Worlds 2026 quarterfinals — T1 end Karmine Corp's dreams of grandeur

Karmine Corp's first Worlds ends in the quarterfinals. The last Western team still standing took on T1, the three-time defending champions, in a true David against Goliath matchup, and fell 3-1. T1 were not always clean, but their bot lane made the difference in almost every game, while KC had to wait until the third game to show what they could do when everything clicked.

Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

A bot lane gap from the start

The series turned on the bot lane, and on the draft choices around it. Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok are seen by many as the best duo in the world, and they played like it. Every time KC's drafts left them strong supports and carries with agency, they made the most of it, while Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert was too often left on a weak side with few resources.

The opener was close until it suddenly wasn't. KC drafted for the early game and Kim "Canna" Chang-dong got Rumble ahead in the top lane, but T1's scaling composition, built around Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok's Viktor and Peyz's Jinx, came online in the mid game, the window where T1 have been at their best all year. Once Peyz had his items, the teamfights were no longer contests.

Game two was decided almost before it began. KC gave T1 several comfort picks, Cassiopeia and Kai'Sa among them, and an early fight around the bot-side scuttle went 4-0 in T1's favour, with a double kill for Faker's Cassiopeia. From there, Faker carried the early game, Peyz cleaned up the fights, and KC's bot lane never got the resources it needed to exist.

KC's statement, T1's answer

Game three was KC's best of the series, and the surprise of the quarterfinal. On paper, their Ashe, Seraphine, Xin Zhao, Anivia and K'Sante composition looked weak in the late game against T1's Zeri and Yuumi. But T1 played too comfortably, conceding objective after objective while waiting for their scaling, and KC punished them. Kang "kyeahoo" Ye-hoo was at the centre of it all on Anivia, with walls that shut down the chokepoints and made dragons and Barons almost free for KC. A crucial dragon steal and a big Ashe arrow on Faker turned the game, and KC rode Ocean Soul and Elder to the win. It was proof that when T1 do not respect them, KC can hurt them badly.

T1 took the lesson. In game four, they drafted an all-out dive composition around Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun's Nocturne, Keria's Neeko and Peyz's Miss Fortune, and played to win from the first minute. Canna won the early game again on Renekton and KC converted it into dragons and a Rift Herald, but T1 clawed back with a four-man move top and started contesting every objective. The game was decided in the fight for the sixth dragon. KC tried to take advantage of a numbers edge but lacked a way to engage, and Keria's Neeko ultimate caught four players in a chokepoint, a play made for the Worlds highlight reels. T1 took the Soul, won the fight and closed out the series.

Who made the difference

Peyz was the player of the series. He dominated the bot lane on every champion and in every situation, and even tried to save game three almost on his own. With Keria alongside him, T1's bot lane was the gap KC could never close. The rest of T1 were less tidy. Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon was T1's weakest player of the series. He was beaten in lane by Canna, got caught out more than once, and practically handed KC game three by throwing himself into them on Jayce. Faker alternated between brilliance, on Cassiopeia and Viktor, and costly mistakes, while Oner was too passive and uneven in his setups whenever he lacked a simple engage.

On KC's side, Canna and kyeahoo were the two constants. Martin "Yike" Sundelin was inconsistent, but showed in game three that he can outplay Oner on a good day. Caliste was hard to judge, left without resources by the drafts, and Alan "Busio" Cwalina was the weak link, with support picks that repeatedly handed T1 the better bot lane options and an execution below his usual level.

What's next

For KC, the run ends here, but it leaves a mark. They came through the Play-Ins, survived the Swiss Stage, were the only Western team in the top eight and took a game off the three-time defending champions. For a first Worlds, it is a foundation to build on.

Caliste, for one, is already looking ahead. Speaking to LoL Esports after the series, KC's AD carry made his ambitions clear:

I'm not going to stop until I win Worlds. So I'm going to take everything I can take to be better and make sure that when I come to Worlds, I'm actually the best AD in the world and I can help my team in any situation.

T1, meanwhile, showed once again that even an imperfect version of them can switch on in a best-of-five, especially through their bot lane. They now face Bilibili Gaming in the semifinals, a rematch of the Worlds 2024 final, which T1 won 3-2. BLG have just swept Dplus KIA and arrive in form. T1 have not been consistent all year, but at Worlds, they rarely need to be.