NA has a winning head-to-head against EU at MSI for the first time since 2018
LYON just beat G2 Esports 3-0 at the LoL 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. Right off the high of beating the six-time World champion T1, the LEC representative quickly came back to Earth as NA cut their run short. Now, North America is ahead of Europe in the head-to-head for the first time since 2018.
LYON beats G2 Esports 3-0 at MSI 2026
After G2’s victories against Top Esports and T1, the predictions were split. Part of the community rationally stated that had just beaten much stronger opponents and that LYON would be a cinch. However, the rest believed that beating one of the best teams to then lose to NA would totally be on brand for G2.
It was indeed the latter that occurred. G2 didn’t just lose, they got smashed by LYON. Not once were they able to secure a lead.
On the first map, they were able to fight for the first 20 minutes, but that was as far as it went, for the entire series. Everything else was all NA. The plays they tried making were anticipated and ended up being wrong place, wrong time. Furthermore, the same match-ups that worked against T1 crumbled this time.
Now, G2 goes home and will get a shot at the Esports World Cup before preparing for the Summer Split. As for LYON, they will fight Hanwha Life Esports in the MSI 2026 lower final over an extra Worlds spot for their respective regions.
With G2’s loss against LYON, Europe now has a losing record against North America at MSI. Image credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
NA takes the lead in the head-to-head against EU at MSI
Europe and North America started with a relatively even head-to-head at Mid-Season Invitationals, always staying within one win of each other. Then, the 2019 MSI happened. At this event, G2 beat Team Liquid 3-0 (4-1 over the tournament) to slingshot Europe in the lead.
From then on, EU always remained ahead, notably thanks to G2 going 6-0 against Evil Geniuses in 2022. Arriving into 2026, they retained a comfortable lead at 16 wins for 12 losses.
Then, Team Liquid beat Karmine Corp 3-0 in the play-in stage, bringing the record to 16-15 for EU. Now, the spearhead of Europe joined them. With a 0-6 MSI against NA, the LEC now falls behind at 16 wins for 18 losses.
| Year | Head-to-head (EU – NA) | Cumulative head-to-head (EU – NA) | Placement for EU | Placement for NA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1 – 0 | 1 – 0 | 3rd-4th | 5th |
| 2016 | 0 – 2 | 1 – 2 | 5th | 2nd |
| 2017 | 1 – 1 | 2 – 3 | 2nd | 5th |
| 2018 | 2 – 1 | 4 – 4 | 3rd-4th | 5th |
| 2019 | 4 – 1 | 8 – 5 | 1st | 2nd |
| 2021 | 1 – 1 | 9 – 6 | 3rd-4th | 5th |
| 2022 | 6 – 0 | 15 – 6 | 3rd-4th | 3rd-4th |
| 2023 | 0 – 0 | 15 – 6 | 5th-6th | 5th-6th |
| 2024 | 1 – 3 | 16 – 9 | 4th | 5th-6th |
| 2025 | 0 – 3 | 16 – 12 | 7th | 5th-6th |
| 2026 | 0 – 6 | 16 – 18 | 4th | 3rd |
Europe places higher most of the time. With six higher finishes, three lower ones, and two ties, EU makes more strides than NA at MSI.
However, when it comes to beating each other, the two regions are usually neck-and-neck. The LEC had two outstanding years, the LCS had three.
“The best in the West”: NA pulls ahead of EU. Image credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
On both accounts though, NA has established strong performances in the last three events. Sure, there’s the question of the road they took to get there.
In 2026, G2 defeated stronger teams than LYON to reach that spot. In the end though, their fate was in their hands as they simply failed to take down their rival.
Featured image credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Wasif Ahmed
Wasif Ahmed is the Lead Esports Editor for WIN.gg. He has been covering esports for nearly eight years, although his gaming journey started much earlier, when he was just four years old and was introduced to Road Rash on a dusty PC. Hit him up on X to talk about esports, why partnership models are the best fit for esports games, or if Halo 7 has finally been announced.
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