Anyone’s Legend made unwanted history at the
League of Legends World Championship 2026, becoming the
first LPL team eliminated from Worlds
without winning a single game. The Chinese organization suffered 0-2 losses to Karmine Corp and Top Esports before
Team Liquid put the final nail in the coffin in their final Swiss Stage match.
This was a huge disappointment for Anyone’s Legend, especially considering the team entered the tournament as the
LPL’s first seed after
winning Split 3.
“
I consider this Worlds run a kind of failure for us because, in terms of reading the meta and the team’s form, we’ve left a lot of regrets on the stage,”
Wang “Hope” Jie told Sheep Esports following AL’s defeat to Team Liquid.
This was Anyone’s Legend’s second Worlds appearance and similar to the 2025 season, the team had performed consistently in the regional circuit. However, in 2026, they failed to qualify for MSI, where they finished third last year and couldn’t even come close to replicating their 3-0 Swiss Stage record from the previous edition of Worlds.
Following a similar pattern, Bilibili Gaming, the LPL’s first seed in 2025, were also eliminated from Worlds in the Swiss Stage.
LPL’s wait for another Worlds title continues
It has been five years since an LPL team lifted the League of Legends World Championship trophy, with EDward Gaming being the last to do so in 2021. Weibo Gaming and BLG reached the Grand Final in 2023 and 2024, respectively; however, they both lost to T1 in a clean 3-0 sweep for Weibo and a 3-2 for BLG.
At the moment, there are still three LPL teams in the race, including Bilibili Gaming, Invictus Gaming, and Top Esports. All three teams currently share the
same 2-1 win-loss record and are just one win away from making it to the playoffs.
However, BLG and TES will face each other in
Round 4 of the Swiss Stage on October 29, which would make qualification tricky for the losing team. iG, on the other hand, will be going up against the LCS representative and second seed LYON on October 28.
Overall, LCK teams Dplus KIA and Gen.G have
dominated the leaderboard with three consecutive wins each to advance to the playoffs with clean records. With that, the remaining six knockout stage spots will be decided in the coming days.
