“I’ll Believe Gen.G Can Win the Trophy When I See It” — League of Legends Caster Nymaera on Gen.G’s Title Chances

Ben Boland Published 30/10/2026

On October 22, Naerlyn Théophile met up with LPL and general League of Legends caster Alex “Nymaera” Hapgood for an exclusive WIN.gg interview.

As one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to the Chinese league, Nymaera weighed on what to expect at the ongoing LoL Worlds 2026. Favorites, dark horses, Gen.G’s curse, the LPL’s chances against the LCK: the 30-year-old Brit gave his view on them all.

Below are the highlights of the interview.

Naerlyn: Can the LPL win Worlds in 2026?

Alex “Nymaera” Hapgood: Can and will are two very different questions. Can the LPL win the World Championship? Yes, of course. I think that they’ve shown they have the quality.

In terms of the will, I get a little bit more leery of that. I think there are teams with the quality to win Worlds, particularly AL and BLG. IG, I’m a little bit more cold on. I think that they do have a good ceiling, but I’m just not sure they can consistently hit it.

I think they can [win Worlds]. It is much harder to go through a whole set of LCK teams though, which seem like they’re actually ramping up quite well for Worlds.

Naerlyn: Will Gen.G once again lose before the finals?

Nymaera: I don’t think the meta is shifting in any crazy way right now. And typically, Gen.G have not been as able to react to changes in the Worlds meta as well as T1. That’s been the biggest thing which held them back. I think that on paper, Gen.G are the best performing team heading into Worlds. But I don’t think they have the strongest jungle support.

Naerlyn: Are Gen.G favorites? Do they fall to the curse?

Nymaera: I think the meta is changing less than it did in previous years. But this misses the context of some other teams being able to lock into the Worlds patch as well. I think it would be a disservice to say that they aren’t the best team heading into Worlds though. The curse though, it is one of those “I’ll believe it when I see it” when they finally reach that trophy.

Image credit: Nymaera

Naerlyn: Can TES have a respectable performance even with 369?

Nymaera: If Top Esports turned up with their main roster, I would have said much like the Gen.G case, I’ll believe it when I see it. My analyst brain has to tell me one thing, but then actually my lived experience has to tell me another thing watching these damn teams.

I don’t think Top Esports with any kind of international expectations on them is a good team. They’ve just consistently failed time and time again. I wonder though, with 369 slotting in instead of ZUIAN, whether expectations are already so low that it doesn’t matter anymore.

I think that ZUIAN is a very good laning player and I think he’s done very well for a younger player. 369 is less of a laning player. He’s much more of a team fighter. But I think in this kind of meta, you can’t afford to get destroyed in an individual 1v1. So, I think Top Esports might actually mental collapse less, but I think that their ceiling is so much lower with 369 coming back without any practice.

Naerlyn: Who’s going to win worlds as your heart’s answer, and why?

Nymaera: My heart’s answer is BLG and if you want the real fairy tale scenario, it’s BLG beating T1 on their way to Worlds and returning the favor for 2024, stopping the potential four-peat as well.

I think LPL would really need that shot in the arm and I think BLG giving Knight a world trophy, Viper a second world trophy for him as well it would be a very sweet experience.

Naerlyn: And giving T1 the first ever loss to the LPL at Worlds in the best of five along the way.

Nymaera: Oh, they’ve done it enough at MSI, surely they can do it at Worlds, right?

Naerlyn: What’s your percentage chance for that? For that scenario?

Nymaera: Oh, it’s low. Oh, it’s low. It’s low.

With the tournament running to the grand final on November 14, our guide shows you how to bet on LoL Worlds.

Ben Boland

About Ben Boland

Ben is the Lead Editor at Win.gg, bringing a decade of iGaming industry experience having worked for both the operator and affiliation sides. With a formal journalism background, he is responsible for ensuring that every piece of content that we publish is relevant, accurate and well-written. In his own time, he enjoys playing video games and especially enjoys Rockstar titles, considering Red Dead Redemption 2 the finest title ever made. He has also spent a lot of time playing GTA V over the years and is fascinated by how streaming is changing the landscape of the industry.

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