Team Liquid end NA’s 13-Series losing streak against the LPL at Worlds 2026

Last Monday, , the first seed from the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), faced an elimination BO3 against , the first seed from the LoL Pro League (LPL), during the Swiss Stage of Worlds 2026. It was a daunting matchup for the North American side, but TL managed to secure the win in just two games, taking a relatively controlled first game before a much more contested second one. With this victory, the North American team ended North America's 13-series losing streak against Chinese teams.

Coincidentally, the last LCS victory against the LPL also belonged to Team Liquid, who defeated Invictus Gaming in the semifinals of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational before losing to G2 Esports in the grand final. Since then, the two regions had faced each other 12 times across Worlds, MSI, First Stand and the Demacia Cup Global Invitational, with North America unable to secure a single win.

The only matchups outside MSI took place in the quarterfinals of Worlds 2023, where Weibo Gaming swept NRG 3-0; at First Stand 2025, where TES defeated Team Liquid 2-0; at First Stand 2026, where JD Gaming beat LYON 3-1; and twice at the Demacia Cup Global Invitational, where JDG and Team WE defeated Shopify Rebellion and FlyQuest, respectively.

All other matchups took place at different editions of MSI. The 13-series losing streak began in 2022, when Evil Geniuses fell 3-0 to reigning champions Royal Never Give Up in the semifinals. The following year, BLG defeated Golden Guardians in the Play-In stage before JDG swept them 3-0 on the Main Stage. Around the same time, Bilibili Gaming handed Cloud9 the same fate.

In 2024, Team Liquid got off to a rough start at MSI, suffering a clean sweep against TES. The following year, FlyQuest first lost to Anyone's Legend in their opening match before buying themselves some time with a win against G2. However, they were eventually eliminated by BLG in one of only two five-game series during this losing streak. Finally, in 2026, LYON were swept by BLG.

It is worth noting that this losing streak only covers series, meaning BO1s are not included. When taking single games into account, the North American region has pulled off several upsets against Chinese teams, the most recent being 100 Thieves' surprise victory over BLG in their opening match at Worlds 2025.