T1 end Europe's Worlds run and set up Bilibili Gaming rematch

T1 closed out the Worlds 2026 quarter-final round by beating Karmine Corp 3-1, ending the LEC side's debut campaign at the tournament and completing the semi-final bracket, Esports Insider and Esports.net reported.

The match was played on Friday 6 November at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. T1 took the first two games in 36 and 30 minutes, with Karmine Corp pulling one back over 37 minutes before the Korean side closed the series in 35 minutes.

Esports.net reported that T1 held the better record heading into the series and took first pick of sides for Game 1, choosing blue while Karmine Corp took first pick in the draft. T1 built a late-game composition around Yunara, Viktor and Ornn that took over in the mid game to win the opener, according to Hotspawn's reporting cited by Esports.net. Game 2 was faster still, with Peyz on Kai'Sa and Oner on Trundle leading a win inside 30 minutes.

The result sends T1 into the Worlds semi-finals for a sixth consecutive year, a streak stretching back to 2021. Esports.net noted the Korean side finished runners-up in 2022 before winning the title in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and that two more series wins this year would deliver a seventh world championship.

Karmine Corp's run had started on 15 October with a 3-2 Play-In win over Cloud9, followed by a 3-0 sweep of MVK Esports. Esports.net reported the French side then went 1-0 up on Anyone's Legend in the Swiss Stage before losing to LYON and to Bilibili Gaming, recovering with 2-0 wins over CTBC Flying Oyster and Movistar KOI to reach the knockouts. T1, entering as the LCK's third seed, went straight into the Swiss Stage and finished 3-1 there, their only loss coming against Dplus KIA.

The two sides had already split two meetings earlier in the year: T1 won 3-0 at the MSI 2026 Play-In Stage on 29 June, and Karmine Corp won 2-1 at the Esports World Cup 2026 playoffs on 18 July.

Bilibili Gaming now stand between T1 and a place in the Brooklyn final. BLG reached this stage by sweeping Dplus KIA 3-0 in the first quarter-final on 5 November, a match Esports.net described as one-sided after BLG took all four Barons and outscored Dplus KIA 62 kills to 28, citing Dot Esports. That result keeps BLG unbeaten across three Worlds quarter-finals, having beaten Gen.G 3-2 in 2023 and Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 in 2024 before this year's sweep.

The upcoming semi-final is a rematch of the 2024 Worlds final. BLG also beat Karmine Corp 1-0 in the Swiss Stage this year, and the two semi-finalists' most recent meeting came in the Esports World Cup 2026 group stage, a best-of-one that went to Bilibili Gaming.

T1 face Bilibili Gaming on Sunday 8 November with a place in the final at stake. The other semi-final pits Gen.G, who beat LYON 3-0 in their quarter-final, against Invictus Gaming, who beat Top Esports 3-1, on Saturday 7 November at 16:00 Central Time. Nineteen teams entered the tournament, which carries a total prize pool of $5,000,000.