Team Secret Whales stun Top Esports as LCP finally breaks the East’s Bo5 wall

Wasif Ahmed Published 06/07/2026

TSW beats TES at MSI 2026: Team Secret Whales

In the first massive upset of the tournament, Team Secret Whales beat Top Esports to kick them out of the lower bracket of MSI 2026. This is Asia-Pacific’s first ever Bo5 win against the East since the creation of the leagues in 2013. Now, only Bilibili Gaming is left for the LPL and the power rankings are all mixed up.

Team Secret Whales beats Top Esports at MSI 2026

TSW didn’t just beat TES, they completely outclassed them. Kicking off with a 29-6 opener, the team that hadn’t won a single international game in 2026 set the tone anew. TSW fought with relentless aggression, and despite scares like a Baron steal, they pulled it off.

Then, it was back to the real world in game 2. Benefitting from a tough draft from APAC, TES swept the second map as convincingly as TSW did the first.

It turned out, however, that this wasn’t the real world. Team Secret Whales came back with a vengeance in games 3 and 4. As far as laning goes, TES was consistently ahead.

On the other hand, TSW showed better fighting all around. On top of it, their willingness to pick less common, aggressive champions caught their opponents off guard.

Team Secret Whales pulls off a massive upset and eliminates Top Esports from MSI 2026. Image credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

The LCP remains an international threat

In 2025, CTBC Flying Oyster shocked the world by being a real challenger on the big stage. In 2026 though, they lost their star players and their strength.

With this victory against TES, Team Secret Whales establishes themselves as a worthy successor. Better even: this is the first Bo5 victory for the LCP against an Eastern team since the introduction of leagues in 2013. Against any team, this marks their second Bo5 win, following their victory against Movistar KOI at last year’s MSI.

Now, Top Esports is the first team to be eliminated from the main stage of the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational. For a team supposed to be fourth or fifth (depending on G2), a seventh-eighth place finish is rough. Bilibili Gaming will carry the torch of the LPL alone – though they’re the best-suited team to do it.

As for Team Secret Whales, they will face the loser of LYON vs BLG in round 2, which will most likely be LYON. This match was expected to be an easy victory for the LCS. Given that result, this clearly isn’t the case anymore and this series will be a toss-up.

TSW has become a top four contender as much as G2 Esports and LYON are.

Featured image credit: 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.

View full profile