The Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage opened on October 23 with a result nobody had seen before: all four LPL teams lost their first match. Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, Dplus KIA and T1 went the other way, giving the LCK a perfect 4-0 start in a round of eight best-of-one games.
As GosuGamers put it, no LPL team had ever gone winless in the opening round of a Worlds Swiss Stage before. Two of the four Chinese defeats came against LCK teams, and Europe accounted for the other two. The matchups themselves were laid out in our Swiss Stage preview.
Korea sweeps the four headline clashes
Gen.G beat Invictus Gaming after IG had held a slight edge in the early stages, according to Hotspawn. Hanwha Life Esports had a far easier time against Top Esports, with Zeka on Locke the standout in a one-sided win.
T1 produced one of the quickest games of the day, closing out LØS in around 24 minutes behind Doran’s Jayce and Oner’s Lee Sin. Dplus KIA had to work harder against G2 Esports, where SkewMond’s Jarvan IV gave the LEC’s top seed a strong early game in a contested match that DK still closed out.
Movistar KOI and Karmine Corp punish the LPL
The other two Chinese defeats came at the hands of Europe. Movistar KOI stayed ahead of Bilibili Gaming for most of their game despite a few untidy teamfights, while Karmine Corp beat Anyone’s Legend with the jungle and support pairing doing much of the damage. That left the LEC with two wins from three, with G2 the only European side to lose.
Elsewhere, CTBC Flying Oyster edged Team Liquid Alienware in a close game that featured Shad0w on Qiyana, and LYON handled Team Secret Whales with Berserker on Ezreal. Karmine Corp’s run to this stage is covered in our Play-In report, and the full Worlds 2026 field is on our team list.
Round 2 brings DK against T1
The 1-0 and 0-1 teams were redrawn for Round 2, which is the final best-of-one round of the stage. The pick of the high matches is an all-LCK meeting between Dplus KIA and T1, alongside Hanwha Life Esports against Gen.G, CTBC Flying Oyster against Movistar KOI and LYON against Karmine Corp.
The #Worlds2026 Swiss Stage bracket for round 2! pic.twitter.com/UPEwKTZ2BF
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 24, 2026
In the low matches, G2 Esports play LØS, Invictus Gaming meet Team Secret Whales, Top Esports face Anyone’s Legend and Team Liquid Alienware take on Bilibili Gaming. With two all-LCK pairings in the 1-0 bracket, Korea is guaranteed at least two teams on 2-0, while all four LPL sides need wins to avoid sliding to 0-2.
From Round 3 onwards, matches move to best-of-three with Fearless Draft. Three wins send a team to the Knockout Stage; three losses end its Worlds.
