Team Liquid smash Karmine Corp 3-0 to set up T1 rematch

Despite coming in as favorites, were sent home on Tuesday after a 0-3 loss to in the lower bracket of the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational Play-Ins. With expectations on the LEC second seed to move on and set up a rematch against T1, the series instead turned into a one-sided statement from the LCS representatives. Team Liquid delivered a clean sweep to eliminate KC from the tournament, exposing messy mid-game decisions, punishing overextensions, and consistently taking control once fights started to break open.

From start to finish, it never really felt like KC were dictating the pace. Even in the games where they found early advantages, Team Liquid were quicker to respond, cleaner in execution, and far more stable once skirmishes started ramping up. The gap was especially visible in how fights were approached — TL were almost always first to the decisive moments, KC always half a step late.

Now, Team Liquid advance to a final rematch against T1, where they will attempt to take down the Korean juggernauts for the last spot in the MSI 2026 Main Event.

Game 1 opened with KC looking comfortable in the early game. briefly disrupted things with a solo kill onto ’s Vayne, but KC still found ways to get moving, including a well-executed early tower dive that netted a kill on despite a messy escape in the favor of KC. From there, KC slowly built up a small gold lead and controlled the pace in the early minutes.

But the game never really got away from TL.

The turning point came at around 16 minutes, when Team Liquid’s Nocturne–Orianna combo exploded onto KC and instantly erased their advantage in a single fight. From that moment on, every skirmish started to tilt in TL’s favor. KC kept taking fights into a composition that simply scaled better in teamfights, and it showed.

There was still a brief scare when Team Liquid overcommitted to a Baron and nearly handed the game back, but Morgan stabilized the fight and shut the window immediately. After that, KC ran out of ways to force meaningful pressure. The Vayne pick never fully came online, and TL steadily converted every advantage into a growing gold lead until the game slipped completely out of control.

Game 2 was decided in the jungle before lanes even settled.

took over immediately on Lee Sin, securing both Scuttle Crabs and winning the early river fight that put completely behind the tempo. From there, Team Liquid dictated every move across the map, while KC struggled to find any stable footing.

did manage to pick up an early 2v2 kill in the bot lane, but it wasn’t enough to offset the growing jungle and mid gap. KC tried to hold the game together through skirmishes, with ’s Anivia repeatedly stalling fights and buying time, but TL never let the pressure drop.

The key moment came at the 17-minute Herald fight with soul point on the line. Kyeahoo was caught out of position under pressure, and Team Liquid immediately punished it — cracking the map wide open.

From there, KC briefly found life again as TL gave away a few unnecessary picks, but the comeback never truly materialized. At 28 minutes, everything collapsed in a single decisive fight: barely survived, Yike fell, and Dragon Soul went over to Team Liquid, effectively ending the game.

By Game 3, the series was already gone.

Karmine Corp looked disconnected from the opening minutes, struggling to match Team Liquid’s pace and repeatedly falling behind through small but constant mistakes. There was no real stability, no clean setup — just reactive play into a team that was already dictating everything.

Team Liquid didn’t need to do anything flashy. They simply punished every opening, played faster to every objective, and slowly suffocated KC out of the game. It ended as quickly as it started, completing a 3-0 sweep that few expected to look this clean.

With the win, Team Liquid advance to face T1 for a place in the MSI Main Event. Karmine Corp, meanwhile, exit the tournament after a collapse that turned a favored matchup into a completely one-sided elimination.