Esport MeInvictus Gaming survive TES scare to reach Worlds 2026 semi-finals
A 369-inspired comeback and an hour-long tournament client outage couldn't stop Invictus Gaming beating fellow LPL side Top Esports 3-1 in a chaotic Worlds 2026 quarter-final.
Invictus Gaming beat Top Esports 3-1 in an all-LPL quarter-final to open the League of Legends 2026 World Championship Knockouts stage, according to Esports.gg News, in a series that swung through a lopsided opener, a near-upset and a lengthy technical delay.
Top Esports went into the series without their regular top-laner Cheng "ZUIAN" Zi-Hao, who was unable to play because of visa issues, per Esports.gg News. Veteran Bai "369" Jia-Hao, who had been away from competitive League in 2026, filled in and proved decisive in TES reaching the top eight.
Game one went IG's way early, with their mid and bottom lane carries forcing a mid-game decision that effectively settled the map, Esports.gg News reported.
Game two looked set to follow the same pattern until 369 intervened. Left as the last TES player standing in a teamfight, his Renekton won a 1v3 against Kang "TheShy" Seung-lok's Vayne, Yan "Wei" Yangwei's Wukong and Zi "JiaQi" Jiaqi's Yunara, turning the game and squaring the series at 1-1.
IG adjusted for game three, moving TheShy onto tank duty on Ornn and building the gameplan around Wei's Jayce in the jungle. Jayce's poke combination with JiaQi's Zeri proved difficult for TES to answer, with the LPL side's sustain limited to Seraphine and a single BoRK item on Yone, Esports.gg News noted.
The match was then paused for roughly an hour following what organisers described as an "emergent internal issue" with the tournament client. Other accredited personalities said the entire Tournament Realm had gone down, with the cause possibly linked to a patch update pushed shortly beforehand, according to Esports.gg News.
IG showed no sign of disruption once play resumed, returning with TheShy switched to K'Sante, JiaQi back on a high-agency jungle pick and comfortable champions for the team's carries to close out the series.
The win sends Invictus Gaming into the Worlds semi-finals for the first time since 2019. Should the roster lift the Summoner's Cup this year, TheShy and Rookie would become two-time champions, having first won the title with IG in 2018.
Rookie reacted to the result by saying, "That IG is back."
Invictus Gaming now wait to learn their semi-final opponent, with the winner of Gen.G Esports against LYON set to join them in the final four. Top Esports exit the tournament in the 5th-8th place bracket.