WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026 PLAY-IN STAGE

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FURIA 3-1 Cloud9

FURIA will play MVK in Lower Bracket Round 2!
Cloud9 is the first team eliminated from the 2026 World Championship.

• Player of the Series: Ayu
• Game Threads: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3

FUR | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | BlueSky
C9 | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Subreddit | Website | X/TWT | YT | FB | IG | TT

FULL MATCH SUMMARY & STATS

GAME 1: FUR vs. C9

Winner: Cloud9 in 40m | PotG: Tactical
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 2: C9 vs. FUR

Winner: FURIA in 35m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 3: FUR vs. C9

Winner: FURIA in 34m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 4: FUR vs. C9

Winner: FURIA in 29m
Runes | Game Breakdown

This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.

C9 was placed in the group of death with the tournament favorites in FPX and LCK #1 Damwon, and they started the first day of groups going 0-3.

C9 proceeded to beat the tournament favorites FPX, and beat RGE from EU twice to get out of groups.

Shoutout to that roster: Fudge, Blaber, Perkz, Zven, Vulcan

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026 PLAY-IN STAGE

Official Page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Twitch | YouTube | Patch 26.20 | Bo5 Fearless Draft

Karmine Corp 3-0 MVK Esports

KC have defeated MVK!

KC | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
MVK | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

FULL MATCH SUMMARY & STATS

GAME 1: KC vs. MVK

Winner: Karmine Corp in 30m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 2: KC vs. MVK

Winner: Karmine Corp in 33m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 3: MVK vs. KC

Winner: Karmine Corp in 36m
Runes | Game Breakdown

This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.

Like I don't understand it. The teams original head coach (Inero, look at thi fraud if you want one) this year bailed out on them. Zven was ass for 2 splits. He roleswaped to support for reason no?

He gets them to worlds, something they have not achieved since 2023 and just mental boomed after close KC series.

It is wierd to hate on a guy that gotten the team higher than predecessors in single split of head coaching.

Also for those how says he rages/cries on stream, bro... It is a performance for a camera, just look at caedrel on stream and on recorded video, or even someone like jatt and vedi on cast and on their own content.

On Phreak's latest video about Classic, Phreak briefly mentions that after it ends, it's VERY likely he is still going to work on League of Legends, specifically, on the SR team again, not anything like modes, for example.

Does this comfort you or scare you?

Most people were not asking to go all the way back so S1.

They wanted the versions of League they actually spent years playing:old Swain draining a fight, old Udyr running at people with four stances, old Graves playing like a short-range bruiser.

A Classic queue misses the point if the champion you came back for is not even in the roster

Would you rather have one stable S3-S6-style patch built around heavily reworked champions, or rotating patches with the full roster from each era?

Shoutout to Anklespankin for this one -

But back when old Pantheon was still around, his old Pantheon video taught be about the old Pantheon bug where before he lands his R, you can spam W to someone and basically stun them in place before landing on them for big damage.

I practically did not see any pro players ever using this but btw. I have never seen any other players doing it. For a little while, it felt like one of my most closely guarded secrets because I didn't even see any Pantheon player in my old lobbies back in the day using this tech.

Also another build/tech I learned:

Arcane comet Sion back when the new runes got introduced. It used to be really annoying to lane against the reworked Sion with this build. Not a lot of people were running him with arcane comet. You used to be able to reliably cheese people with a corrupting potion start and just win lane via using Sion's E and poking the enemies with it + arcane comet damage + corrupting pot ticks. It was insanely busted from what I remember, but I can't recall if a lot of people were using the build. Most people stick with grasp at the time iirc.

Dawidssonek, a former pro player from Poland, is terrorising EUW soloq with AP Kog Maw for a whole season, since Dusk and Dawn was introduced.

Recently, he reached GM 1776 LP with Kog, playing him jg only. He is #1, #2 and #9 on this list.

This guy in general is cracked playing off meta picks, he was known for being also #1 on Kayle, Kassadin and Nasus, making also Nasus JG a viable pick in Chall elo.

I mean, I like the attempt to get some interesting insights in the heat of the moment, but I really don’t think these interviews work when there’s still a series to be played. Especially at Worlds.

My issue isn’t with the players or interviewers. I just think the timing puts everyone in an awkward position, for very little benefit.

- They pull players away at a key moment. Players should be with their teammates and coaches, discussing the game that just ended and preparing for the next one. Some details are probably easier to talk through while they’re still fresh. Even if the interview is short, I don’t think it should take priority over that time with the team.

- They don’t bring much value. We rarely get particularly interesting questions or answers, and with good reason. Players literally just stood up, might still be celebrating, and haven’t had much time to process what happened. They also have more games to play against the same team, so there’s only so much they’ll want to share. It often just feels awkward for everyone involved.

