T1 beats Karmine Corp 3-1 and puts Europe back in their place

Naerlyn Théophile Published 07/11/2026

After a month of colossal hopium intake by Europe and the West in general, T1 smashes Karmine Corp and eliminates the last Western team from LoL Worlds 2026. T1 will move on to face Bilibili Gaming in the semifinal, as two LPL and two LCK teams are left in the running. Here’s a recap of KC’s underwhelming quarterfinal performance.

T1 beats Karmine Corp 3-1

For the most part, the LoL Worlds quarterfinal wasn’t close. KC kicked off with an early game draft against T1’s scaling. A fine idea, until they proceeded to do no aggressive play until minute 15. There was no gank attempt, even dragons and void grubs were slow as Martin “Yike” Sundelin focused on farming up rather than rushing objectives.

Then, one teamfight breaks open the game as the LEC team makes a series of mistakes. Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert doing his usual forward E on Ezreal and dying immediately, Kim “Canna” Chang-dong using a poor Equalizer. From then on, mistakes kept coming from KC but the game was a done deal already.

The second map started even worse, with Karmine Corp picking a terrible fight to immediately give three kills. Playing unsafe for a while longer, the score grew to 1-7 by minute 8. Mispositioning throughout the game, T1 gave away several kills back, but their opponents never managed to gain control.

Afterwards started the slowest game of the tournament. With the latest first blood, the map stayed uneventful and tied. By the time KC claimed the dragon soul, the score was still 2-2. T1 claimed side lane leads while KC grouped for more, and Europe eventually won one fight and the game.

Hope turned out to be short-lived for EU, though. Game 4 stayed close for the most part, but Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan once again grew further and further ahead. Two lost Smite fights for Karmine sealed the deal, and T1 claimed the series 3-1.

Karmine Corp heads home after their loss to T1. Image Credit: Yicun Liu / Riot Games

T1 advances to the semifinal to face Bilibili Gaming

With that victory, T1 advances to the semifinal once again. Across all 11 World Championships for the organization, they keep their unbroken streak of always reaching the top four. Despite their Mid-Season Invitational run being their worst to date, their record extends at Worlds.

By falling 1-3, Karmine Corp still achieved a noteworthy feat. Only five out of 11 teams that faced T1 in quarterfinals managed to take a game off them. The other six times, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s team swept their opponent.

Now, T1 will face Bilibili Gaming on Sunday. Those two teams have a history of meeting for important matches, as T1 most notably beat BLG at the 2024 World final.

Fates will clash once more in the LoL Worlds semifinal. BLG is the only LPL team that has a winning record against T1, thanks to MSI results. On the other hand, T1 has never lost a series to the LPL at Worlds. Stick around for our predictions for that match!

Featured Image Credit: Yicun Liu / Riot Games

Naerlyn Théophile

About Naerlyn Théophile

Yapping non-stop about League of Legends since 2012, Naerlyn brings his knowledge and passion for the game as a writer for Win.gg. From esports history to Mordekaiser bugs, he is interested in everything related to LoL and will do his best to ensure that you are too.
Games aside, Naerlyn is also a dedicated musician, trying to learn as many instruments as he plays esports titles — this has had varying degrees of success!

View full profile