T1 exposes Karmine Corp with 3-0 win at League of Legends MSI 2026

Wasif Ahmed Published 29/06/2026

T1 just beat Karmine Corp 3-0 in the play-in stage of the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. More importantly, T1 turned KC’s strengths into weaknesses. The bot lane and teamfight prowess that shone in the LEC were no match this time.

T1 beats KC 3-0 at MSI 2026

Game 1

The match started with Karmine Corp picking a disrespectful draft, blind picking three immobile squishies. Right off the bat, a botched invade put their jungle and bot lane at a disadvantage.

From then on, KC’s duo lane tried ignoring T1’s lead, resulting in repeated deaths. As the LCK representative made no major mistakes, the game ended in 30 minutes. By then, KC’s bot lane had a combined score of 2/16, and Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun achieved a 22-minute flame horizon in the jungle.

Game 2

Much like for Team Liquid, the second game went much better for KC. However, it was a comedy of errors on both sides.

Right away, Oner’s creativity allowed T1 to open the game with a 2-2 fight. It could have been a 3-1 for KC were it not for Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert’s impatience. Thanks to better map movement, Karmine managed to reclaim the lead, stunning T1 with faster play.

In the midgame though, the World champions used their international magic again, and took a fight they had no reason to win, a dragon, and a Baron. With that, the game was back to even.

In this spot, KC then did everything wrong in one teamfight. Qiyana waited too long before her Q, Renekton missed his W, Ezreal used his E too aggressively, Cassiopeia refused to play aggressively to save the fight.

After another series of mistakes and good plays from both sides, KC tried engaging the final teamfight. While the initial play was good, they didn’t react to the counter-engage at all. Cassiopeia and Ezreal then crucially misplayed the situation, and T1 won on the spot.

KC drops to face Team Liquid after losing to T1. Image source: Liu Yicun / Riot Games

Game 3

Once again, T1’s bot lane stomped KC’s. In fact, only Kim “Canna” Chang-dong was ahead on this map. Once T1 got a good lead, KC managed to make it even with a good fight of their own.

Afterwards, Canna got caught repeatedly, handing the momentum back to their opponents. Then, KC attempted a final engage with every single player being on a different screen, which naturally didn’t work. This gave T1 a 3-0 victory.

Initially, League of Legends betting odds predicted a close fight, but that hasn’t been the case here.

T1 exposes KC’s weaknesses

In this match, Karmine Corp regularly showed a lack of coordination in fights. What gave them so many second chances in the LEC couldn’t hold up against T1. At the same time, KC’s bot lane made the match much harder than it needed to be.

Karmine stated they were nervous at MSI, and it showed. The team tried to play with overconfidence to compensate, but the hesitation and over-aggression were there, nonetheless. KC also ignored T1’s strong picks in draft.

Now, they must win against Team Liquid, then rematch T1 in order to qualify for the main stage. While they’ve looked better than TLAW, the way before reaching Korea’s level is steep.

Featured image source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Wasif Ahmed

About 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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