Invictus Gaming beat Top Esports to reach Worlds 2026 semifinals
Invictus Gaming defeated fellow LPL side Top Esports 3-1 in the opening quarter-final of the League of Legends World Championship in Allen, Texas.
Invictus Gaming defeated Top Esports 3-1 on Tuesday to become the first semifinalist of the 2026 League of Legends World Championship in Allen, Texas.
The win reversed the result of the LPL Regional Finals on Sept. 17, when TES beat IG 3-1, and guarantees China a spot in the final four after the LPL's 0-4 start in the Swiss Stage.
IG took Game 1 in about 31 minutes, building a gold lead of more than 10,000 after turning a jungle fight into an ace.
TES answered with a 47-minute Game 2, the longest of the series, where stand-in top laner Bai "369" Jia-Hao on Renekton killed both Zi "JiaQi" Jia-Qi and Kang "TheShy" Seung-lok late to secure the win and tie the series.
From there, the series belonged to IG jungler Yan "Wei" Yang-Wei, who was named series MVP.
On Jayce in Game 3, he got ahead with early ganks and took over sieges and teamfights as IG won 16-9.
On Naafiri in Game 4, his early top-lane ganks cost 369's Aatrox two deaths, and IG took Baron and the dragon soul before closing the series with a 16-10 win.
JiaQi finished with a match-high 24 kills across the series, according to GoBull.
The two sides had met twice in best-of-five series in September, with IG winning 3-2 in the LPL Split 3 playoffs on Sept. 5.
"I came back to keep my word," TheShy said after the series, referring to a promise he made to IG's CEO to return from a break to help the team.
TheShy and Song "Rookie" Eui-jin, who both won the 2018 world title with IG, helped the team qualify for Worlds after a mid-season rescue from the LPL's Nirvana Group.
TES played the tournament without starting top laner Cheng "ZUIAN" Zihao, who missed Worlds because of visa issues.
Redington Cybersport reported in October that Top Esports reached the Knockout Stage with stand-in 369 after a 2-1 win over Bilibili Gaming.
IG will face the winner of Wednesday's Gen.G vs. LYON quarterfinal in a best-of-five semifinal on Nov. 7 in Allen.
The final will be held on Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. ET at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
