Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage Day 2 — Gen.G and DK win the LCK civil war, LYON stun Karmine Corp

The LCK civil war

The draw had pitted the four Korean teams against each other, and both matches lived up to the billing. Gen.G and Hanwha Life Esports traded blow for blow for 15 minutes, until a dragon fight swung it, Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu landing a superb ultimate near his blue buff to set Gen.G's snowball in motion. Gen.G's jungler outclassed Kanavi and ran the game methodically on a Qiyana that their next opponents will probably have to ban, and with their carries perfectly positioned in every fight, HLE never found a way out. Smothered for 29 minutes, they cracked once again against a Gen.G side they have rarely beaten in the LCK this year.

Dplus KIA, meanwhile, pulled off the same trick as on Day 1. They lost their footing early, were overrun by T1 and trailed by more than 4,700 gold at 25 minutes. As against G2, DK clawed back every bit of gold they could, stabilised, then found picks here and there to bring the gap down to 2,000 before the Elder fight, with Shin "Smash" Geum-jae making his former team pay along the way. One fight was all it took. Rookie support Career flashed in with Renata's ultimate and turned Doran and Peyz's damage onto their own team. DK flipped the fight, took Elder and ended the game, their second comeback in as many days.

For Career, it was a huge step. At the LCK Cup earlier this year, in his first season at tier one, the rookie was in tears after a poor opening game against T1. This time he was the one who saved his team, and he ended the night leaping into his coach's arms, one of the images of the tournament so far.

The West keep climbing

Movistar KOI had a more contested early game against CTBC Flying Oyster, but rolled through the mid game from there. They out-macroed CFO comfortably, and a desperate Baron call that ended in a wipe sent the Spanish side to 2-0. Javier "Elyoya" Prades Batalla once again stood out, though this start has been a collective effort.

The other headline of the night was another EU vs NA clash, Karmine Corp against LYON. KC dominated for more than 20 minutes, winning every lane and giving their opponents no room. Then LYON, with Kacper "Inspired" Słoma orchestrating, caught them in a well-coordinated dragon fight, and with a draft built for teamfighting and scaling, that one fight swung the odds firmly their way. It was still far from easy for LYON. A failed base rush brought the game back level, and the final fight came down to the wire. Berserker's Yunara shredded KC's solo laners, and Caliste's desperate play on Kalista left him a few autos from winning it, until Isles' Flash-Polymorph on Lulu saved LYON and let them take the Nexus.

The 0-1 teams

After the LCK civil war came an LPL one, as Top Esports faced Anyone's Legend. Creme took control early with a solo kill and snowballed on Locke, while Tian kept AL in check with his Nocturne ultimates. TES were without their starting top laner because of visa issues, but Bai "369" Jia-Hao, barely seen on stage this year, won his matchup. The LPL champions are now 0-2 and one loss from elimination.

G2 Esports got back to 1-1 against LOS, though not without pain. Skewmond took the game into his own hands on Lee Sin, but Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther had a night to forget. Solo-killed by Feisty, he died several times at the start of fights and struggled to find any real impact, which slowed G2's snowball considerably. The gap in level between the two sides was simply too large for it to matter in the end.

Speaking to DPM Esports after the win, G2 general manager Romain Bigeard put the mid-game wobbles down to nerves:

The mid-game depends enormously on communication and on decision-making under pressure, and I think we were a bit scared, because it's a big tournament.

Team Secret Whales started strongly against Invictus Gaming, with Dire even solo-killing Song "Rookie" Eui-jin. As so often against LCK or LPL sides, the later stages swung IG's way through better macro and experience, and Rookie made up for his early death with some clutch Shockwaves on Orianna. Bilibili Gaming, for their part, woke up after their poor showing on Day 1. They were aggressive and sharp against a sleepy Team Liquid side that showed none of the proactive play from its LCS playoff run. Knight was excellent and Bin dominant on Camille, leaving TL at 0-2.

What's next

The four unbeaten teams now play best-of-threes, and the winners book the first quarterfinal spots. Gen.G face LYON, a huge test for the LCS side after their win over KC, against a region that has yet to drop a single game to non-Korean opposition. Dplus KIA meet Movistar KOI, who will need to take down a team that has made comebacks its signature.

At 1-1, Round 3 continues in best-of-ones, with Top Esports against G2 Esports, Hanwha Life Esports against Invictus Gaming, Karmine Corp against Bilibili Gaming and CTBC Flying Oyster against T1. At the bottom, the two elimination series are best-of-threes. meet in a brutal draw for two teams that were widely expected to contend for the playoffs. One of them will leave Texas this weekend.