Get PremiumThe LEC is sending Asia's two worst Western nightmares of the recent years to America. G2 Esports
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G2 Esports and Karmine Corp qualify for Worlds 2026
The LEC is sending Asia's two worst Western nightmares of the recent years to America. G2 Esports
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G2's Romain Bigeard on expectations around G2: "There's always a lot of hope on us"G2 Esports opened the day by sweeping Team Vitality 3-0, ending their opponents' months-long unbeaten run in the process. Karmine Corp followed with a 3-1 win over GIANTX. Neither performance was flawless — G2 Esports struggled through the early game across the series, while Karmine Corp let game two slip away — but both teams were, as expected, comfortably above their opponents on the day.
The two winners now meet in Sunday's upper bracket final, still in Madrid, with a double prize on the line: a direct spot in the LEC Grand Final in Nice on September 20, and the guarantee of a Main Event start at Worlds. For now, both can still finish third — which would mean opening their World Championship in the Play-In in Los Angeles, where a single bad series can end a season.
The clash is also the latest chapter of the rivalry that has defined the LEC's year. Both 2026 finals so far have been five-game battles between these same two teams, both have gone G2 Esports' way, and everything suggests a third act in Nice — which is exactly why Sunday's series is the most uncertain of these playoffs. Can Karmine Corp finally slay their demons against G2 Esports after so many lost BO5s, and so many lost in the upper bracket specifically? Can they confirm the form of a regular season they finished unbeaten? Or will G2 Esports use the Summer to cement that same hierarchy a little further?
The qualification carries a different weight on each side. For G2 Esports, it is the tenth Worlds appearance in the organization's history — business as usual for the LEC's serial winners. For Karmine Corp, it is the very first. The blue wall will finally see its colors on the Worlds stage, and for Caliste and Kyeahoo, the youngsters at the heart of the project, these will be the first Worlds of their careers.
