Worlds 2026 Quarterfinals — Invictus Gaming outsmart Top Esports to reach the semifinals

IG read the patch better

The series was decided in the bot lane and the jungle, the two roles that matter most on this patch. Dragons, the 2v2 and the ability to trade auto-attacks shape the bot side, while farming junglers with First Strike and cashback items snowball the more camps they clear. IG built their drafts around that. Their bot lane combinations held up every time, and their Jayce, played in the jungle, dominated as soon as TES didn't answer with an aggressive AD bruiser. Each IG composition had a clear plan: strong five-versus-five fights, several threats and simple execution.

TES never found that identity. They let Kai'Sa through, passed on Karma when an aggressive 2v2 was there for the taking, and too often drafted around one hope, that Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo would carry them. Their Rumble composition needed to snowball before Baron and never did.

Where TES fell short

Two problems followed TES all series. Their jungler, Gao "Tian" Tian-Liang, was starved of resources as his laners kept taking his camps, and at one key moment he sat three levels below IG's Yan "Wei" Yang-Wei. Their side-lane management was even more costly. TES moved to contest mid before Baron or dragon without first pushing the top and bot waves, which left them face-checking into IG's vision with big waves crashing against them. IG, by contrast, picked their fights more wisely, controlled the space and pushed TES's tanks off objectives, even if a few of their players broke formation at times and made winning positions harder than they needed to be.

The one exception was game two, and it came down to Bai "369" Jia-Hao. On his comfort picks, TES's stand-in top laner had his best game of the series, comfortably beating a Kang "TheShy" Seung-lok whose Vayne top, without Cleanse, never got going. IG still held the advantage late, but let several Barons slip and failed to close, and TES survived on steals and desperate base defences led by 369. It was a game IG should have won.

Wei and JiaQi lead the way

IG's three wins were all convincing in their own way. In the first, TheShy dominated his lane on a classic top pick and IG controlled every fight. In the third, Wei took over on Jayce, surprisingly active early before his poke made the mid game unplayable for TES. In the fourth, IG's whole plan was to smother 369 and then play the map, and it worked to perfection.

Wei was the MVP of the series. After a difficult spell elsewhere, IG's jungler is back at a very high mechanical level, and his Qiyana, Jayce and Naafiri set the tempo of the series, even if his champion pool showed its limits at times. Alongside him, Zi "JiaQi" Jia-Qi continued his outstanding tournament. He won his lanes and turned his leads into damage whenever the macro around him held together, and he has a strong case as the best AD carry at these Worlds so far. Song "Rookie" Eui-jin was steady throughout in the mid lane.

Speaking to DPM Esports for the OTPLoL broadcast after the series, Wei summed up what this run means to him:

For TES, the defeat should not overshadow a good tournament. Most of their players performed at the level expected of them, Creme was really good on midlane, and 369, called up as a stand-in, went well beyond expectations. TES played close to their ceiling against a stronger team.

What's next

IG head into the semifinals as a solid, coherent and dangerous team, with clean wins and a single loss that was well within their reach. It is also a story in itself: Rookie is back in a Worlds semifinal for the first time since 2019, when IG fell to FunPlus Phoenix as defending champions, while TheShy last made it this far with Weibo Gaming in 2023. The lesson of this quarterfinal is a simple one: on this patch, mechanical talent is no longer enough without structure, and the teams that control the mid game and the vision around Baron hold the edge.

That is exactly where Gen.G, IG's most likely semifinal opponents, stand above the rest. They remain the clear favourites for the title, but on this form, with Wei and JiaQi firing and drafts built for the patch, IG could be the ideal candidate to spoil their road to the final.