Esports World Cup Announces Official Trading Card Collection
As part of the Esports World Cup 2026, the EWC has partnered with the company Kolex to develop a set of trading cards featuring the world’s best esports players and Clubs of a variety of competitions. The EWC itself has more than 2,000 players that represent 39 clubs across over 100 countries and are competing in a seven week World Cup style event marking the largest esports event in the world.
The Set
The trading card set will feature a collection of six rarities that vary from Club or player cards to numbered collectors editions of the cards, and even one-of-one Mythic cards that feature some of the top competitors in the biggest games; Honor of Kings, Fortnite, League of Legends, CS:GO, PUBG, Rocket League, Black Ops 7, Tekken8, Rainbow 6 Siege, and even Chess are all featured in this event.
There are also a variety of inserts from a Chronicles one-of-one featuring ten players, to a Centurions insert highlighting winners of multiple EWC Championships, an MVPs insert out of 50 that features MVPs of matches or series, the Spotlight insert focuses on people’s achievements, and many more.
Collectors will also have two options when purchasing with a Start Box (5 packs for a total of 25 cards) which costs $29.99 / 35.99 EUR, and a Hobby Box (24 packs for a total of 120 cards) for $99.99 / 119.99 EUR. Interesting to note that redemptions for signed jerseys or signed card redemptions will appear in both Start and Hobby boxes, but only hobby boxes will include the chance to pull a one-of-one. The set itself comprises of 237 cards representing players of the 39 partnered EWC clubs that competed during the EWC 2025 campaign. So who are the big competitors?
Faker - League of Legends
The Unkillable Demon King is the most famous and most dominant League of Legends player ever. There is no debate. After bursting onto the League scene in 2013 as the mid-lane for his team SKT, now T1, who won the World Championship in his debut season. After picking up two more World Championships in 2015 and 2016, he quickly gained the reputation of being the best mid-lane player, if not the best League player in the World.
However, after the 2016 win, 2017’s SKT T1 would come just short and lose in the final, and Faker wouldn’t return to the Finals of Worlds again until 2022, when his team using its current name, T1, would also fall short and come in second. The reputation built on being easily the best player had turned into a conversation of perhaps his time had come and gone.
In 2023 though, Faker marked a turning point in his career when T1 would win the Worlds Championship that year, marking Faker’s record fourth Championship win and at 27 he also set the record for being the oldest player to win World’s. To prove to his doubters that he was definitively the best League player in the World, Faker then went on to carry his team to a consecutive Championship in 2024 where he won his fifth title and was the Finals MVP.
Then, for good measure, in 2025 Faker continued his long standing dominance by taking T1 all the way back to the Finals and completing the three-peat, where he sits as the all time League of Legends World Championship winner with six total titles. Time magazine listed him in their 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026 under the “Icons” category alongside the likes of LeBron James, Lionel Messi, A’ja Wilson, and Shohei Ohtani.
Faker will be featured heavily in the EWC Collection and has multiple beautiful inserts, including being chose as one of the ten athletes featured as the Mythic one-of-one Chronicles card.
Magnus Carlsen - Chess
With the EWC including Chess as a competition in their World Cup, one would hope, as a spectator, to see the very best of the best - much like is the case if they were tuning into the Valorant, CS:GO, etc., there’s one name that comes to everyone’s mind: Magnus Carlsen. With the highest rating in chess history with a 2,882, he holds the record for longest unbeaten streak at 125 games of classical chess, but also only trails Garry Kasparov as the longest period being ranked the No. 1 position by the FIDE rankings. Carlsen won his first World Chess Championship in 2013 and was able to retain his title for a ten year reign.
Not only featured in the EWC, but in the set of trading cards, Carlsen will have a variety of parallels himself as well as signing a series of cards to release as part of the “Signature Series.” This marks Carlsen’s first card since the 2020/21 All Sports card that has been dubbed his rookie card. That being said, no autographed versions of an official Magnus Carlsen card have ever been released and this marks a major shift in the hobby that is bridging the gap into the esports world.
Just the Beginning
The list of players included in the set but not named Faker and Magnus are some of the biggest names in E-Sports: ZywOo, Yatoro, ImperialHal, ZmjjKK, Canyon, Ruler, Zer0, zSmit, and many more. While this is a set honoring and commemorating the 2025 EWC, the current EWC 2026 is underway and with that are the confirmed plans to continue the EWC x Kolex partnership and having a new round of cards for the new teams, players, and moments being created. That being said, there are no plans to reprint this set ever - meaning any card that you want is out there and ready to be pulled. No extra waves, no future releases of First Edition, so purchase these while they’re available!
Boxes will be available online starting August 10th, 2026 and can be purchased on the Esports World Cup shop.
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Jonathan Klinger is a collector and baseball historian based in Texas. Jonathan has been a lifelong Yankee fan and his love of collecting goes back over two decades. His collection is focused primarily on Yankees team sets, vintage memorabilia, and other unique pieces. He is a member of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research). When he’s not writing or collecting, Jonathan spends his time with his family, coaching his son’s Tee-ball team.
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