BLG sweep Dplus KIA to end unbeaten Worlds run and reach semifinals

Bilibili Gaming eliminated Dplus KIA 3-0 in the third Worlds 2026 quarterfinal, ending the LCK side's unbeaten run at the tournament and advancing to the semifinals, Esports.net News reported.

The best-of-five played out at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, with the opening game starting at 16:06 Central Time. BLG support ON was named series MVP.

Dplus KIA had entered the knockout stage as the LCK's fourth seed after going 3-0 through the Swiss Stage. Their exit leaves Gen.G and T1 as the league's remaining representatives at the event.

Gen.G reached the semifinals first, sweeping LYON 3-0 in the second quarterfinal. They now face Invictus Gaming on 7 November.

Dragon control proved decisive across the DK series. Fifteen dragons were contested in total, including two Elder Dragons, but DK managed only a single dragon take, in Game 3, and surrendered the dragon soul in every game, according to Sheep Esports.

BLG set the tone early, with Xun's Naafiri performance anchoring a Game 1 win built on securing both an Elder Dragon and Baron before closing it out.

The sweep guarantees BLG a top-four finish and US$400,000, regardless of how the rest of the tournament unfolds.

The result reverses a recent meeting between the two teams. At the 2026 Esports World Cup, DK had knocked BLG out in the quarterfinals before going on to win that League of Legends event outright.

DK top laner Siwoo told Inven Global he was "very disappointed" the team's run had ended so suddenly, but said he would use the result as motivation, adding that his career is far from over.

BLG's path to the quarterfinals was not straightforward. They only secured their spot by beating Hanwha Life Esports 2-0 in their final Swiss Stage round.

Once in the knockout bracket, BLG maintained a record they have never lost: every Worlds quarterfinal appearance has ended in their favour, and each win has come against an LCK side. That list now reads 3-2 over Gen.G in 2023, 3-1 over Hanwha Life Esports in 2024, and the 3-0 sweep of DK this year.

The run also marks a return to the competition's final stages after BLG missed Worlds entirely last year. This is their first semifinal appearance since Worlds 2024, where they finished runner-up after losing the grand final to T1.

That history adds weight to what comes next. Should T1 win their own quarterfinal on 6 November, BLG would face the team that beat them in the 2024 final. T1 will hold first pick of side for Game 1 of that quarterfinal, having finished with the better regular-season record.

The Worlds 2026 grand final is scheduled for 14 November at 14:00 Eastern Time.