Worlds 2026 Swiss stage drawn: Karmine Corp sweep MVK 3–0 for the last spot, G2 face Dplus KIA and T1 meet LOS in Round 1

Karmine Corp take the last spot

The Play-In final on 18 October was one-sided. Karmine Corp beat MVK Esports 3–0 in Los Angeles, and LoL Esports confirmed the sweep at 20:16 UTC. That closes the Play-In stage: Cloud9 and FURIA went out earlier in the week, MVK are out now, and Karmine Corp join G2 Esports and Movistar KOI as the third European team in the sixteen-team Swiss stage.

The Round 1 draw

Riot ran the draw live straight after the final. The sixteen teams were split into four pools; Pool 1 drew Pool 4 and Pool 2 drew Pool 3, and two teams from the same region cannot meet in Round 1. The eight pairings, in the order Riot announced them:

• Gen.G vs Invictus Gaming
• Team Liquid vs CTBC Flying Oyster
• Anyone's Legend vs Karmine Corp
• G2 Esports vs Dplus KIA
• Hanwha Life Esports vs Top Esports
• LOS vs T1
• Team Secret Whales vs LYON
• Bilibili Gaming vs Movistar KOI

Riot has not yet said in which order the eight matches are played; the bracket post only lists the pairings. The Swiss stage opens on 23 October in Allen, Texas, and runs to 31 October.

How the Swiss stage works

It is a five-round stage mixing best-of-one and best-of-three series. After each round the teams are paired against opponents with the same record, and nobody plays the same team twice; same-region matchups are allowed again from Round 2. Three wins send a team to the knockouts, three losses send it home, so eight of the sixteen go through. The knockouts start on 3 November in Allen, with the final in Brooklyn on 14 November.

What it means for your climb

• Worlds is played on patch 26.20, the patch ranked has had since 7 October. Ranked moves to 26.21 on Tuesday 21 October, two days before the Swiss stage starts, so from then on the pro meta on stage is one patch behind the ladder.
• 26.21 is Riot's first post-Worlds patch and is aimed at steadying ranked for end-of-season climbs: Lee Sin, Caitlyn, Yone, Jinx, Qiyana, Nidalee and Tristana lose power while pro-suppressed picks such as Azir, Ryze and Orianna get some back, so expect the stage picks and the ladder picks to drift apart during the Swiss stage.
• Champions Queue is back nightly from 8 to 11 PM Pacific (03:00 to 06:00 UTC) through the Swiss stage, so pro solo-queue streams return at those hours.
• Nothing changes for your rank: Season 3 continues, and its end is still an estimate (early January 2027), not an announced date. Our boosters play on the live patch, whichever one it is.

What we are watching

The Round 1 match order and start times from Riot; Phroxzon's 26.21 rundown, usually posted the day before the patch; and the Swiss-stage Pick'Em lock on 23 October. We will add the Round 1 results on 23 October.