At first glance, this could have been just another 3–0 in an already one-sided First Stand 2026. The matches throughout the week have largely been unbalanced, with several lopsided series. Yet while most results had followed expected patterns,
’ clean sweep over
this Friday to secure a semifinal berth came as a little surprise.
The series began convincingly, with a controlled Game 1 from start to finish by Dylan Falco’s squad. A standout performance from
on K’Sante, combined with an excellent showing from
on Ashe, led G2 to a clear and uncontested opening win.
Game 2, however, took longer to tilt in favor of Europe’s representatives. Running an ultra-scaling composition built around Ornn, Azir, and Corki, G2 initially fell 6,000 gold behind before finding a turning point in an overcommitted dive under the bot T2 from FearX. Particularly threatening in the mid-game,
’s Nocturne gradually lost its impact, and teamfights eventually began to swing decisively in G2’s favor.
In Game 3, G2 managed to maintain their momentum and quickly secure an early advantage. A few missteps in the mid game slowed the Europeans’ progression, but they nevertheless succeeded in closing out the series.
G2-Gen.G, a story yet to be written
In the semifinals, G2 will face an opponent of an entirely different caliber. As the LCK’s first seed, Gen.G have yet to drop a single game in the tournament on their way to the final four. In fact,
and his teammates have only lost two games out of the 28 they have played since the start of the season. G2 will need to win three to accomplish what would be a major upset and take down the world’s best team.
Yet this scenario may carry a certain sense of narrative symmetry. This victory over FearX is also, in some respects, historic. By sweeping the LCK’s second seed, the Samurai have ended EMEA’s drought against South Korea in BO5 series. Europe’s last victory dated back to Worlds 2020 quarterfinals, achieved by… G2 Esports, against… Gen.G, 1979 days ago. Since then, LEC representatives had suffered 19 consecutive defeats against LCK teams in this format.
FearX, the streak breakers
For their part, FearX continue to find themselves on the wrong side of such streak-breaking moments. Before this series, Nam "Diable" Dae-geun and his teammates had already allowed Bilibili Gaming to end an eight-series BO5 losing streak for LPL teams against the LCK. BLG had, in fact, also been the team that initiated that streak, with a 2–3 loss to T1 in the quarterfinals of 2024 Worlds.
BNK FearX exit the tournament having shown promising signs against Bilibili Gaming and Team Secret Whales, but also with evident shortcomings that will need to be addressed if they are to return to international competition later in the season. With two pentakills in his first two international matches, Diable has reinforced his status as a rising star in the AD Carry position.
