Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage Days 3 & 4 — Gen.G and Dplus KIA qualify, Anyone's Legend and Team Secret Whales eliminated

Two tickets for Korea

The four unbeaten teams played for the first quarterfinal spots, and both went to the LCK. Dplus KIA's first game against Movistar KOI was the closer of the two. MKOI drafted around Trundle and Anivia to limit the movement of DK's fastest threats, and the blows went back and forth, even if DK kept a degree of control over the teamfights and objectives. MKOI won a fight that briefly tipped the game their way, but the decisive one came in mid, where Shin "Smash" Geum-jae wiped the European side for a pentakill on Kai'Sa, the first of the tournament. Game two was a stomp. Heo "ShowMaker" Su solo-killed his opposite number on Syndra early, and DK closed it in 25 minutes with a gap of around 13,000 gold to become the first team through to the Knockout Stage.

Gen.G had a far tougher time with LYON than expected. The LCS side leaned on comfort picks such as Kacper "Inspired" Słoma's Xin Zhao, won the skirmishes and took the first Baron on spawn without losing a player to go 1-0 up. Speaking to DPM Esports after the series, support Isles left little doubt about his jungler's mastery of the champion:

Inspired is probably the best Xin Zhao in the whole world.

Game two looked like it might end in a stunning 2-0 when Gen.G lost three players in the opening dragon fight. They still walked away with the drake and a CS lead in every lane, and from there the pattern that has defined their tournament took over. They bent without breaking, won back the gold lead and outclassed LYON in teamfights, with Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon absorbing the engages and Kim "Kiin" Gi-in punishing them. The decider followed the same script. LYON won the mid and bot lanes early, but Gen.G's poke composition scaled, stacked drakes and took its fights on its own terms, with Kiin's Camille Teleport opening the way to the mid inhibitor in the last one. It was a step too high for LYON, and Gen.Gbecame the second team into the Knockout Stage.

The LPL bite back

At 1-1, three of the four best-of-ones went to China. G2 Esports started well against Top Esports, taking the Rift Herald and two dragons. The game turned around the 24th minute, when Bai "369" Jia-Hao dove Hans Sama on Ambessa and opened the way for Tian's Nocturne to take Baron. The snowball never stopped from there. Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik was punished all game long, Creme's Orianna kept Rasmus "Caps" Borregaard Winther's Akali out of every fight, and a fed JackeyLove finished the siege. G2 drop to 1-2.

Invictus Gaming were just as convincing against Hanwha Life Esports. Young AD carry JiaQi took the game into his own hands on Yunara, getting the better of Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong from the opening seconds, when IG's bot lane drew first blood. HLE stayed afloat with a Baron at 20 minutes, but IG won the fourth dragon fight to claim Infernal Soul, and Song "Rookie" Eui-jin's quadra kill on Annie sealed the upset before the half-hour. One of the tournament favourites is now 1-2.

Karmine Corp's meeting with Bilibili Gaming was one of the headline matches of the round. BLG had already lost to MKOI, but their win over Team Liquid had put them back on their feet. Zhuo "Knight" Ding played a superb lane and found gold all over the map, while Park "Viper" Do-hyeon stayed even with Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert despite a contested lane, before pulling ahead even as the French ADC racked up kills. BLG's teamfighting proved too much. KC stopped the bleeding briefly with a dragon fight, but in the next one a hook on Caliste followed by a Knight Shockwave tore them apart, dropping KC to 1-2. Speaking to DPM Esports after the win, Knight pointed to exactly where the game was decided:

KC is definitely a very strong team, and also they can be really troublesome in the early game. [...] But maybe for BLG's side, we just did a better job in the teamfights.

T1 were the only non-LPL winners. They struggled early against CTBC Flying Oyster, never found a good window to come back and trailed by 2,000 gold at 22 minutes after losing several teamfights. Then Ryu "Keria" Min-seok found an engage in the mid lane, Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok followed it up with his Galio ultimate, and T1 tore through CFO. From that point, CFO never had a way back.

The first teams out

The two 0-2 series sent home the first seeds of the LCP and the LPL. LOS kept Brazil alive with a 2-0 over Team Secret Whales. TSW led the laning phase in the first game, but their macro and objective fights let LOS's teamfight composition back in, and a Baron fight decided it. In the second, LOS repeatedly picked off TSW's carries, survived a comeback attempt and closed it with the Baron buff after winning the third dragon fight.

On the other match,Team Liquid, winless until then, beat Anyone's Legend 2-0, with Brandon "Josedeodo" Villegas leading a 14,000-gold rout in the first game. The second went down to a dragon fight around the 45-minute mark with both teams on Soul Point, and Sean "Yeon" Sung closed it out. With that, AL became the first LPL team in history to leave Worlds without winning a single game.

What's next

Round 4 is played entirely in best-of-threes. At 2-1, the winners qualify for the Knockout Stage. Top Esports and Bilibili Gaming meet in an all-LPL clash that guarantees China at least one quarterfinalist, Invictus Gaming face LYON, and T1 take on Movistar KOI for a place alongside Gen.G and Dplus KIA.

At 1-2, the losers go home. Karmine Corp face CTBC Flying Oyster, the last LCP team standing, while Team Liquid and LOS meet after surviving together on Day 4. The headline, though, is G2 Esports against Hanwha Life Esports. The LEC's first seed and the LCK's second, a team many saw as a title contender, will play for survival, and one of the biggest names in the tournament will be packing its bags by the end of the week.