End of round 4 of the Swiss Stage this Friday, and the results broadly lined up with expectations. Hanwha Life Esports took down CTBC Flying Oyster, G2 Esports defeated FlyQuest, Movistar KOI beat Team Secret Whales, and more recently, Bilibili Gaming and T1 both claimed 2–0 wins over Vivo Keyd Stars and 100 Thieves. Tomorrow will be the final day of the Swiss Stage, which will determine the last teams to qualify — and the last to be eliminated — from these Worlds.

As a reminder, the matchups are redrawn after each round, ensuring no rematches occur throughout the Swiss format. Six teams remain in contention for the final three spots.

T1 survive, heartbreak for the LPL

The draw ended up being tough on the Chinese teams. The two remaining LPL representatives, TES and BLG, will have to face each other to determine who advances to the quarterfinals — meaning the LPL will have only two teams in the top eight. Meanwhile, the LCK, which has already secured its top three seeds in the quarterfinals, will likely add a fourth with T1 set to face MKOI. And finally, we will have a new team in the quarterfinals that is neither from the LCK nor the LPL, as either FlyQuest or CFO will join G2 there.

2-2 matchups

TES vs BLG, form vs record

It’s therefore inevitable: the LPL will have only two representatives in the quarterfinals of these Worlds. Anyone’s Legend have already qualified a few days ago, having won all three of their BOs without dropping a single game. TES and BLG faced each other in 26 games in 2025, with BLG taking 15 wins to TES’s 11.

Focusing only on the Summer Split playoffs, the two teams met twice, and BLG came out on top both times 3–2 in completely crazy scenarios, meaning recent records favor BLG. The fact is, at these Worlds, last year’s finalists don’t seem to be in great form. They fell to 100 Thieves and G2, and have only managed wins against Fnatic and VKS, opponents who are, on paper, considerably weaker.

TES, on the other hand, defeated 100 Thieves and G2 but lost to KT Rolster — which wasn’t entirely unexpected — and then to Gen.G, the tournament favorites. Overall, TES seem to have displayed a slightly higher level of play. However, both teams will need to step up a gear to get through the Swiss Stage and hope for a deep run in the playoffs.