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G2 Esports Eliminate T1 from MSI 2026
Europe’s best, G2 Esports, have eliminated T1 from the 2026 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. The Lower Bracket matchup saw G2 emerge the victor after only 4 games in the most electric series of the tournament thus far. With this result, G2 have not only secured an NA-EU matchup against LYON in 2 days’ time, but they lock in a minimum of top 4 at MSI.
T1 Stunned in Daejeon
Most expected the series to be closer than G2-HLE’s Upper Bracket bout. But no one could have predicted G2 would be on series point 2 games into the series. The last time G2 Esports won a Bo5 against T1, they lifted the MSI trophy — all the way back in 2019. This has been a long time coming, but Europe once again has a steady champion on the international stage.
T1's mage bot playbook? Nullified by G2's Top Laner Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik, who put in a massive shift to carry his team over the line multiple times in the series. Bot lane carry? G2's Steven "Hans Sama" Liv and Labros "Labrov" Papoutsakis were ahead!
G2 looked in control for most of this series. While Game 1 had opened with T1 firmly in control, a pivotal teamfight in the later parts of the game saw T1 caught out and shutdowns going to G2. From there, G2 forced their way back into the game and series after winning Game 1. Game 2 was clean after an unexpected counterpick going the way of BrokenBlade snowballed G2's lead once again in teamfights.
T1 finally found a win in Game 3 off the back of a classic team comp: Sylas, Lee Sin, Xayah, Rakan, and Gnar. Going into Game 4, T1 went with their Caitlyn-Lux opener that had broke open so many series for them this year. But the strongest Kled performances we've ever seen begged for a different outcome. BrokenBlade went 15/5 in that final game, and was undoubtedly the difference maker in both the game and the series in pushing G2 to the win.
Where did T1 Go?
While its easy to give all the praises to G2's members, the fact is the T1 we've gotten at this event, has been largely muted. Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok's playmaking is a fraction of his typical. The brilliance we've come to expect from Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok was missing. T1's only bright spot this event is their new AD Carry, Kim "Peyz" Soo-hwan.
The BLG series shifted T1's agenda completely as we saw them in real time pivot towards mage AP Carries, favouring them over the standard AD Carries that had gotten them to this point. And while the experimentation was largely successful against FURIA, we saw it cost them against G2 in Games 1 and 2. By Game 3, where T1 did return to their standard comps, it was too late — G2 had all the momentum.
That's not to say T1 shouldn't have switched up to mages. The T1 that came into MSI was not good enough to beat tournament favorites BLG and HLE. They had to find a solution, they just ran out of time.
The One Team Region Continues to Survive
Who needs more than one team when that one team is G2? A 2nd place finish at First Stand that included a 3-0 sweep of Gen.G. And now a minimum of top 4 after taking down T1. G2 are holding onto Europe’s hopes for a second international title pretty much singlehandedly. But the job is not done.
G2’s next opponent is another team that has proven themselves dangerous — LYON, the LCS representative. This NA-EU clash sets up more than just another stab at the longstanding rivalry, it’s both teams’ final chance for survival, and potentially a shot at one of the tournament favourites if they make it to the Lower Bracket Final.
MSI 2026 Solidifies Top 4
Only 4 teams remain at MSI 2026: Bilibili Gaming, Hanwha Life Esports, LYON, and G2 Esports. One representative from each major region: LPL, LCK, LCS, and LEC. And regardless of the result, history will be made. Will it be BLG claiming the second piece of their Golden Road? Or HLE winning in their first ever MSI appearance? LYON, to be the first LCS representative to lift an international title. Or G2 Esports, to bring home Europe's 2nd ever MSI title? As MSI begins to come to a close, we'll have our answer shortly.
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Featured Image Credit: Liu YiCun/Riot Games
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