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G2 Esports Reverse Sweep Top Esports in Opening Matchup of MSI 2026 Bracket Stage
EU’s top seed, G2 Esports, refused to go quietly into the night as they took down Top Esports in a 5-game thriller in Daejeon, South Korea. The LEC representative completed the reverse sweep after being down 0-2 to kick start their 2026 League of Legends MSI campaign in the most exciting way possible.
G2 Esports Make History in Daejeon
There have only been a handful of true reverse sweeps across all the League of Legends international events, and G2 Esports just notched their mark on the history walls with that legendary comeback.
After a flat showing on Games 1 and 2, all signs pointed to Top Esports (TES) dismantling the European side in yet another 3-0 series for this MSI. However, G2 showed incredible mental fortitude, bouncing back on Game 3 in a much stronger showing.
Game 4 was a close-fought affair but G2’s side lane plays bore fruit in the late minutes of the game, pulling the series to a final showdown on Game 5. On that final game, it was messy, scrappy teamfights — but G2 came out ahead nearly every time, powered primarily by Rasmus "Caps" Winther's Mel and Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik's Anivia.
G2-TES Deliver Silver Scrapes on Day 1 of Bracket Stage
After the relatively flat MSI Play-ins stage, where every series had been a 3-0 scoreline, hopes were high that the opening matches of the Bracket Stage would prove different.
Team Secret Whales (TSW) and Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) was a clinical game. The LCP side looked outmatched for the most part against the LCK’s top representative, and the dominant scorelines and gold leads highlighted that.
G2’s comeback victory against TES put their series at the 4th most watched of 2026 MSI thus far, with a 1.1 million peak viewership. Most importantly, the Bo5 format at MSI finally delivers with a Game 4 and 5. Now, G2 are bound for a crossing of swords against tournament favourites — HLE. Can they do it again? Or is HLE bound for the Upper Bracket Finals?
MSI Day 2 to Deliver T1-BLG Clash
MSI will continue tomorrow with a clash between two massive teams, T1, and LPL 1st seed Bilibili Gaming. With TES already in the lower bracket, tomorrow’s faceoff will see two of the biggest tournament contenders down to the last life.
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Featured Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
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