championships with The MongolZ, Lynn Vision, and TYLOO lining up against heavyweight squads Falcons and MOUZ, while three Aussie squads aim for ESL Pro League via the ECL Asia-Pacific qualifier on May 25.