- The format makes preparation difficult. Sometimes the interviewer seems prepared for a certain player, that player doesn’t want to be interviewed, and someone else has to fill in. I don’t blame either side, but it’s not surprising that we end up with fairly shallow questions and answers. It ends up feeling really unserious and counterproducrive for immersion about the competition.

- Coach interviews during the opening minutes feel even more awkward. You could see today how distracted some of the coaches were by what was happening in-game, while trying to answer without giving anything away. I’d rather let them watch the game and hear from them afterward.

I really think these interviews should be reconsidered. Save player interviews for after the series. If we’re going to have coach interviews between games, at least do them when they’re available and not trying to follow a game that’s already started. Maybe wait for players to get back to the stage? (might be worse, I don’t know).

I can see a strong argument for experimenting with this during regular splits. But during playoffs, international events, and especially Worlds, it feels like an unnecessary distraction. This is where I’d want the competition itself to take priority.

There’s also so much more you could do with that broadcast time. I’d much rather watch replays with a slower, more in-depth breakdown, highlighting plays or decisions we might have missed. Talk about how the drafts are changing throughout the series, which picks are working, and how the teams are adapting.

Especially at international events, there’s an opportunity to help us get to know teams and players from other regions—their styles, picks, personalities, and what makes them interesting to watch. That’s part of what I enjoy about co-streams: getting more context and analysis alongside the games.

I’m not against interviews. I just don’t think the middle of a Worlds series is the time for them. Let players stay with their teams, let coaches watch the game, and give us their thoughts once the series is over.

Two quick interesting stats from the first day of Swiss:

• It is hard to believe but yesterday for the first time ever at the international stage we saw game 5 between EU and NA. Interestinghly enough, there was only one 3:1 series before and all the rest NA vs EU series were either 3:0 or 0:3. Wow.
• Chika's yesterday performance on Kog'Maw put him at the second highest DPM in the Worlds history. He hit 1554 DPM. Right above Uzi's Kow'Maw from Worlds-2017 (1521 DPM), but below Sneaky's Caitlyn from the same Worlds-2017 (1781 DPM).

Top 10 DPM in Worlds history (2014–2026, play-ins included)

As you can see, most of DPM records are from 2017 and from way longer games. Which makes Chika absolutely outstanding here.

All NA vs EU best-of-5s:

As the Worlds 2026 Play-In Day 2 just ended the Pick'ems results are the following:

CHAMPIONS

PLAYERS

TEAMS

EVENTS

You can keep track of the results as we head to the Worlds 2026 Play-In Day 3 here:

https://pem.lol/worlds/2026/pickems

I feel like the casts get so much better when you feel the highs and lows of the casters whilst the game is ongoing. I find when they have to be neutral, it's obvious you can hear them holding back on what they say.

I can understand this being an issue when both the casters are from the same region, in which case, it needs to be that way, but having a caster from NA and a caster from EU makes it so fun. Now I'm not saying they should be shitting on each other mid cast, but it is just better as a watch and listen.

What're your thoughts?

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2026 PLAY-IN STAGE

Official Page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Twitch | YouTube | Patch 26.20 | Bo5 Fearless Draft

Cloud9 2-3 Karmine Corp

KC will play the winner of FUR vs. MVK in the UB Round 2!
C9 will play the loser of FUR vs. MVK in Round 1 Elimination Match.

• Game Threads: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4

C9 | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Subreddit | Website | X/TWT | YT | FB | IG | TT
KC | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

FULL MATCH SUMMARY & STATS

GAME 1: KC vs. C9

Winner: Cloud9 in 35m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 2: C9 vs. KC

Winner: Karmine Corp in 35m | PotG: Canna
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 3: KC vs. C9

Winner: Cloud9 in 38m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 4: C9 vs. KC

Winner: Karmine Corp in 38m
Runes | Game Breakdown

GAME 5: KC vs. C9

Winner: Karmine Corp in 31m
Runes | Game Breakdown

This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.

"Is he the protagonist? He is, yes."

"Are we in an anime? I was reborn in another world and now I'm a star League of Legends player."

With the recent KC C9 match im surprised this story was left out...

So Thanatos was originally supposed to join KC. They scouted him for a while then c9 jack yoinked him into c9 so KC were left with needing to find a new top laner. Ironically Canna seems a better player than Thanatos and in hindsight a better choice for them.

MVK Esports 3-0 FURIA

MVK have completed the sweep! They will face KC tomorrow to advance to the qualification match.

FURIA drop to the lower bracket. They will face C9 tomorrow to avoid elimination.